The Freemont Fair - its Fairly Racy!!

An X Rated Day  - If you are offended by public nudity, do not read this…. But don’t worry Deb and Dave are not in it!!

After settling in close to the Seattle airport, we decided to drive into town for the Freemont Fair.  We had heard about it on TV and the website declared it was Seattle’s quirkiest festival.  We knew it was going to be fun when on the website they warned the parade participants that body paint does not protect you against the sun.

Going into Seattle, what should have been a 30 minute drive became almost 2 hours due to some unknown “issue” on I-5.  Dave handled it well, but by the time we parked the truck about 10 blocks from the festival, he was ready for a beer!

As we segwayed down to the action things seemed fairly calm…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got our beer, just as the parade was starting.  This is June 21^st… the Summer Solstice…. And they celebrate just about in the buff!!... The parade starts with the bicycle riders.  Their body paint is extremely creative!  We decided, however, there was not enough body paint or creativity for us to join in!! LOL…. The pictures, just about say it all… except, they estimated that over 100,000 people attend!! While I’m sure many of the participants were “mellow”… we were surprised by the lack of pot in the crowd, especially since Washington has recently legalized it.  Neither of us saw or smelled a smoker!  And these are some of the calmer pictures.... lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hands on the tushie were very common!!

 As the parade was finishing up, we walked down one of the vendor streets.  Most of the booths were heavy on tye dying and beads.  The “crafts” were minimal.  In fact, I felt a little sorry for the half dozen or so true artists that were there.  A juried art show it was NOT… but it is amazing what all you can make out of duck tape!!

One of the most fun blocks was the ART CAR FAIR.  Painting and decorating cars is a true art form in this community.  Several of the cars reminded me of my poster from the American Craft Museum of the  “Game Fish”…. But the guy with the computerized bass and lobsters took the cake!!  Your life is not complete until you hear the singing bass dance and sing the Halleluiah Chorus!!  LOL… It was hilarious.

 

After the parade, you would meet many of the bike riders in the crowd…. Some with a few clothes on, others, still au naturalle…. Also on the website, it asked the riders to please bring a towel so that they would have something to sit on in the restaurants.  Supposedly in years past, the waitresses spent waaay too much time cleaning up body paint!  Yuck!

We got back to the campsite to grill steaks and watch the super-moon.  There was no rain today, and we were a little sun and crowd weary… but happy!!   It was a fun day!