Thousands pack Fremont for Solstice Parade

Fremont’s biggest bash of the year kicked off at noon with the annual audacious display of painted bodies on bikes.

The Solstice Parade began with 300 to 400 mostly naked bicyclists (an unofficial record) riding proudly down 36th. They also took a quick swing through Ballard, to get things rolling.

They’re “officially” not part of the parade, which is conducted by the Fremont Arts Council, but a popular tradition, to say the least.

This year’s theme is “Phoenix Rising,” so to the tune of Richard Strauss’ opening score in the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey, an orange firebird slowly evolved from the center of the float.

Thousands of people packed the neighborhood, clamoring for every square foot of land along the parade route, even climbing up Lenin. There were so many people, our iPhone couldn’t connect to cell service. And as you can see from our Fremont Twitter page, people were sending Tweets like crazy.

The Superhuggers spread the love to the crowd, one hug at a time.

Liquid Belly Dancers flow down the parade route.

In Fremont style, many of the art ensembles in the parade have a message to send. Here, the Ice Queens remind the crowd that ice reserves are melting fast.

And the “Bag Monster Brigade” illustrated how plastic bags and bottles are “an ocean of a problem” for the environment.

We’ll be posting more parade photos here soon (yes, the bikers, too), as well as coverage from the rest of the Fremont Fair.