Fair welcomes all in its 35th year

Several times on Saturday, the Republicans were congratulated for their bravery.

This was, after all, the Fremont Fair. One street away, naked middle-aged men were walking in cowboy boots, red scarves around their necks. Couples had painted their bodies in purple and put peacock feathers on their heads.

And there the Republicans stood in red T-shirts, handing out brochures. Steve Beren, their long-shot challenger to Congressman Jim McDermott, shook hands in the sunshine, smiling in a suit and a tie.

"It takes a lot of guts," said Randy Rumley, 41, who sat several booths away with the Seattle Atheists.

This is the third year the King County Republican Party has set up shop at the city's celebration of the summer solstice. At a festival known for its eccentricity, in a neighborhood with a statue of Lenin, the Republicans were perhaps the biggest non-conformists of them all. One of them wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the image of Ronald Reagan.

They were subjected to some profanity, and saw some middle fingers raised. But there was also support, they said, from the city's so-called Silent Republicans. And in the spirit of the event, most fairgoers took a live-and-let-live approach.

"It's that kind of fair — open to whoever shows up — nude bicyclists or the Republican Party," said Tamara Brown, 54, a volunteer at the event.

The fair celebrated its 35th anniversary Saturday, raising money for the Fremont Public Association, which helps an estimated 25,000 people with shelter, food and employment. The two-day event, which drew about 100,000 people last year, features live music, an art-car show, skateboard demonstrations and the famous Solstice Parade, with dozens of naked bicyclists leading the way.

It is a carnival of creative expression, with humans dressing up as animals, and animals dressing up as humans. Shortly after 11 a.m., a naked man jogged through the art-car show, his fake tail flapping in the wind. A few minutes later, a dachshund wandered down that same path in pink chaps and a pink cowboy hat.

Chris Gilbert, 20, stood by the sidelines of the parade route in a tuxedo-styled thong, the tails covering his rear end. He had flames painted all over his body. He only recently moved to the state, and it was his first time at the Fremont Fair.

"Just had to get out of Nebraska," he said.

Behind him, the scope of Seattle's volunteerism was on display, with booths set up for everything from the Tibetan Nuns Project to Save Our Wild Salmon to Citizens for Off-Leash Areas. The leaning in most booths was decidedly liberal.

The fair was a first for one of the Republican volunteers: Jeff Gunnoe, an accountant who lives in Woodinville. There were plenty of things he liked about it, from food to music to the colorful flags hanging everywhere. Nudity was not the main attraction, however.

"To each his own, is my attitude on that one," said Gunnoe, 33. "As long as it's tasteful."

In a city that voted 81 percent Democrat in the last presidential election, the Republicans faced an uphill battle at the fair. They were pushing Mike McGavick for U.S. Senate and Steve Beren for the House of Representatives. By early afternoon, they had signed up few volunteers for those campaigns.

But they handed out plenty of brochures, they said, and heard some whispered words of support. And they got a few curious people engaged in discussion.

If you ask Ted Choi, a Republican volunteer, even the insults were encouraging.

"At least they care," he said. "That's the main thing."

Cara Solomon: 206-464-2024 or csolomon@seattletimes.com