Hippysaurus is a 34-foot long, 2,000 pound fiberglass triceratops, painted in every color of the rainbow. The massive, motorized dinosaur is the creation of a Bellaire family who spent years going to the parade before they finally decided to build an art car themselves.
"I'd always wanted to do an art car right from when the kids were tiny," said Gerry Waters, mom to three.
"We used to go to the Art Car Parade every year and stand on the sidelines and I would mostly complain about being on the sidelines and not being in the parade," said her husband, Lou Waters. "Gerry called my bluff one year and said, well, let's make an art car!"
The Waters had seen an old, decaying amusement park dinosaur in a junk yard in West Texas. They decided to airlift it out of the area, and give it new life as an art car.
"The two boys in the family did all of the mechanics and the engineering and the three girls did all the decoration and art work," said Gerry Waters. "It was about a year's worth of work, stripping her down and patching her and then priming her."
Hippysaurus was a huge hit in the Art Car Parade last year, earning the Waters family the coveted Mayor's Cup. This year, Hippysaurus will return, along with the family's newest entry, Hippytortoise.
"I just encourage anyone to give it a go because anyone can be an artist," said Gerry Waters.
ABC13 will live stream the parade this Saturday, April 13 at 2 p.m. on abc13.com and on the ABC13 YouTube page. For more information on the Houston Art Car Parade, click here.