Fremont Fair

Fremont is kind of like Boulder. It’s the neighborhood in Seattle where all the earth-lovin, peace-makin hippies used to live, but then The Man (Adobe & Google) moved in and now it’s a little too expensive for the dirty, jobless hippies to stay. In it’s prime, they named it “the center of the universe” and advised people to turn their clocks back five minutes and enjoy “fremont time”.

Once a year at the summer solstice, otherwise snarky Seattlites shed their furrowed brows and get together for the Fremont Fair. People line up along the streets to get a good spot for viewing the parade, where local organizations make earth-tastic floats and brazen souls shed their clothes and ride their bikes naked.

I’m sorry, what was that? Yes, you heard right – the famed naked bike riders. This is the one day a year where body paint is a suitable replacement for cotton. It’s kind of exciting.

After the parade, we wander down to the street fair, where vendors and artisans line up for blocks and blocks. The chaotic streets reminded us of Japan, where Jon and Will had to admit it was kind of weird not being the tallest in the group.

Check it out, Elizabeth – this woman was felting:

Public events in Seattle are fantastic, because you can always count on Theo to be there, slanging bites of their premo-chocolates. Usually the crowds around them are so thick that I can get away from jon long enough to gorge myself and eat samples until I feel like puking. He loves me, so he just shakes his head and tries not to tell me “I told you so”.

I kind of love what Fremont represents – though I’m not convinced that it behaves this way the rest of the year.