‘I had no idea what I was doing.’ Here’s how the Procession of the Species got a huge salmon

Emmett Riddels decided to build a giant Chinook salmon in a moment of serendipity nearly two months ago. The fish has been resting in a garage by the Armory Building in Olympia, waiting for its grand debut in Saturday’s reborn Procession of the Species.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” Riddels said. “I had no vision. No plan. I knew I wanted to do something. I didn’t know it was going to be this huge.”

The salmon is a new float coming to the Procession, a parade of hand-crafted creatures and costumed dancers that has drawn crowds of people to downtown Olympia in years past. This weekend the Procession is returning after a five-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Riddels, a 40-year-old Olympia resident, said he chose to partake in the Procession because he saw it as an opportunity to reconnect with people through a creative outlet.

“Watching the world readjust after this once-in-a-lifetime COVID event that we’ve had, and just being locked down and isolated, I’ve been really excited for stuff like this to start happening again,” Riddels said.

To that end, he partnered with his friend to build the salmon. Badger, a self-described “handsome drifter” who declined to share his full name, said he moved to Olympia about a year ago after his home burned down in Portland.

“Emmett’s like a good old boy,” Badger said with a cigarette in his hand. “I’ve known him forever. He’s been instrumental in getting me involved in the community of Olympians. So that’s why I’m doing this.”

Badger said he enjoys building giant animals out of chicken wire in his spare time. He called it a form of magic he wishes he could do more often, finances permitting.

“Everyone should do it,” Badger said. “I wanted to do a three-humped camel but we weren’t sure about how top heavy it would be. Next year, man.”

The salmon is made of chicken wire, bamboo, PVC, duct tape, zip ties, old bedspreads and lots of paint, Riddels said. He paid for some materials out of pocket, but he said most of those materials were donated.

Up until last week, the project has been mostly a two-person operation, Riddels said. Recently, he’s had much more help from friends and family.

Cathy Stapel, Riddels’ mother, said her family has participated in the Procession since its second outing over two decades ago.

“It’s so sad that it had to go away for a while,” Stapel said. “Do you feel the joy, creativity, love and magic here? That’s what this town has been missing. … I think it’s just come roaring back to life.”

Stapel, a retired nurse, has had her hands full with her own contributions to the Procession, but she said she’s helped her son with a “little bit” of painting and fabric work.

“I was surprised that they pulled it off,” Stapel said. “He’s not made any big thing by himself, not that this doesn’t come naturally since we’ve been all doing this stuff since the second Procession.”

Riddels said he’s lent a hand in many Processions, but he downplayed his arts and crafts skills. He described the salmon project as a trial-and-error learning process.

“This has been a series of head scratching moments and also a lot of good people coming together to offer good advice and help out with every step of the process. It’s been a good time,” Riddels said.

Another person who has supported Riddels and Badger is Eli Sterling, founder of the Procession. He said he’s appreciated how the pair has “bloomed” into artists and built relationships with the people around them.

“Life can often be confusing for anybody and then suddenly there’s this project that you know is going to contribute to an identity, an energy,” Sterling said. “It’s just a way of reaffirming your place in community.”

Sterling said there have been many challenges to bringing the Procession back after such a long hiatus. There were doubts they could do it again, but he believes they’ve succeeded in rekindling an artistic culture.

“The community just needs to know at the large that we are possible of living in a context of acceptance, in context of witnessing other people’s creative energy and not feeling that that’s a threat to our own creative energy,” Sterling said. “We did it again and that’s cool.”

Other contributors to the salmon project include Doug Riddels, Emmett Riddels’ father, and friends Daniel Whitehouse, Abby South, Linda DuPeritus, Tyler Young, Sarah Parker, Shauna Dusel, Fern Schultz, and Brad and Nicole Mercier.

“Seeing people you haven’t seen in a long time, having something productive to work on, getting out of the house for a good cause, that’s what it’s all about,” Riddels said.

The Procession of the Species will occur at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 27. It will begin at the intersection of Cherry Street and Legion Way in Olympia and end at Heritage Park.