Photo by Clark McCaskill

Participants in the March of 1000 Flaming Skeletons march during the Ghoul's Gone Wild Parade in downtown Oklahoma City. To march in the parade infront of the Flaming Lips, you had to purchase a bundle pack on The Flaming Lips website, and be 18 years of age. Clark McCaskill/The Daily

Wayne Coyne, lead singer of The Flaming Lips formed in Oklahoma City, travels in a bubble during the Ghoul's Gone Wild Parade in Downtown Oklahoma City Saturday. The Flaming Lips are known for their extravagent live performances, one trait is Wayne's man-sized plastic bubble in which he travels amidst the audience. Clark McCaskill/The Daily

Zombies, witches and skeletons took over the streets Saturday night in downtown Oklahoma City as part of the Oklahoma Gazette’s Ghouls Gone Wild Parade.

The parade began around 7 p.m. near 12th Street and Walker Avenue. Grand Marshall April Wahlin, winner of TV’s “The Search for the Next Elvira,” led the procession down 10th Street and through “Automobile Alley,” a district that once held more than 50 car dealerships.

More than 70 groups, bands and organizations participated in this year’s parade, but the main attraction was The Flaming Lips’ “March of 1000 Flaming Skeletons.”

Fans of The Lips could purchase a costume and torch to carry in the parade. Lips bassist Michael Ivins led the skeletons on their march through the city.

Wayne Coyne, frontman of the Lips, told the skeletons how much he appreciated their involvement before the parade.

“People come up to me and say, ‘Wayne this is so cool that you do this,’” he said. “But the truth is I wouldn’t be able to do this if The Flaming Lips didn’t have such cool f**king fans to begin with.”

Coyne also told the group he wasn’t really sure what the parade was meant to symbolize.

“I don’t know what it means, I don’t know what it is, but I know we all get to do something absurd and make this sort of spectacle through downtown together. And for that, that makes you all wonderful people,” he said.

Jonathan Elmore, Oklahoma City resident, said he wanted to march in the parade because he wasn’t able to last year.

“I wanted to be a skeleton because I worked in a booth last year,” he said. “This year, I wanted to be in it and a part of it. And I love The Flaming Lips.”

The parade ended with Coyne walking in his trademark plastic bubble, surrounded by superheroes, Teletubbies and inflatable characters.

Joseph Hernandez, a Flaming Lips skeleton, said he traveled from Houston with two friends to experience the parade.

“We drove about seven hours to be a part of the parade,” he said. “We came because we love The Lips.”

Some costumes and floats received mixed receptions from Oklahoma City residents. Two bikers were booed for dressing as the Twin Towers with a plane crashed into the side. One float also received criticism for dragging naked baby dolls on the ground behind it.

Following the parade, the Individual Artists of Oklahoma Gallery, 811 N. Broadway, hosted an official after-party featuring the Toxic Goddess Burlesque Show.