Instead of going to a parade in Chinatown or off of Argyle, this year I went to Navy Pier. Navy Pier partnered with Red Moon and the Cubs to put on the event. Red Moon is a theater troupe in the city.
They utilized the room at the end of the pier. For the year of the horse the room was decorated in red with a large section filled with paper lanterns that horse was written with. They hung up red pieces of paper that people painted with the help of stencils the words for wealth, luck, family, love, and a couple more.
The way red moon tends to work whenever I see them is a bunch of different things with a theme or costume, each actor working independently but together they give off the feel of the atmosphere or place.
There was a group who wore horse masks and carried balloons around the room and would pull it down when you approached, between the balloon and the person was a tray filled with fortune cookies that they handed out. People were wandering around carrying flower lanterns, and a small carriage that children sat on pulled by people wearing horse masks. They also had other people in the horse masks and outfits hitting drums or chimes.
There was a couple performers that walked around with tea. One was the ‘machine’ that when requested by the others to pour tea, moved a dial at their wrist. The others would hand out tea. The tea was slightly bitter tasting.
There were also performers, a large stage with drummers, dancers, and martial artists. There were horse masks people could cut out and tie around their heads and wear.
There was woman who came out under the lanterns and sang. Red Moon utilized the entire space, sending the waves of the crowd to different areas in order to see what was going on. It ended with fire works.
From what I understand Navy Pier and Red Moon are trying to do this every year, but I’m sure since it is Red Moon next years experience will be just as unique
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