June 26, 2006 - Return of the Drummers

Those of you who were at the Solstice Parade know quite well that the drums were back. Last year, which just so happened to be the First Annual Edhat Solstice Parade Drum count, there were an unusually low number of drummers drumming. We would have known even if we hadn’t counted them. What we didn’t know was whether it was an anomaly, like 100-year floods and inaccurate exit polls in Iowa, or a sudden change in the fabric of the parade itself.

After seeing the drums back in force, Ed is now convinced it was an anomaly. What else could it have been? Aside from more drums, the 2006 parade seemed very similar to the 2005 edition. Once again, the mayor wore silly shoes. And, once again, Edhat got an exclusive photo of them. Last year the shoes were pokka dotted; this year the shoes were fuzzy. Once again, Hatch & Parent had an invite-only Solstice party. And, once again, Edhat didn’t get invited – even though we gave them free advertising on our web site last year by including a picture of their party sign. BTW, it looks like the firm has had a good year. This year they didn’t need to use left over signs from Fiesta to announce their party. Oops. We probably shouldn’t be saying such things about a law firm, should we?

So, as you can see it was same parade time, same parade station. This year, however, there were more happy-handed bongo bangers and quick stick percussionists sauntering slowly up State Street keeping the rhythm of the march. Dancing to the beat of the different drummers were hula girls, girls dressed in blue and yellow, girls dressed in white lacy skirts, and a random assortment of people who just didn’t care that an appearance on Dancing with Stars was not in their future.

The parade, led by a couple of oversized snails, went at a snails pace, but the drummer didn’t beat their drums slowly. They drummed up enough excitement to get us to the Autumnal Equinox and beyond.

The floats and costumes this year were as exciting as past years. For those of you who could not make it downtown (parking was good, by the way), the dedicated staff took lots of pictures for you to see. We also went searching online for other pictures, but kept finding ourselves in Seattle where they have a Solstice Parade of their own. The parade there is a more free-spirited promenade. Many of the online pictures aren’t rated PG. In Seattle, some of the parade participants go naked – some with their entire body painted over like Demi Moore, others not painted at all. Many of the pictures show people on bicycles.

Here are those pictures

But, we're not here to drum up support for another parade (although we did see Ed surfing some travel websites). We’re here to give you the drum count from our own parade. On Saturday, the dedicated staff didn’t miss a beat or beater. We counted 90 drummers banging on 108 drums. That’s a 210% and a 145% increase, respectively, from last year.

And for those of you who wonder why there are more drums than drummers, it is because some drummers had drums set, banging different drums to make different notes.

And now we’ll announce the winner of the daily contest. Drum roll, please! The numbers must have come to Benjamin in a dream. He guessed 90, 111 – almost perfect and almost worthy of a ticker tape parade. Almost. Benjamin wins an Edhat t-shirt.

Solstice 2006 Photo Gallery

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