The next installment of Open Streets Knoxville will include a crowd-pleaser: A parade of super-sized locally-crafted puppets.

Open Streets makes its debut on Magnolia Avenue from 2-6 p.m. on Sunday, May 21.

A local arts group, Cattywampus Puppet Council, will be creating and facilitating Knoxville’s first-ever giant puppet parade as part of this year’s first Open Streets - and the first Open Streets event in East Knoxville. (The Magnolia Avenue event will be the fourth by Open Streets Knoxville, hosted by Bike Walk Knoxville with support from the City of Knoxville, Knoxville Regional TPO, Visit Knoxville and Knox County.)

The Appalachian Puppet Pageant will bring together revelers of all ages and backgrounds to celebrate the local ecology and rich culture of the region through the visual and performing arts.

What's Open Streets Knoxville, you ask? As veterans of the previous events on North Central Street and in Bearden can testify, it's a chance to walk, bike, jazzercise, jog, hula hoop or dance your way down the street, which will be closed to vehicular traffic. The Magnolia Avenue event will extend from Randolph Street to North Chestnut Street, with a small loop onto East Depot Avenue. Open Streets offers a new way to explore a boulevard and a section of town by playing, exercising, socializing and shopping - all on foot or on two non-motorized wheels.

The Appalachian Puppet Pageant seeks to strengthen the sense of community and foster community involvement in the arts through creating and playing together, according to Open Streets Knoxville. In fact, members of the community will be the driving force of this parade, crafting both individual and collaborative works of art and then joining together in celebration and play to share these works of art with the rest of the community.

The parade is free to participate in and is open to the entire community, in part due to a small grant from the Burning Man Global Arts Foundation. In the coming months, Cattywampus will be offering free puppet-making workshops, as well as mentoring local community groups, helping them to make creations for the parade.

There are also plenty of free resources available on the Cattywampus website to help inspire individuals to make their own puppets, masks and costumes for the parade. Cattywampus invites everyone to tell their stories of “place” and to make art that celebrates the culture of love and creativity.

Cattywampus Puppet Council was founded in 2014 by local artists Rachel Milford and Shelagh Leutwiler. They are a registered non-profit corporation in the state of Tennessee and are fiscally sponsored through Community Shares. The mission of Cattywampus is to strengthen community and promote play through the puppetry arts.

For more information, visit http://www.cattywampuspuppetcouncil.com.