Monday, August 18, 2008

Independent Republic of Fremont's Lenin Statue

I don't remember if the Seattle enclave of Fremont seceded from the Union before or after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

I think it was after the collapse of the Soviet Union that Fremont began acquiring Soviet statues and missiles. Or maybe it was before the collapse when Fremont was working on having a strategic alliance with the Soviets in case Civil War broke out after they seceded.

As it turned out no one else in America much noticed that Fremont had declared itself free of the United States.

Yesterday Fremont dedicated its latest statue to iconic figures from history with the unveiling of a statue of JP Patches and his sidekick Gertrude.

This drew a large crowd of over 1500 Patches Pals with big red noses and TV coverage from JP's old station, KIRO TV, the CBS affiliate in Seattle. You can read all about this important moment in Seattle's cultural history in this morning's Seattle P-I.

That is one of Fremont's Lenin statues in the photo above. Lenin is less colorful than the statue of JP Patches. Though they were both clowns of a sort, Lenin was a more somber clown.

Another one of Fremont's famous statues resides under the Aurora Bridge. It's called the Fremont Troll. As you can see in the photo the Fremont Troll has its paws on a VW Bug.

I'll miss Fremont when I'm back in Texas. Though they do have a lot in common, as in one is currently an independent republic while the other used to be one for about 10 years in the 1830s. Both have seceded from the United States, but when Texas left the Union in the 1860s a much bigger fuss was made. I don't think there are likely any Lenin statues in Texas. I could be wrong.

2 comments:

Gar said...

There used to be one in Dallas, but I think it's gone now.

Look near the bottom of the page.

Anonymous said...

Have you heard of Grutas Park?
We went there while we were in Lithuania.
http://www.muziejai.lt/Druskininkai/gruto_parkas.en.htm
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grutas_Park

It is amazing and sad. Every Lithuanian town has a town square which is missing a statue. It is so odd and creepy. I used to think the Fremont Lenin statue was just kitchsy, but after seeing Lithuania, it is profoundly sad.