Bob Baker Day to bring healing (and SpongeBob) to 25,000 puppet lovers in L.A.

The all-things-puppetry extravaganza that is the yearly Bob Baker Day at Chinatown’s Los Angeles State Historic Park has landed on its themes and parade-leading grand marshal for its 2025 edition, set for April 13. Animated characters SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star will launch the festivities at 10 a.m. with a parade that will span the grounds.

The “SpongeBob SquarePants” stars are not the first animated characters to lead the processional. Back in 2023, Pinocchio from Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-winning film led the walkaround. SpongeBob will be joined by Logan Hone and his Feel Good Music Train, Tierra Del Sol’s large-scale puppets, and East Wind Foundation’s Chinese dragon and traditional percussion band. Last year’s grand marshal was puppet master Sid Krofft, one half of Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures.

The day, presented by Highland Park’s Bob Baker Marionette Theater, will end with a closing performance from David Arquette as Bozo the Clown, the long-running, good-natured children’s show host that rose to fame in the 1950s and was a staple for decades on Chicago’s WGN-TV. Other performers include the Heart of Los Angeles’ Eisner Intergenerational Big Band, Pacific Opera Project, Maylee Todd, Inner City Arts, Metropolitan Water District, Scribble, Johnny Kosmo, Freak Nature Puppets, Skirball Cultural Center and Sage Against the Machine.

Arts and crafts are a centerpiece of the yearly event, and that will be no different this year, with an emphasis on healing via the arts in the wake of the recent L.A. wildfires. The theme of this year’s event will be what Bob Baker Day is calling “Recovery through the Arts.” An area dubbed “Hooray L.A. Village” will host a variety of local institutions, nonprofits, and arts and cultural organizations, with a focus on free art activities, youth mental health services and storytelling programs.

826LA, which focuses on after-school and tutoring programs, will lead a book-making project while Craft Contemporary will help guests create their own hand puppet. The Getty Museum will host a mask-making workshop and Corita Art Center will be on hand for programs centered around processing grief.

“In the days following the devastating fires which impacted so many in our city, we asked ourselves, ‘What can we do to help?’ Right away, we realized that our role was to do what we do best — provide respite, moments of joy, and creativity during a difficult time. We wanted to expand on this service during our annual festival, and invite our arts and cultural partners to join us,” says Mary Fagot, co-executive director of the theater.

The Bob Baker Marionette Theater expects about 25,000 guests to attend this year’s event.

Bob Baker Day started in 2015 as a commemoration of company founder Baker, who passed away the previous year. The all-day event serves as a way to celebrate both Baker’s birthday and his legacy. Bob Baker Day is free, and scheduled to run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.