New York City has Thanksgiving. Boston has St. Patrick's Day. And Seattle has... The Summer Solstice! So really, who needs mainstream holidays when Seattle's Solstice Parade is this exciting!? From naked bike riders to a pink army of belly dancers, crazy foam floats to a hugging cult, angry pirates to a full-on funk band, drag queens to spacemen, zombies to stilt jugglers, neighborhood marching bands to ladies dipped in chocolate (Yum!), what more could a parade spectator ask for? Well, maybe Christopher Lee sacrificing a virgin to a 30 foot wicker man, but you can't have everything.

Wicker men aside, I love The Fremont Summer Solstice Parade. It is indisputably the most fun, fun, fun, FUN parade in existence!!! You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll see more painted private areas than Mardi Gras. And who doesn't love public indecency in broad daylight right in front of the cops? I know I do!

So here's to ancient pagan practices, a sunny Seattle summer, and giving the local freaks one day per year to let it all hang out. And I do mean all...hang...out!

God, I love Seattle!