Fremont Solstice Parade

Fun festival with lots of things to do, eat and drink. The Parade of naked people sure was long this year! We waited for the rest of the parade for about 20 min before leaving they need to get it together and not have the long break between.

Fremont Solstice Parade is pretty much the highlight of the Fremont Solstice Fair.
Naked bike ride is what people line up on the streets to see! Never seen something like this before until I moved here, very Seattle!!! Most of the riders have body paint on with cool designs to take some of the attention away from the «lady garden» or the «gentleman sausage», but we all cant help but look. There are also handful of riders that just go straight up buck nekkid with no body paint! You will see all kinds of shapes & sizes during the bike parade, see all kinds of unique costumes and bike decorations too.
Other than that its a regular parade with a marching band, some small floats, some entertainment, and stuff they throw into the crowd.

The annual hippie and exhibitionist show.
It’s pretty cool for mischievous adults, but I’m not sure a bunch of naked people tripping balls and/​or drunk off their ass is for everyone else.
I was drinking to excess much the whole time and just about everyone else I saw was as well. You’ll need it to handle much of the poor quality nudity, though they are looking better in recent years. If you missed it, don’t worry. Being naked on bikes is now a form of civil protest, besides being one of the more injury prone activities, and happens all the time all over town.
If you’re not in the parade, as they have spent anywhere from an hour to months preparing for it, you can still make a full day of tooling around crazy-​packed Fremont being poorly served and tripping over freaks. This might be good or bad depending on your present level of unreality and intoxication.
If you don’t have anything better to do on the solstice, you’ll likely find some fun here.

Who doesn’t love a good parade associated with art and a fun festival?!
Everyone talks about the naked bikers, and they are a highlight, for sure. But because of that I will try to focus on other reasons to come crowd my little portion of the city.
1– The festival is top-​notch. There is a giant slide, a pit bull kissing booth (ADORABLE), Seattle Parks giveaways, local craft makers hawking t-​shirts to beer cozies, nudist booths, and much more!
2– The food makes me want to stretch my stomach until it explodes. 7 – 11 has a booth with free slushies, there are hand-​dipped corndogs, funnel cakes, roasted corn-​on-​the-​cob, piroshky, and a million others. YUM!
3– The parade is fun. Post up on a hill where you can look down, find a spot kind of early, or be pretty tall. Despite the painted, glorious nudity, this parade is family friendly and there are lots of kids in attendance. Different themes abound, but you wont see any corporate marketing. It’s all artsy, dancey, and fun!
Bring sunscreen and get cash BEFORE you arrive! Lines for both food and cash can be super long. Also take the bus. Parking isn’t worth $ 20 when you can take the bus.
Have fun!

It’s a parade, what’s not to like? It does start off with a naked bike parade though so if you don’t want your kids to see certain things distract them, cover their eyes, leave em at home with a babysitter, etc. good spots to see the parade do go fast so make sure you’re getting there early enough to get a good spot!

It’s okay. Generally very crowded and it’s hard to see the floats. Also, lots of nude bike riders. I don’t have a problem with nudity, but beware the crusty old man wearing nothing but paint riding his bike.
Food is okay, art stalls are okay. I’ve experienced better.

Fun to see not for kids!
There was a surprising amount of bike riders. Wearing only paint, some only wearing a backpack!
The floats were fun to see, some were confusing I didn’t know what message they were trying to get out.
So worth seeing once for the experience!

This is a review for the 2012 Solstice Parade.
There’s nothing that says «Seattle» more than «Fremont» and there’s nothing in Fremont that says «Seattle» more than the annual solstice parade.
If you need your fill of naked, painted up cyclists, Fremont Solstice Parade is the way to go. 2012 had these cyclists take up at least 30 minutes parading past us in their Lincolnesque-​Captain America-​Batman-​Dalmatian-​Leopard print getups. This was followed by some pretty spectacular floats consisting of a leggy spider, butterflies and other spectacular contraptions.
Arrived about an hour early to nab a good spot, but that didn’t seem to matter much once the parade got going — stragglers pushed their way to the front.
I swear to god, if the parade wasn’t held on a Seattle June day where the weather’s more cooperative and I brush up on my cycling skills, so that I can ride at speeds of up to 40mph, I might one day join the parade. Sadly, Fremont already has a resident troll.

