The first thing we need to remind you about the impending Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge Celebration this weekend is that there will be "mammoth puppets." If this information makes you feel the need to stay home, perhaps under the bed, that's fine and understandable. For the rest of us, there was a preview of the bridge celebrations Monday afternoon, featuring Gail Thomas of the Trinity Trust, Craig Holcomb from the Trinity Commons Foundation, City Manager Mary Suhm (in a non-speaking role) and some lovely lady mariachis, among others.
For now, the middle of the bridge is very quiet, the stillness broken only by the beeping of trucks backing up, train cars whistling by on the trestle to the west, and, Monday, the harmonious din of workers putting up an army of Porta-Potties.
Holcomb told the gathered crowd of reporters and city workers that they're expecting a huge turnout for the celebration. He said they'll limit the number of people that can be on the bridge to approximately 6,750 at a time, and warned that "some waiting may be involved" for events on the bridge itself.
In West Dallas, of course, there will be Bridge-O-Rama, including those aforementioned giant puppets parading down Singleton. One of them showed up for the presser today, a hairy, sad-faced looking guy named Victor Considerant, a French explorer who founded La Réunion. You can look at a full line-up of events right here.
"We are truly bridging the Trinity for the love of the city," Gail Thomas said. "We want to see in the future festivities all up and down the Trinity River Corridor, celebrating the connectivity of the city... This is real urban emergence."
Craig Holcomb compared the event to a high school graduation, given that the bridge has been in the works for (way more than) 12 years. "On Sunday, we're commencing the next stage in the future of Dallas," he said.
"Walk, run, skip or do cartwheels over the top of this bridge," added Todd Fiscus, the event coordinator at Todd Events, which is handling the festivities. "Because you'll never be able to do it again."
