Nuclear Summer - Fremont Solstice Parade

This is the first year that I have been involved with Seattle's heralded Solstice Parade, the festival of the famed naked cyclists. I apprenticed with Seattle-based puppeteer Brian Kooser on a parade ensemble that poked fun at mankind's limited knowledge of nuclear power by creating a parade float of a flimsy nuclear cooling tower, surrounded by workers in turn-of-the-century, Jules Verne-style equipment. We walked the parade route, inspecting onlookers for radiation exposure, chasing down deformed babies, and making the audience thoroughly uncomfortable. All in all, it was a success. You can read more about the Fremont Solstice Parade here.

The Fremont Arts Council facilitates a number of parade festivals throughout the year. The FAC Headquarters is an old powerhouse in Fremont that has been converted to an open studio and puppet lab. They host ongoing classes and workshops in community art and crafts. The Powerhouse is where most of the floats and props for the Parade are built. I worked with Brian and about 8 other artists and performers for about 6 weeks to create "Nuclear Summer." The tower, the monster, our helmets, and our armor is for the most part papier-mache. We tried to make our equipment look as clumsy and defunct as possible. In the parade there were 5 ground-workers, 2 stilt-walkers, and 2 deformed Chernobyl babies. I was the shorter stilt-walker, and my duty was to keep the babies under control. One of them, played by the magnificent Corey Scherrer, handed out terrible candy to onlookers.

The wonderful Barbara Lueke 

The tower under construction

Brian

Brian and the monster

The lovely Ally "Petitbonbon", my comrade-in-legs

Rivets & paint

Corey & Mylinda. 

The amazingly sexy Brian Kooser

Frank Zucker

Yours truly. The sexiest picture of me that exists.

Footage. Those Freemasons had to give candy to EVERYONE.

Special thanks to Brian Kooser, Deidre Muns, Costica Usanu, Marchette Dubois, Evelyn Bittner, Jason Wilson, Corey Scherrer, Barbara Lueke, Leslie Zenz, David Marine, and Toni Mikulka.