The Purim Adloyada is one of the holiday’s many wonderful traditions, and Holon, home of the official Adloyada Purim Parade, knows how to do it right! The parade will take place on Thursday, March 24, 2016, and this year’s theme will celebrate 50 years of television in Israel, with special attention to beloved children’s shows – Fistuk’s House, Pupik, Bob the Builder, as well as the immortal Zehu Zeh and the legendary Nikui Rosh.
Television is so much a part of our lives that it feels as though it has always existed, it’s so last century! However, Israel did not begin educational television broadcasting until 1966, to be followed two years later, by Channel 1, which began with the Independence Day parade as its first broadcast. It’s a good reminder that Israel is still a very young country, still going through many changes. Israelis have always been early adopters, and immediately embraced television with open arms! Marking the 50th anniversary of television broadcasting in Israel, the Holon Municipality decided that television would be this year’s theme. Since Holon is The Children’s City, the emphasis will be on popular children’s shows.
This year at the Adloyada, children and parents can meet their favorite characters from TV as they float by: Habayit Shel Fistuk, Parpar Nehmad, Rega VeDodli, Kishkashta and more… If you did not grow up in Israel, this parade will be a great crash course in popular children’s culture!
Floating up on high will be international favorites (flown all the way from the U.S.A!) like Bob the Builder and Sesame Street pals Ernie and Bert. The fun is not just for kids, Holon Dudi Shamai has drawn caricatures of Motti Kirshenbaum, Tuvia Tzafir, Rivka Michaeli, Dubi Gal, and Sefi Rivlin, as well as the more serious crowd – Haim Yavin, Dalia Mazor and Dan Shilon. 3 meter tall jumping crabs will come all the way from Ireland to interact with the audience, and acrobats on stilts from Russia will be arrayed in 3D inflatable costumes of a gigantic butterfly and elephant!
The parade features 4,500 dancers, bands, drummers, street theatre, acrobats and more! This year, the Holon Municipality invited Israeli artists to join in on the fun, creating benches in the form of well known characters from educational television. These will be placed in different educational sites throughout the city. The participating artists are: Gil Sade, Zvika Kantor, Or Kafri, Varda Givoli and Yitzhak Mevurach.
The parade will begin at 11:30 and will march along Sokolov, HaNessi’im and Weizmanמ streets, ending at the corner of Golomb and Weizmann. The exhibits from this year’s Purim Parade will be on display in the Mediatheque Square from the end of the parade until Sunday, March 27th.
The Holon Adloyada is produced by Doron Shalom, of the Holon Municipality Events Department; Artistic Director: Eran Fisher “Rosh Hutzot;” Parade designer: Zipi Ifat. The Adloyada is produced in cooperation with Channel 1, Educational Television and the Pop Channel.
