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.

JP Patches Joins Lenin in Fremont

Well. Today, Sunday, August 17 I did my last Fremont Sunday Market until I return in, I estimate, will likely be sometime around 2018. Today's Fremont experience was the most interesting of the three during my month-long stay here. Today there was more bizarre people watching than in all my other days combined.

There is a disturbing fad here that has guys stretching their ear lobes to ridiculous lengths. Today I saw what looked like an 80 year old man in a Seattle Skirt, hair spiked and dyed blonde, sporting a nose ring and those weird ear lobe expanders that eventually render your ears to being Dumbo the Elephant lookalikes. The 80 year old ultra cool dude had what appeared to be a teen-age girlfriend. He must be rich.

The guy in the photo above plopped down in front of us with another guy and started playing music and singing. I tried to have them moved. Then Lulu pointed out that the guitar strumming singing guy had a Texas Tattoo on his arm. So, I had to take a photo and share. These hapless Texas musicians did not have a single quarter dropped in their tip bucket. The temps were hot, the other guy eventually rendered himself shirtless to deal with the heat. When their allotted half hour was up, with no money earned, the shirtless guy ran out through my new best friend, Wendy's, knitting booth and threw up in the parking lot.

Today was a really BIG day in the Independent Republic of Fremont. A statue to northwest icon, JP Patches, was unveiled in a plaza in front of Adobe headquarters. I am currently very annoyed at Adobe due to their Flash Player's audio not working correctly and vexing a lot of people, including me.

That is the JP Patches statue below. With Gertrude. Only northwest raised people between 30 and 60 would get this. I overheard the cute girl in the photo, in a JP Patches nose, trying to explain it to a tourist from LA. Personally, I've always found JP Patches extremely annoying and was surprised he is still alive and that the Independent Republic of Fremont was dedicating a statue to him. Their Vladimir Lenin statue, that I get. But JP Patches?



The JP Patches statue is a short distance from another Fremont statue that has earned sort of international icon status, along with the Fremont Troll, that being the 'Waiting for the Interurban" statue. Locals regularly dress the people in the statue to reflect the season or what's going on in the world or Fremont.

So, that was my day today in Fremont. If you are ever in Seattle you'll wanna drop in on Fremont. Today we had people from all over the world and the U.S. drop in at the Lulu booth. And once more someone who reads my blog dropped in. She told me my whining about an Olympic swimmer foregoing cancer treatment so he could swim had sparked a lively discussion in her house.

I love the idea that I've sparked a lively discussion somewhere. I can sleep well tonight.