As long-sought sunshine brought parkgoers out to Washington Square last Sunday, a young boy discovered Rusty, the puppy puppet, the latest in the Washington Square Park marionette family of Ricky Syres. Other members of the brood include Stix, a twerking, whiskey-swilling hick; Little Doris (a mini-me of Doris Diether of Community Board 2; and Larry (ditto Larry Reddick, “The Bird Man” of Washington Square Park). Thanks to Syres’s expert craftsmanship and skills on the strings, Rusty is amazingly realistic. Stacey Rosenstock was out for a midafternoon walk with her mixed-breed dog Ollie when Ollie met Rusty. “It took him a full minute to realize the puppet dog wasn’t a real dog,” she said.