Year after wonderful year! Wild, fun, people painted different colors, bands, dancers. free family fun.

2012 marked the first year I went to the Fremont Solstice Parade. It’s another one of those mysteries that I can’t quite figure out — why didn’t I go sooner? I never answer those questions sufficiently.
I am reminded of what a true celebration summer is in Seattle. The sun, the warmth, the lack of pants and what not. I was expecting a parade and got an experience.
The most stressful part of the day was finding parking, which I thought would never happen. I was awestruck as I neared the parade route and saw a HUGE crowd and I pondered how me and my shortness would be able to see a thing. I decided to head towards the end of the parade route near Gas Works Park. I think there are pros and cons to being on that end. I waited patiently and I began to hear drums, music, and clapping. That was followed by screaming, cheering, and all around happy noises.
I loved the festive feel of the parade as well as the casual acquaintances I made for the day. I was struck by the creativity as I knew not how much could be accomplished with body paint and tissue paper.
After the parade, I headed for Gas Works to enjoy some of the festivities there — of which there were many. I had a great time and I can’t say that I’ve experienced anything like that before.
I loved the bees on stilts this year and the wickedly tall flowers. The hula hoopers were also one of my favorites, particularly a guy I see around town a lot during the summer. He was amazing! I’m posting some pictures after this but I’m not sure about posting some of them so here’s a link to my flickr photos.

Any event that gets parents to tell their kids that body freedom is not nasty is alright by me.
Hey Christians, leave the kids alone!
Get a clue after all, if the almighty God created the human body in his/​her own image why should it be so shameful?
Let the fundamentalist Christians to themselves, with all the divorce, cheating, and paternity suits that they have. They are messed up!
There is nothing wrong with one of god’s bods and thank you to the people of Fremont for hosting them.
By the way Fremont, and Seattle. I travelled a long way just for this celebration. Money was spent in your area. If you mess with this event, you will never see my money again.

In order to celebrate summer in Seattle, you must cover yourself in paint, and ride a bike naked through the streets of Fremont. It’s a right of passage, or something. Of course, since it’s «summer» in Seattle, it ALWAYS rains during the Solstice parade, and it’s cold… so lots of tiny weiners.
My first visit to the Parade was 2 weeks after I came to Seattle for a Summer internship in 2008… and I have been every year since. It’s the one thing I make sure and do every year. When I officially moved to Seattle, I moved to Fremont, because I just loved how weird this neighborhood is.
Make sure and get here early, it is always packed. Also, you don’t want to miss the naked bike riders that roam the parade route before the beginning of the parade.
I just love the fact that anything goes, and anyone can be a part of the parade, I love the sense of community it evokes, and just how much fun it is. I always bring friends, I even brought my grandma once!
It’s very kid friendly too, there are even kids in the Parade. Yes, there are naked people, so be prepared. If you aren’t ok with that… well, stay out of Fremont, because we don’t want your kind anyways.

How can you not love naked hippies on bicycles? This has to be one of the best people watching events on the planet. There are great costumes and who doesn’t love nudity? The parade has a great festive, fun spirit. There are also lots of booths with food and handmade items to check out. Parking is a beast, but it’s worth it.

I was driving in Ballard one fine semi-​sunny afternoon to get my hippie on at the Trader Joe’s when suddenly:
«C’mon Eileen» started playing loudly from the corner of the street and started to get louder and louder…
My brother: what the???
Me: YES. I don’t know what’s happening but YES.
I stop the car mid-​road and pull out my camera thinking «I have no idea what I’m looking at but these people are blowing my mind in all the right ways»
The photo evidence was some highly-​fashionable lads and lasses on ghetto bikes clothed only by some cardboard boxed painted as milk cartons, boats, and food-​products.
Thanks to Unilocal,many months later I know now that these were stray/​leftover cyclists leaving their solstice parade. I am definitely doing this next year. According to these reviews I got the g-​rated preview.

