Solstice Parade

Saturday, June 20, 1998

What a fantastic day! The Seattle Cacophony Society has been in the Fremont Solstice Parade for several years, but this was the first time we actually had two contingents in the parade. This was done because Wally wanted to revive the InSantaCide project which I participated in last December, and Yasha wanted a traveling Pancake Breakfast as the Mystery Chef. He developed this character after finding an old (from the thirties!) gas company recipe flyer, supposedly written by the Mystery Chef. He wears chef garb, a black eyemask, and a question mark affixed to the front of his toque. He is one of our most creative minds, and the author of "Put the Hank back in Thanksgiving," The flyer for the Vortex Fest a few years ago, and our "Ask Socks" brochure. I was glad that we had enough people to make a good showing in both of these parade entries.

I got a ride over to Fremont with Jayson, XE, and the new baby. I donated some paper plates, plastic forks, and napkins to the cause; I bought these by mistake back in December, and they've been riding around in my car ever since! It was a bright, sunny morning, really beautiful. We drove over to Tom "the Law" Lawrence's house, which is right on Fremont Avenue. Mysteriously, there is no access to his building from that street, because the hill is too steep, I guess. We had to get into the building from the alley. The members of the pancake breakfast crew were there. They'd rigged up a small metal table with casters to hold a propane gas stove, with all the tools and supplies they would need to cook and serve pancakes while rolling down the street.

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I left and walked down the hill, making a stop at the drugstore to buy much-needed sunscreen and sunglasses. I had applied sunscreen at home, but I anticipated needing more, and the rest of the crew would probably need it too! I had left my bottle at home when I spontaneously accepted a ride from Jayson, as well as the sunglasses that Jason bought me the other week. So I bought another pair.

Of course it was still very early, well before the appointed time that Wally said we should meet, so I took a little walk through the fair and bought a gyro for breakfast. There was a bench in front of the Redhook Brewery where Wally said we should meet, so I sat down and ate, contriving to not get the gyro spilled all over me, though there was a sprinkling of lettuce shreds on the ground around me when I was done.

Finally, I spied Santa Wally and Santa Linda getting dressed on the sidewalk on the opposite diagonal corner, and walked over to join them. I offered sunscreen, which Santa Wally helped Santa Linda apply. It took a while, but eventually the members of our group arrived and we walked to the parade staging area proper. I was plesed that Santa Eric, Santa Simon and Santa Brian were all able to join us!

There followed a period of milling around, and debating whether to accept a mostly non-decorated float that we were offered, to carry our stuff on. The problem with this proposal was that there weren't any folks signed up to push the float, and we had a lack of confidence in our ability to recruit bystanders to join in and push. So we decided to just walk in the parade and carry our paraphernalia. Santa Brian took on this carrying role, and performed it admirably throughout the parade. Thanks, Brian!

We got next to our Pancake breakfast Cacophony brethren in the parade lineup, and waited for it to be step-off time.

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One disadvantage of being in the parade; you can't watch the parade. But there were lots of good costumes and cool floats. My buddy Luke is usually on the last float in the parade, with a steel band. (He builds and coordinates the float, he doesn't play in the band.) but the parade route was changed this year and went the opposite direction, so they decided to reverse the order and put them first. The float was decorated with fruit and jello molds. I don't know why! but it was very festive.

My technique in the parade, besides general frivolity and shaking my santa totem (a stuffed santa head on a short pole, visible in some of the pictures) was to run up to someone on the edge of the street, put my hand on his arm and gaze earnestly into his face, and ask:

"Have you been naughty, or nice?"

If he said "Nice," I'd shake my head a bit, and say "Think again!" in a drawling, sly sort of way, and he'd change his answer to "naughty!"

Then I'd say, "Say it loud!" and he'd shout, "I've been Naughty!" then I'd give him a piece of candy with a cry of joy: "Yes!"

The crowd got a big kick out of this.

We ran out of candy part way through the parade (group members would keep throwing handfuls, instead of the individual treatment I describe above), but Wally dashed out of the parade route and back to the drug store and brought back many more bags. It worked out just right, except that chocolate isn't the wisest choice for a very warm day in full sun. Wally's crowd technique was to shout in a very gruff voice, "Naughty or nice?!!" If anyone said "Nice!" he replied "No nice people!" and sprayed them with silly string. The crowd enjoyed this, except for the folks that got sprayed.

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After the parade, I went shopping (of course!). I bought a bunch of dresses and skirts at "Gone Troppo," the same company I bought so much from at the U-district Street Fair in May, after asking where they were at the info booth. I'd walked past them several times! I didn't even try anything on. When I find things I like, I've learned it pays for me to buy them, since I keep wearing things for a long time. I think the booth owners were a bit startled, though. Probably they don't usually get folks buying so many items at once. The man even knocked a bit off the price, which was good.

I had wanted to stay late enough in the afternoon to listen to (and dance to) the Dusty 45s, a local swing/rockabilly group, but I found I was getting too tired. I missed running into Alan of Heinovision fame, but I'm not sure he'd have recognized me, and I know I've never seen a picture of him. Oh, well, next time! So I bussed it home and rested before the evening.

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Saturday evening I went to the Century Ballroom, to hear and dance to a popular San Francisco band, Indigo Swing. It was so crowded and hot (and my toe got stepped on. ouch!) that I wished I had gone to hear them in Tacoma like some of my dance buddies did. But I had a good time last night, so I'm not really complaining.

I danced both evenings with Michael. He is so nice and polite, and a lot of fun to dance with. It really feels like a partnership. He's a very comfortable lead, and very musical too!

The band really swings! I enjoyed them the previous time I heard them, too.

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