COEUR d’ALENE — For Mia Miller, being a bumble bee in a parade for the second time was "a lot of fun," the energetic 5-year-old said as she removed her bee goggles and dismounted her tricycle, which was decorated with a bee body to match her bee outfit.

"They have lots of vehicles and lots of creative stuff," Mia said, explaining why she enjoyed the Kinetic Fest parade Sunday.

The parade, along with a full afternoon of festivities at McEuen Park, featured some new and some returning human-powered vehicles for the second year of Kinetic Fest, hosted by Gizmo-CDA.

Barbara Pleason Mueller, co-founder of Gizmo, said they had around 30 entries this year, about 10 more than last year. Many of those who entered the parade spent the last month or two designing human-powered vehicles from bicycles, old bicycle parts, irrigation wheels and other materials.

"I think what was really exciting is we had a lot of kids, probably 12 or 13 kids, building complicated vehicles," Mueller said. "There are things we would normally think of an adult building, and yet the kids figured it out and did it themselves. It was very cool to see that happen."

One young man Mueller said worked "very hard" on his vehicle was Kenneth Neville, 14, of Coeur d'Alene, who spent about a month building his vehicle for the parade.

His vehicle was designed out of an old bicycle frame and large irrigation wheels, among other parts. Neville said the only thing he did not do was the welding, which was done by Mueller's husband. The vehicle was a little difficult for Neville to move along the parade route because of its weight and size, but the idea for the vehicle came to him fairly easy.

"I kinda just walked into the back of Gizmo and saw this frame, and I turned my head about 20 degrees and I saw these two big wheels, and I was like, 'I need them,'" Neville said.

And Neville already knows what he wants to do when he grows up — he aspires to become a bioengineer.

"Human beings interacting with robots," Neville said. "So it's prosthetic limbs and all that stuff. The military has also been looking into exoskeletons, which is also bioengineering, how the human body can work in sync with robots."

Some of those who entered were not only there for fun, but also for a cause, like the "Stomp Out MS" (multiple sclerosis) vehicle, which was driven by Gary Dagastine from Northwest Recumbent Cycles. The large parade float Dagastine and his wife Beth had was ruined in last November’s wind storm, so they made a miniature version using one of the cycles Dagastine sells. A small piece of the original parade float was saved, which read "Stomp out MS," so Dagastine pulled it along behind him with small feet moving in a circular motion to represent the statement. The couple attended the inaugural Kinetic Fest last summer as well.

"I love it," Dagastine said. "This year is even better than last year."

Two of the biggest entries this year were also two of the biggest hits with the crowd. One was a Star Wars-themed vehicle, built by the Roberts family who was in the process of moving to Coeur d'Alene from Utah when they recently discovered the Coeur d'Alene maker space, Gizmo, on Fourth Street. The group consisted of Heather and Marty Roberts, with Heather dressed as a Jedi and Marty dressed as Kylo Ren. Their daughter Loren, 13, was dressed as Princess Leia, and even grandma joined in as a Jedi. But the main character was 10-year-old Lila, who dressed as Rey who was introduced in the movie "The Force Awakens," which is what they dubbed their entry. Heather said they "really love" Star Wars and Lila connects with Rey's character.

"I just love the dark side and light side," Lila said. "I like the character Rey and the droids — I love it all."

They built "Rey's Speeder," the vehicle from the movie, in less than two weeks. The girls' grandma, Eve Armson, said they all helped build the speeder, which was "built from junk" and made out of wood and metal. Armson showed The Press a book the girls put together in preparation a month beforehand that detailed some ideas for the vehicle, with quotes, photos, measurements of Lila and a detailed drawing at the end for the vehicle plan.

"I think it's so exciting that they made this book," Armson said, obviously proud of her granddaughters.

The other large vehicle that made its debut appearance during the parade was a Trojan horse built and operated by Ross Welburn of Hayden. As Welburn pedaled it along the parade route, the tail of the horse would often lift to the side as it "pooped" out small blocks of wood, garnering laughter from the hundreds of people in the crowd, while someone with a wheelbarrow followed to clean up. During and after the parade, a number of children climbed in and out of the Trojan horse, which, of course, had more than enough room inside for several of the youngsters.

Welburn has nine grandkids ages 2 to 18, many of whom helped him in the process, including 12-year-old Justine Trevino.

"It was fun helping him because I stained a lot of the wood," Justine said.

The Trojan horse was made from cedar and pine, and Welburn said it took months to build. He started the platform that operates the movement in December, and the horse itself in the spring, he said.

"The legs are cedar because I wanted darker wood, but the rest had to be real thin pine so I could bend it around the edges — that was the hardest part," Welburn said.

Welburn is a master engineer and his daughter, Wendy Trevino, said he is always working on things and building things.

"He's the biggest little kid," Trevino said.

While each person had their own amazing invention, one thing they have in common is their love for Gizmo and how much it means to youngsters like Neville to have a maker space in Coeur d'Alene.

"Gizmo is an amazing place," Neville said, emphasizing how "awesome" Mueller and her husband Marty are. "There is pretty much nobody cooler than Marty and Barb."