Fair play

Sunday was the main reason many of us were in San Francisco last weekend — the Up Your Alley street fair held at Dore Alley and parts of Folsom Street. The day looked to be a cold one, but after the fog burned off, anyone out in the sun for long was plenty warm. I arrived around noon and hadn't been in the fair grounds long when I took off my pants and shirt, leaving only my harness and boots. This was probably the fifth or sixth time I had been naked at this or the Folsom Street Fair events, and I had come to feel more comfortable naked than I would be clothed. And even when I was clothed, people seemed to recognize me and ask with dismay why I was dressed.

Before long I ran into my nudist friend NudePublic, whom I had met at the bar the night before (see my July 29 entry). Acting on a tip from him, I checked the bag holding my clothes at the coat check room of Powerhouse (which lay within the fair grounds). I returned to the street and began to make my way through the crowd up Dore Alley.

Except for a dance area and live band at one end of the fair on Folsom, the event mainly consisted of a series of booths. Unfortunately (with the exception of a whipping demonstration), there was nothing particularly interesting about any of these, the bulk of them consisting of food and beer vendors or information centers for non-profit organizations.

But the crowd is always what makes these events appealing. I strolled through the growing throng to the end of Dore Alley and back, stopping to say hi to people I'd met in years past or at the bar the night before.

The day consisted of some decided friskiness on my part as well as a bite to eat from one of the booths. Later I ran into my friend Andy, with whom I spent much of the rest of the day. He had his best camera with him and enjoyed photographing me.

Although the fair had for me a certain "been there, done that" quality, it was a very good day, and I reveled in dreamy satisfaction during my cab ride back home.