On a typical afternoon in University City, you don’t generally see a pink and blue shark, Wonder Woman, Popeye, CIA spies and a guy dressed as a Rubik’s Cube walking down the street together. Or Haman and Mordecai chatting about their weekend plans. On March 14, these scenes will be perfectly normal.
That’s when the annual Purim reenactment and parade is scheduled. At 2 p.m., the fun begins at the corner of Cornell and Gay Avenue. In 2024, nearly 500 participants walked along the parade route.
It was likely the largest one in the 22-year history of the event, according to Rose Ann Ariel, who has helped plan it since the initial gathering in 2003. It has been an annual tradition, with the exception of one year during Covid-19. Mild weather on a Sunday afternoon may have drawn the bigger group last year, Ariel said.
“If it is warm weather, we always get a good crowd,” she said.
Ariel pulls the Purim costumes out of storage prior to the holiday, but the participants who will dress as Haman and Mordecai won’t be revealed until the day of the event. As in past years, security will be on hand.
