The 12th annual Bob Baker Day, rained out back in April, is finally set to take over Los Angeles State Historic Park on September 20, kicking off at 10 a.m. with a parade led by a pig named Thummer as grand marshal. The free celebration, presented by the Bob Baker Marionettes, drew more than 35,000 people last year.
According to NBC Los Angeles, the springtime edition of Bob Baker Day was canceled because of rain, pushing the festival to this fall date instead. Admission remains free, though organizers suggest a $25 donation, and attendees need to RSVP through the Bob Baker website ahead of time. A VIP pass is also available for those who want close parking at the park.
A Parade, a Pig, and a Sheep Named Shaun
The festivities launch with a 10 a.m. parade featuring Shaun the Sheep as a special guest, alongside grand marshal Thummer, the event's porcine mascot, the station's report notes. From there, the day unfolds with arts and children's activity booths, live puppet performances, and a lineup of musical and variety acts spread across the park.
Performers slated to appear include Very Be Careful, Cirque School, King Kukulele, and Holy Pepperoni, per the same account. Food trucks will line the grounds, and organizers are also running a dog costume contest for four-legged attendees looking to strut their own outfits.
Why the Highland Park Puppet Institution Keeps Growing
Bob Baker Day began in February 2015 as a free community celebration honoring founder Bob Baker's legacy and birthday, following his death in November 2014 at age 90, according to the Los Angeles Times. Baker spent eight decades as a professional puppeteer, and the annual festival at Los Angeles State Historic Park — a 32-acre park in Chinatown near the Metro Chinatown station, as the Los Angeles Times has also reported — has become a major annual celebration of his legacy.
The Bob Baker Marionette Theater itself has deep roots in Los Angeles performing-arts history. Co-founded in 1963 by Bob Baker and Alton Wood inside a former scenery shop near Downtown LA, it is recognized as the longest-running continuous puppet theater in the United States, per the LA Conservancy. The Los Angeles City Council designated the theater's original venue as Historic-Cultural Monument #958 in June 2009, a milestone that came after puppeteers performed inside City Council chambers ahead of the designation vote, according to LAist.
From Westlake Displacement to a Highland Park Home
After 56 years at its original Westlake address, the marionette theater relocated to Highland Park in 2019, after the original First Street property was sold and the site faced proposed housing development, per Wikipedia. The theater is currently presenting a Halloween-themed show running through early November at its Highland Park location, and it entered an agreement in April to purchase that building outright, as Hoodline reported in its earlier coverage of the theater's purchase price of about $5 million, with roughly $4.5 million raised and additional repair costs.
Bob Baker's influence extended well beyond the puppet stage. He contributed practical effects and marionette work to Hollywood projects including *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* and *Close Encounters of the Third Kind*, along with television shows like *Bewitched* and *Star Trek*, according to Atlas Obscura. He was also a labor advocate who helped persuade SAG and AFTRA to formally recognize puppeteers as actors with specialized skills, winning union representation for the craft.
Every marionette show at the theater ends with a free cup of ice cream, a tradition Baker established when the theater opened in 1963. The theater has served more than one million children over roughly six decades, Atlas Obscura notes. The theater also houses more than 4,000 handcrafted marionettes built over Baker's career. Its marionettes have appeared in special events and artistic collaborations, according to Meer.
