Hundreds of True/False attendees flooded the streets on March 6 as March March, the annual True/False Film Fest Friday kickoff parade, began. Tuba blasts and trumpet riffs floated above the colorfully costumed crowd.

On South Ninth Street, Staci Linthacun and her 11-year-old daughter Susannah talked as the parade approached. Linthacun and her daughter have attended the parade every year since Susannah was born. Susannah hugged a stuffed monkey as she looked toward the approaching parade.

“I really like when … the clowns are on the stilts, I think that’s really cool,” Susannah said. “I just like all the funky dresses.”

For Linthacun, the annual parade is about more than just the funky dresses.

“It’s just a tradition, and it brings the community together, and everybody can be as weird as they want to be,” Linthacun said.

International film critic Pelin Çılgın also excitedly waited for the parade’s vibrant colors and peppy music to draw nearer. Çılgın, originally from Istanbul, Turkey, has never seen a parade before.

“Honestly, I’m really excited to see, like, what exactly a parade is, because I’m completely, like, foreign to this entire concept,” Çılgın said. “It’s not a thing in my country. So (I’m) really excited.”

Çılgın was surprised by the multigenerational crowd. They know Columbia as a college town, so seeing toddlers, teenagers and older adults was an interesting surprise.

The parade was led by T/F Q Queens, dressed in bright, over-the-top costumes. They danced down South Ninth Street, followed by crowds of people who had joined the lively procession.

Susannah joined the high-spirited sea in the street and swung her stuffed monkey to pop bubbles that floated above her. Çılgın smiled as they recorded the parade on their phone. Some kids were lifted onto their parents’ shoulders; others ran into the street to join the dancing crowds.

Nikki Reese has been a T/F Q Queen for three years. She wore a Sesame Street-themed costume to this year’s March March and handed out Big Bird and Cookie Monster stickers to kids during the parade.

“(March March) is just a sense of belonging,” Reese said. “We all get to be ourselves, and the public just embraces us. It kicks off the feeling of True/False.”

As March March drew to a close, people continued laughing, talking and dancing in the streets. This lively kickoff was the perfect beginning to a weekend of art, film and music.

You can keep up with The Maneater’s 2026 True/False Film Fest coverage here.

Edited by Sabrina Pan | [email protected]
Copy edited by Avery Copeland | [email protected]
Edited by Chase Pray | [email protected]