Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Weekend in photos

For the first time ever I indulged in some hedonistic paradery (yes I made that up) at the Solstice Fair this past weekend.  And let me tell you, nothing says hippie like face paint, papier mache and shameless nudity.  But, for fear of a pornographic spike in traffic- I'll keep the photos clean this time around.  Take a look.

This butterfly was amazing to see in person.  I can't even imagine the amount of work that went into building those wings but the multiple panels were truly a sight to see.  
These little monkeys were milling about a float made to look like a giant bed.  Most of the kids were in half costume (mostly ears and tails) and sat at the edge holding onto bed posts as the larger parent-type monkeys pushed them around.  According to Mr.Mr. at one point they stopped and all the kids- er, monkeys began jumping on the bed which I was sad to have missed.  There's nothing cuter than baby monkeys.Kids went wild over this clown.  He had strung together utensil trays and would dip them in a bucket of soapy water before flinging them around with windmill arms.  I'm not kidding when I say kids were running into the street to follow this man.  I think Santa may have competition.Ukuleles are tiny instruments.  I know because we recently bought one in Kauai.  And see, there's really no place to hook a guitar strap so it can hang comfortable while you play.  So- it looks like... to be a really consummate ukuleleist, I'm gonna have to drink more beer.  And become a hobo.
The Solstice parade is a cultural mashup and this woman is a great example.  She was wedged in between a group of naked girls covered in chocolate (or at least brown body paint) with gilded breasts, and these ladies below.  A massive number of pink sequin and pom-pom clad belly dancers that moved en mass as if straight out of a bollywood movie.
::Blink, blink:: Is that the girl from the Blind Melon video?  I never knew bees turned into butterflies!And finally, a dude sandwich.  There were two pieces of bread, one swiss cheese, a lettuce and tomato.  Every so often along the parade route they would draw people out from the crowd and smother them.  But I was left wondering- why no mayo?

All in all I had a good time.  We walked around the fair, visited with a friend selling some crafts at the I Heart Rummage event and enjoyed a barbecue with some other friends to wrap it all up.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

YOU were the mayo!

I am so annoyed by this year's parade. First, my crazy family was in town so half of them refused to go (nekkid people!!! no!!!) So there was this complete cluster-eff of trying to figure out how to get six people to Ballard where they would not be sullied. Then when we left at 10, we got caught in INSANITY of traffic as the Alaskan Viaduct was closed down for the damn Race for the Cure. Took us an hour to get from West Seattle to Western Ave.

By the time we got to my friend's house, it was too late to catch the bus from Ballard to Fremont, so we had more c-f-ness while we figured out who was going to drive where. So we finally made it to Fremont, parked illegally (and got a ticket, of course -- I know we suck but we were really just over the edge of one of those "do not park north of here" things but I don't blame them). Then we got there SO late we couldn't get a good spot to watch, and we were at the tail end so half the bikers must have dropped out much earlier. So we saw a lot of milling about but not much activity on that end. And a few things over the tops of heads. But not much.

Such a disappointment compared to my front-row seats of last year.

*cries*...

Anonymous said...

If it makes you feel any better- I didn't see nearly as many nekkid people as I thought I would. I think the best part is truly seeing all the kids that are involved. I totally wanted to take one of the monkeys home with me!

Oh and a word on the traffic? Ridiculous. As my merry band of friends and I walked down to the parade a long line of cars were playing the inchy-by-inch waiting game but this one kid sat leaning out the window yelling "SUCKERS!" at everyone who passed. His mom was morified but it completley cracked us up.