Quote:
Originally Posted by crispus
While I respect Klondike's urge to keep this thread focused on this year (and so won't post photos to prove my claim), I would like to point out the appearance of several repeat riders; in particular, the carrot woman was one of the group Klondike dubbed "fab four" from '06, and the blue-sea-bubble-garnished-with-jellyfish is another of that same quartet.
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Vis-a-vis Pedro's post a couple back, the second repeater I referred to above was the one he shows (you can't see it from the angle in his post, but she seems to have a jellyfish as well as the blue dots, which is why I dubbed them bubbles).
Vis-a-vis the torre/not question, the leopard/cat woman is not the same one as the ones we were told were torre: the former ALWAYS (at least, up to this year, and probably this time as well - I just haven't had a chance to check date stamps in the deluge of pictures so far) paints the same way, and since she appeared that way last year, and not in purple, she couldn't be two people at once.
Vis-a-vis clothed/not, as Pedro's post with a story quote partly explained, cyclists are not an official part of the parade; in years gone by they just very briefly flashed the crowd just before the start of the banner-carriers who start the "real" procession, but gradually they've been expanding their presence (and hurrah for that, say I!) to making at least one and sometimes more loops before the parade, then hanging around at Gasworks Park, and often walking back into the main parade route. Since the nudity had only previously been part of the bike run, and has only gradually filtered back into the parade itself and to the after-parade celebration at Gasworks, there's always that personal-choice moment of when they'll put something more on, hence pictures of less-naked people after they ride. As with WNBRs, there are also occasionally riders who shed something along the way (and again, hurrah, say I!). Not having been there, I can't say whether the skater (not blader: that had me wondering whether these women might be part of the roller derby resurgence happening in several cities on the west coast) we all enjoy went naked from the start; either way, she's carrying her clothes in her back hand because, unlike bikers, there's no other place to put them.
Vis-a-vis locations and pictures, "Kite Hill" is the slope where Pedro's '06 comparison shot was taken, and where Klondike also shot several of his "Gasworks" group in the '06 set: it's the hill in Gasworks park which, because of its height and proximity to the water, a good breeze can be found; some of the pictures from this year are shot at the top of that hil, rather than just on its slope. The "Beer Garden" is a part of the Fremont Fair that the Solstice Parade is also part of; its location varies within the fair area year by year, depending on where there's room. People being partially or totally naked there is another expansion of where it's okay to be that way. This year the main paint party, again as Pedro's article mentioned, was well away from the parade route, and there was apparently also an after-party there, so some people made a round trip to and from Fremont through city streets. There was also at least one satellite painting party which was outside, so any outdoor painting shots probably came from there.
Vis-a-vis people not biking but being naked (with or without paint, and by now you know I say hurray!), just as with rollerbladers and now rollerskaters, it's part of the expansion of acceptable nudity I mention above.