Toe Count 2009
August 2, 2009

You can tell it's summer in Santa Barbara. The beaches are crowded. The lines at the frozen yogurt shops are long. And men and women's clothing covers less skin. Female toes are particularly prominent. They peak out through the wide-open spaces of open-toed shoes. Yep, you hit the nail polish on the head. When it comes to summer, toes go pro, making cameo appearances from down below.

On Wednesday night, shortly before 9PM, the dedicated staff of edhat.com piled into the green car for a trip down to State Street to watch some feet and count the toes of the women walking down the street. We didn't know then that this might be our last trip in our beloved green car, but that's another story.

We walked with our heads down, and our eyes keenly focused, from Carrillo to Haley and back. We covered both sides of the street, and no feet were left behind. We counted every pair of shoes, toes on display or toes hidden. Most of the shoes were open and free of any toe-hiding devices. Aside from a strong showing from late night exercisers in running shoes, the majority of the shoes were summer shoes, openly ventilated for an evening stroll.

The finally tally found 66.0% of women on State Street wearing open-toed shows in the early evening on a Wednesday night in the middle of summer.

The open-toed trend appears to be flat-footed. In the summer of 2004, a similar survey found 68% toe-showage. And, in the summer of 2005, the toe-tally was 64%.

Edhat subscriber, PushMePullYou, got the toes on the nose. With an exact guess of 66%, PMPY wins an Edhat t-shirt, pickupable at Santa Barbara Arts in La Arcada Plaza.

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