The historic Fremont Solstice Parade started almost 30 years ago and is produced by Fremont Arts Council, a non-profit organization.1500 nude cyclists start the parade.
Thousands of Solstice celebrators were out on the streets of downtown Fremont on June 18, giving a good showing of enthusiasm for the start of summer.
The parade started at 3 p.m. at Third and Leary Way and parade openers, 1500 Solstice Cyclers, didn’t feign from showing their summer skin under a vibrant mosaic of body paint despite the temperature hanging at 65 degrees and a brisk smattering of rain. With the procession, the air heated up and the rain cleared leaving paint relatively unsmeared.
Bicycles carried bodies displaying dreamscapes of weirdness from depictions of cosmic archetypes to marvel action heroes. Freakers, geeks, moralists, families, pagans, believers and thousands of other people and un-earthlings (including Short and Tall Grays) thronged 36th Street North and jeered, whistled and cheered on the creatures of Funky Fremont as the painted ones rode the main street of the Center of the Universe in celebration of summer.
Oddly, Mulder and Scully were not in attendance.
The historic Fremont Solstice Parade started almost 30 years ago and is produced by Fremont Arts Council, a non-profit organization.
“We have been delighting crowds at the Center of the Universe with fantastic floats, marching bands, and other free-spirited street performances since 1989,” wrote the Council.
The parade went on to feature art performances, floats, marching bands and activists. Indeed, the freak flag was flown en masse and it flew all the way to Lake Union where the festivities, debauchery and sheer ecstasy continued.
The parade ended at Gas Works Park where the Council hosted the Fremont Solstice Celebration, which featured HONK Fest West, a music festival of local and national community street bands, food trucks, beer gardens and art instillations.
However, the festivities were not finished in Fremont. Bands, including The Helio Sequence and Hey Marseilles rocked the weekend to crowds soaking up the sun.
For more information about the parade, contact volunteer@fremontartscouncil.org or visit their website www.fremontartscouncil.org.
