Photo/Mike Siegel, Seattle Times

Sun worshipers on parade

The old Swallow's Nest warehouse north of Lake Union is a hive of activity this morning, as craftspeople and artist-wanna-bees put finishing touches on floats and costumes for the Fremont Summer Solstice Parade.

Using mostly donated and recycled materials such as TV cables, foam, lawn chairs, fabric bolt-ends, computer paper and what-have-you, float and costume builders such as Roger Wheeler will parade 10-foot-tall puppets, gargoyles in papier-mache masks, a giant balloon-octopus and people-powered (pushed or pulled) floats bearing bands and dancers, Carnival-style.

"I salvaged the stone wall I'm standing my gargoyles against, from the Seattle Repertory Theatre, where they were cutting up the foam to put in the dumpster," said Wheeler, a long-time volunteer.

---Photo, caption and article excerpt from the Seattle Times, 1992

Where there's art there's life--and Fremont

WHERE THERE'S ART, there's life, and Fremont has art, artists and art-lovers.

Across the east end of the McKenzie Building, just out of sight of our friends waiting for the streetcar ["Waiting for the Interurban"], is a new wall mural, an awesome swarm of color orchestrated by artist Roger Wheeler.

--Article excerpt from "Where there's art there's life--and Fremont" by Cliff Rowe, originally published in the Seattle Times. Photo is from the artist's personal collection; original article included a black-and-white photo of the mural.