This year the Solstice Parade was hot! Not because any risqué behavior, touchy political commentary, or outrageous costumes were pushing the limits of conventionality. It was hot because the temperatures were pushing triple digits on the thermometer. The whole State has been suffering from a short interval of regional warming. This weekend, shade was king, and liquids were in demand.

But in downtown Santa Barbara on Saturday, the colorful show went on as usual. Drummers and dance teams moved slowly up State Street, decorated in tie-dye, fairy wings, and body paint. And according to the frolicking fingers of the dedicated staff of edhat.com and the shiny metal tally counters that they danced with, the number of parade percussionists, who were beating the heat with rebellious rhythms, was right in line with previous hot-but-not-so-hot parades.

One big different in the parade this year was that Mayor Marty Blum wore conventional shoes instead of zany ones as she's worn in years past. We know this because we have photo-documented the Mayor's Solstice Parade footwear for many years. The Mayor told us on Sunday that she thinks Ed has a shoe-fetish. And of course, she's right.

The total number of drums in the parade this year was 113, less than last Solstice and about the same as two earthly trips around the sun ago. We also counted 99 drummers, fewer than the number of drums because sometimes one drummer beat multiple drums.

For our tally, other percussion instruments like tambourines, bells, and garbage can lids were not counted as drums, nor were the people playing these instruments counted as drummers.

The dedicated staff counted drums and drummers with two hands and took pictures with the other. Click here to check out all of our hot photos. Also, check our up-to-date graph of all the Edhat parade counts over the last four years - horses at the Fiesta Parade, dogs in the Big Dogs parade, drums in the Solstice Parade, and Santa Hats in the holiday parade.

He may not have run the Edhat Dog to victory in the State Street Mile, but Iron Scotty continues to win Edhat contests with his savant-like prediction. Submitting his entry 28 hours before the parade began, Scotty guessed 113 drums and 97 drummers! He wins another t-shirt!

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