Since everything was certainly under control at my Earth Day tent, I ventured out to do another sketch. I had sketched Ibex Puppetry’s huge inflatable gator years ago, but I decided it was worth sketching again. An added bonus was that Oliver Kilkenny was playing accordion. He wore a palm frond hat and sun glasses. His music added a sort of French flair to the event except when he played “It’s a Small World After All” which was a crude reminder that we were in Disney’s backyard.
The woman selling ice pops next to me stood on a small step stool behind her cart. She told me she felt like Scarlet Ohara from “Gone with the Wind” when scarlet had to man a booth at the social when all she wanted to do was dance. She shook her booty to the beat of the accordion and offered Oliver a free pop for the entertainment. She had come all the way from Jacksonville to be at Earth Day and very few people were stopping to sample her wares.
A park ranger walked up to Oliver and told him he couldn’t play his accordion because he didn’t have a permit. In Orlando, if you perform in public, it is considered busking, or begging. There is a small blue box painted on the pavement somewhere near the court house. That blue square is the one place where public performance is allowed. Oliver put away his accordion, collected his ice pop and moved along. The silence once he left was deafening.
Janice Böhrk McIntosh who volunteered to help me at the event ended up getting a $45 parking ticket on a street that was NOT marked very well to say no parking. You are able
to tell by the entire row of cars who received parking tickets at a
this city event! The city really knows how to rake in the bucks! This is how they reward citizens who are trying to make the world a better place.
