Bellingham Pride 2024
Last Sunday July 7th, I drove down to Bellingham, WA to attend their Pride parade. It helped to make up for my missing Seattle's parade the previous Sunday. Current Seattle Leatherdaddy titleholder Rick Ruben was in-town, making the trip much more worth it. I regret not doing this years ago (which I'll say the same with Seattle!), but perhaps I should consider making this a yearly thing generally.
I woke up at 9am and geared up in my leather pants and Wescos. I was hoping my folks were getting ready for late-morning church but nope, they were watching TV before heading out and saw me in my basic gear. They didn't say anything, thankfully. My backpack had my Muir cap, Knights vest, and camera. Outside, I knew it was going to be another hot day. I then started driving down to the US Pacific Crossing border around 9:30am. The NEXUS line was only a few minute wait. My Garmin GPS got the wrong address in a town before Bellingham that I used Google Maps on my phone instead. Once in downtown Bellingham, I parked my car in a small lot on Bay Street. I had to download an app to pay for my parking, which was $9.31 Canadian, but lasts for quite a few hours. I was near the parade route and not far from the festival too! I had arrived nearly half an hour before the parade started at 11am. I put on my Muir cap and vest, and took my camera with me. On Chestnut Street, I called my local leatherbear friend of mine, Patrick, and let him know I had arrived. He said it would be best to wait outside the Trek Bicycle shop. I did so and it wasn't bad as it had some shade. I noticed Skype on my phone was letting me know that the Seattle Knights were about to have their monthly online meeting. I tried to join their Skype meeting, but I couldn't hear them due to the outside noise and my roaming signal was slow. Both Rich and Thad were echoing, so I ended up talking over everyone. I let them know where I was (since they could see me with my cap on), that I would be writing an email to them soon about the upcoming Knights Gathering in San Francisco, and a couple other things. After I hung up, I noticed that the parade had officially started at 11am.
It didn't take long for the Dykes on Bikes to arrive. Daddy Rick was basically behind the Dykes, being one of the flag holders. He soon saw me on the corner of Chestnut and Cornwall in which the parade was proceeding to. I got a lot of pictures of him carrying the leather pride flag.
The participants were moving pretty fast that I couldn't quite catch up to Rick, so I stayed around Cornwall and took pictures for most of the parade. I even ran into Patrick and his friend briefly. Patrick wore some basic leather too and even carried a pink parasol (below).
I later joined Rick near the end of the parade route on Railroad Ave. Just outside the festival, we took some of the flags from others and dropped them off with Betty Desire, who was emceeing near the end of the parade route. Once that was done, we went to the festival to check out the booths. We were joined by a Seattle pup Handler and his partner on and off during this time.
While it was hot out and the temperature near its peak of over 25C, I got a free cold Red Bull for a drink to help cool me down a little. We ran into John, a local whom I haven't seen in years. He asked me how my late-Daddy David was doing and he didn't know about David's passing over eight years ago, so I updated him on that and a few other things that went on in his final year of life. At the vendors, I bought a pin of a mock up NES controller. Rick was famished and got a large hot dog. He reminded me and others that he used to work a hot dog cart when he lived in Bellingham years ago. I didn't eat anything during my visit as I had food at home.
With the Handler and his partner, the four of us went across the street from the festival into Rumors Cabaret. I haven't been inside for years, maybe since 2008. We spent over an hour inside and I got to finally sit down and rest my feet. Daddy and I got to cuddle and I was feeling up his bulge from his leather shorts. WOOF! Patrick and his friend were also inside though they eventually had to leave so we said goodbye. After I had a Diet Coke, we all left the bar sometime after 2 or 3pm. Outside, we parted ways as I needed to get home. I walked back to my car and... discovered my keyfob was missing! I checked my pockets and while I still had my house keys, somehow my keyfob must have pushed out. What was I going to do? I can't open and drive my car without it! I walked back to the bar and asked around if any keyfob has been turned in and checked where I sat. Nothing. I didn't know who to talk to at the vendors in terms of a lost & found. Eventually, I noticed something: my house keys were falling down inside my right legging. I then noticed (and forgot!) that I did have a hole in my front pocket. Could the keyfob be in my boot and I never felt it? At the vendors, a Bellingham rugby club let me sit in one of their chairs so I could unfasten my right boot and look inside. Sure enough, my keyfob was inside (cue Zelda item jingle!) I put my boot back on, thanked them, and returned to my car.
On the drive north back home, I tried to call Eugene in Spokane, but no answer. I then called Daddy Eric in Pennsylvania about my possible visit next month. At the border, two NEXUS lanes were open. I got home sometime around 4pm.
Bellingham Pride was worth the trip, especially getting to see Daddy Rick and Patrick again. It wasn't too busy and less smothering compared to Vancouver's. I wish I could have done this years ago, even the years before I could drive on my own. But better late to the party than not going.