Solstice Info
Here’s the basic nuts and bolts info on the Solstice parade. A huge thanks to Mia and Carley from the Moustache, Steve from Awesomtown, Danielle and Danny from the Pirates, Justin from the Beyond Thunderdome, and many others for helping with the planning. A ginormous thanks to Rob from the Pirates for helping to get us into the Parade, and setting up the bar we are meeting at.
We will be meeting up at the Ballard Grill and Ale House located at 4300 Leary Way NW right across the street from Hales Brewery at 10:00am. The bar has agreed to open early and there is an added incentive to show up. Supposedly, some of the naked bike riders will also be at this bar stripping down and painting themselves for their ride. It’s going to be an interesting morning.
The parade officially starts at Noon, and leaves from Lucca Statuary at 3623 Leary Way NW, which is right down the street from where we are assembling. The parade lasts approximately 90 minutes. It ends at Gasworks park, where there will be a beer garden for the parade participants. If you did not know it, there is also the Fremont Fair all day Saturday and Sunday, so after the Parade there is plenty to do.
As to what we are doing during the Parade, well it will be very free form. We will have some throw down bases and kickball’s for when the Parade stops (it stops frequently), the Pirates are bringing a water cannon to shoot water balloons into the crowd, our regular costumes and skits. One of the Parade rules is NO TEXT which is a bit of a problem for most of our team jerseys. We have a few ways to combat this. Mia from the Danger Moustache suggests wearing a costume that interprets your team theme, nickname, or just a costume you want to wear. I will bring some fabric tape so that we can tape over any text on your team jersey. We have also floated the idea of taping over the text, and then when the Parade starts, just take the tape off as a taunt to the Parade itself. No text also means no signs and banners. If you do make one, just keep it under wraps until after the Parade starts, and then whip it out.
Someone said last night that there is also no electronics, but I cannot find that anywhere in there rules, so I say bring your electronics. I’m going to regret that after 90 minutes of crazed k-tar playing. Any mobile PA systems should be fine also. We are marching next to band though, so we will get their musical overflow.
Alcohol! If you want to drink during the Parade, you will need to cover it up. We cannot just crack open beers while marching, it’s not allowed. So bring some flasks, bota bags, wooden legs, or just pre-funk heavily and wait 90 minutes until we hit the beer gardens.
Nudity! Unfortunately, you cannot just walk around nude. If you are going to be naked, you must work it into some type of costume, which is why the naked bikers paint themselves. It’s Art!
We could use some more wagons, wheeled coolers, and mobile storage for water balloons, cupcakes, bottles of water, kickball’s, etc. If you have anything that we could pull along with us and carry items in, please bring it. If you need help transporting something, we have some volunteers and please contact me so we can set something up.
Getting long here and I am sure I have lost a few of you, so I will save the zany inspirational emails for later. I hope as many of you come out as possible, feel free bring your significant others and kids if you want. It should be quite the experience. Questions?
Here is the official rules:
- No Printed Words Any printed communications, written words, recognizable logos, signage, leaf-letting, or advertising in any form are prohibited on the parade route. Participants must stretch to express their ideas visually, groups flow together in one juxtaposed whole, and we’re all happily free of logos for the day.
- No Motor Vehicles People take back the streets! Creations are moved with human-power (motorized wheelchairs are always welcome); we’re happily free of cars for the day.
- No Live Animals Dogs, cats and hamsters are happier and logistics are easier without poopers or pooper scoopers (aid dogs welcome).
- No Real Guns or Weapons Joy and love rule the streets. We are safe and free of guns and weapons for the day.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:57 am
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Solstice Info, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.