Solstice Cyclists
"[2] 1992 was the first year cyclists are said to have appeared in the fourth annual Solstice Parade with the Mighty Nice Naked Girls playing these Blue Sousaphones.
"Only such a rich artistic community could shake off the staid reserve from nearby Ballard to let loose with such creative energy and fun.
... Buck-naked cyclists who streaked the parade for the second year may have crossed the boundary of good taste (would that be Leary Way Northwest?).
The city did not file charges because, according to the prosecuting office: "in order to prove indecent exposure, it's necessary to show the person's intent was to be obscene and cause alarm.
But police say yesterday's arrests were made primarily for safety: The nude bicyclists typically dash quickly in and out of the parade audience.
"[11] In the eighth year, a second-time rider hosted a bodypainting party at her Wallingford residence in response to SPD's actions of 1998 and friction between the Fremont Arts Council and Mark Sidran/City of Seattle.
Wearing flesh-colored bodysuits with exaggerated body parts sewn on, they cycled down the parade route while two bicyclists pretending to be police officers gave chase.
'"[12] "Here in the self-anointed center of the universe, where the Waiting for the Interurban sculptures wear more clothing than the nude cyclists who grace the annual Solstice Parade, high-tech is moving in.
Hadrann suggests shoppers take along a few pairs of Chinese disposable underwear (made of paper) for saddle-buying expeditions."
[15] To the amusement of many, this year an artist had a painting in the parade showing a naked female bicyclist next to a baton-wielding police officer.
The panel was put on a small platform on wheels and parade goers were invited to have their pictures taken with their heads poking out of the holes of the naked bicyclists and the officer.
"[16] Licata later lamented in a Seattle Times article, "I was waving to the photographer - smack in the middle of a pack of painted, naked bicyclists.
The float featured wispy clouds and gold-painted "chariot" exercise bikes to evoke a sense of pulling the sun through the summer.
Zaitzeff sued Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske in a federal lawsuit because he "desires to go nude at the Fremont Solstice Parade without fear of unjust arrest".
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik said that because Zaitzeff had not been arrested for indecent exposure, the court couldn't make a prospective ruling on the matter.
"If bike riders rode nude in a Los Angeles summer solstice celebration, the LAPD would shoot them dead, after a 'slow speed' chase televised on all 28 local channels.
The 20th Annual Solstice Parade took place on June 21, 2008, marking the 17th consecutive year that the painted cyclists have accompanied.
Slightly fewer cyclists than in previous years rode, and tension between both the Seattle police and the Fremont Arts Council was minimal.
The painting party took place this time in Belltown, meaning the cyclists had to ride a full three miles through the Seattle neighborhood of Queen Anne to get to Fremont.
After making a surprise entrance by entering through the crowd at the middle of the parade route, on Fremont Avenue (which had never been done before), riders were initially rerouted because of the timing of the permits.
An optional repeat loop-back plan through part of the route was added in 2010, designed to extend the experience for both the riders who opted for it as well as the crowd lining the streets, with a side benefit of minimizing any time gap between the end of the cyclists and the start of the parade proper.
That plan met with some confusion due to communication issues with parade officials, and therefore mixed results, but riders vowed to remedy that in 2011.
The skies were overcast and the temperature was in the mid-50s with intermittent misty light rain—for the second year in a row, the third Saturday in June was unseasonably cool.
Earlier in the week, plastic had been laid on the floor and taped into one big surface, then tables set out to delineate separate painting areas.
From there the parade snaked through Fremont in a circuitous route, getting longer at each pass, until it finally ended at Gas Works Park.
After a morning paint party at a marine hangar in Seattle's Shilshole neighborhood, hundreds of cyclists and skaters rode through Ballard, pausing for a group photo at Ross Park, before entering the parade course in Fremont at 2:45 pm.
En route to the parade starting point they were joined by hundreds of other painted cyclists who swelled the ranks at each passing intersection .
After subtracting expenses, the organized paint party group was able to donate $2,000 to the Fremont Arts Council to help defray the parade costs the following spring.
The alliance between the free-spirited biking artists and the Fremont Arts Council who holds the permit for the actual parade is rapidly fraying at the edges and the outcome remains to be seen.
There was no parade either year due to COVID-19, but a small group of cyclists met up at Gasworks Park and rode through the city.
