Free spirits frolic at Fremont festivities

By Diane Brooks
Seattle Times staff reporter

ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES Paul "dizzyhips" Blair, who hula-hooped his way down the entire Fremont Solstice Parade route, gets some sprayed-on relief from the heat as he enters the home stretch below the Aurora Bridge. Other parade entrants included political-performance art, a 70-foot-long spine and about 50 nude bicyclists.

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But we only can hope those bicyclists mixed some sunscreen with all that psychedelic body paint and glitter that so vividly depicted the flamboyant heart of Fremont.

Seattle welcomed summer yesterday with its 16th annual Solstice Parade, a joyous, 75-minute celebration of all things wild and pagan.

"I love it, because it's not 64 big sparkly floats with beauty queens on top waving, and people politely applauding when they go by," said volunteer traffic controller Chelsea Teller, who coordinated her neon safety vest with orange-and-white clown makeup. "It's people being free, artistic souls, in all their whimsical splendor."

Sierra Willoughby, 34, was among about 50 nude bicyclists who opened the parade, drawing riotous cheers and applause from spectators lining the roughly two-mile parade route through the heart of Fremont.

	ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES Fremont's 16-foot tall statue of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin was transformed into the late Beatle John Lennon for the parade.

Willoughby wore only sandals and a crystal necklace with his purple-and-aqua body paint, which included a splendid depiction of Mount Rainier rising up his back.

It was his first nude public foray, excluding various counterculture events such as the Rainbow Gathering and the Burning Man Festival.

"This has sort of an organic feel to it," said Willoughby, standing (still naked), amid the crowd at the corner of North 34th Street and Stone Way, after finishing his own portion of the parade.

Police and the Fremont Arts Council, organizer of the event, said the parade was mostly peaceful, with no arrests. Maque daVis, the council's "ex-president for life," said 500 to 600 people participated. Scores of children lining the parade route seemed unabashed by the nudity.

Seattle 8-year-old Joseph Smith, who's been to five solstice parades now, said the bicyclists are his favorite part because their skin colors are so cool.

But his sister Rachel, 11, likes the music best.

"It's the variety," she said. "The marching bands and the belly-dance music and the ukuleles."

The Smith family had a perfect view of a parade highlight, a bit of political-performance art. The crowd hooted as a cardboard tank, powered by a pair of bicycles, crushed and deflated a 25-foot-tall Statue of Liberty.

	ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES Bill Moyer directs a 70-foot-long spine down the street, intimating the Democratic Party needs to "get a spine" as the parade took on an additional political flavor.

"Oooooh, they toppled liberty," yelled Jorge Sanchez, 38, a Seattle man standing near the kids.

The crowd chanted "vote — vote — vote — vote" as a ragtag group of volunteers used a giant air pump to reinflate the towering green symbol.

No printed words or signs were allowed in this year's parade, but that didn't stop the political statements.

Directly behind the statue came a large painted poster depicting President Bush and his cabinet. "Feel free to give up your freedom to be free," cried a member of that contingent, inviting the crowd to reach into a bucket of slop and throw handfuls at the cartoon.

Julie Lopez gleefully complied, flinging a handful of mushed vegetables.

"That was a physical release of frustration," she said, as she wiped off her hand.

Lopez, a Seattle legal assistant, said she and Sanchez plan to participate in the actual parade next year.

"Everyone in Seattle should do it at least once," she said.

Diane Brooks: 425-745-7802 or dbrooks@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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