I love this parade! But, I’ve never been a part it so far!
You can see how popular this is with how many people actually attend. The parade itself is always very creative and green (environment friendly) And, of course, my favorite part is the nude cyclists.
I’ve been to several of the parades the last few years. I can definitely see the improvement in many ways especially the cyclists. They are getting hotter and hotter every year!
(shout out to my friend Jamie Y, «You are HOT»)
One of those days, I would love to be in the parade myself :-)

Let me ask you something. Do you like to look at yourself naked? If you don’t, you’re probably in the 99^th percentile of humanity. If you do, you’re probably a narcissist. In Fremont, for one day a year, you can be a narcissist cyclist! Say that three times fast.
This year’s Solstice Parade was my first. I actually attended prior to us buying our house in Fremont so I suppose you could say that all the naked sealed the deal for me. I just dig Fremont’s style, and the fact that no one finds it creepy at all that there were children in that parade. Okay, I have actually seen a few people write things about the creepy factor – but, the entire world is a little creepy. Just think about how creepy the world was before people started point out all of the creepy things. Maybe creepiness is all a part of the human experience. Maybe when we eliminate all of the creepy things we become weaker and less tolerant as a species. Maybe that’s when the terrorists truly win.

You mean we get to review parades? SCORE!
In previous years I would have given this five stars, but this year I found a better parade… so it gets four.
I love this parade, it’s a ton of fun, and my kids enjoy it as well. The downsides are PARKING (luckily we have a friend who lives up the street and has a driveway) and CROWDS (um, sure, sit on my feet…). Sheesh. This parade attracts a ton of people, and even when you think the rain is going to make some of them stay at home, you get the largest crowd ever.
I highly recommend not taking small children to the street fair after, as it is even more crowded and full of drunk people. Last year a drunk guy ran right into me when I was carrying my infant in a Moby on my chest. Luckily she wasn’t hurt, though I had to stop and check.

Well this was my first Fremont Solstice Parade. I do not really get the theme of the parade. The naked bike parade seems to overshadow this event. There was huge crowds here today. Difficult at times to walk through the streets of Fremont to get a good look of the parade. There was some amusing floats and people dressed in odd colors and shapes. And there was nakedness.
I think the theme is really about creativity and what kind of outlandish things can be seen here. Nothing truly appealed particularly to me though. There was some zombie children which kind of looked interesting and then the fight between clouds and the sun. With the sun getting its ass kicked. It would appear that is accurate by the current weather pattern.
Then there are some random things like the pretzel and wiener. To symbolize love for German food? If this was on some street without the context of the Fremont Fair, you would think this would be about hawking said items. I thought it was mildly amusing, though I do not quite get it.
I do give props to the creativity that goes to putting on events like this. And this parade really does separate the Fremont event from the ones in other neighborhoods following it for the summer.

Definitely a fun event to attend. Especially if you’re from out of town and you want a taste of Seattle culture!
It’s not every day you see people bearing it all as they walk down the street. I often think, «Are their co-​workers here? What if their boss is here?» It cracks me up that people are so bold. I suppose I’m jealous of that boldness on some small level too. I’m a fan of clothing though. Heck — I wear layers!
If you’re up for being wildly entertained, don’t forget your camera and make sure you get here early enough to get a good view. Celebrating the first day of summer can’t be this fun anywhere else.

It’s not everyday that you can see a 70 year old man in leather assless chaps. At least not every day in my world. The Fremont Solstice Parade understands your need to see such a sight once in your lifetime. They understand and provide.
Not only did I see old man butt (I could’ve done without), but I also saw naked cyclists, break-​dancers, stilt walkers, belly dancers and floats made of recyclable materials.
The parade was completely entertaining and hysterical. It was well worth parking miles away, walking more than I have in ages and squishing into a sweaty crowd.
I’ll be back next year!