We've been going to Bolinas to stay at my wife's relative's houseboat nearly every summer for 20 years, now. When we lived in San Francisco, we were there almost every weekend in the summer, but we've never gone to the Fourth of July celebration that's held there, in spite of promises from relatives that we'd really enjoy ourselves. We went in 1999 and 2000, and we'll probably be there at least every other year from now on.
The day begins with a tug-of-war between the towns of Bolinas, and Stinson Beach, the two communities that share Bolinas Lagoon as their home waters. These two communities couldn't be more different; Stinson Beach, is for the most part, a home away from home for many wealthy San Fransiscans, while Bolinas is better known as a home to fishermen, artists, new-age spritiualists, and drunks, with a few very discreet rich people paying the bills. The tug-of-war is a microcosm of the demographic differences between the two towns.
We have the women's teams: Bolinas with a few rather large women of unquestionable strength, and many more average size women and girls, all of whom work hard to prepare for the event. Stinson Beach with the wealthy socialites, and their very athletically inclined daughters.
The men's teams: Stinson Beach, populated by men of means, who can afford to spend plenty of time in San Francisco's finest health clubs and gymnasiums. Bolinas, with its ragtag band of fishermen, hippies, and drunks.
The tug-of-war is performed with a rope stretched across the mouth of the Lagoon, a distance of some 50 or 60 feet at high tide. Whichever team gets wet is the loser.
The methods used by the men's and women's teams to prepare for the event couldn't be more different! The Bolinas women get out on the beach and work out, do drills and calisthetics, even getting up early the morning of the 4th to work out. The men go down to Smiley's and get drunk the night before. I am often reminded of Garrison Keallor's closing sentence to his "Lake Wobegon" stories; "the women are all strong, the men are all good looking, and the children are above average". Pretty well sums it up!
The outcomes of the two contests are never in question; the Bolinas women never lose, and the Bolinas men never win.
This year was different. As I walked around town the evening of July 3rd, I kept meeting really large, buff looking young men. Later, I met one of them, a nice German gentleman, and we engaged in a conversation about BMW motorcycles, since he'd seen my R69S. I finally asked him if he was here for the 4th of July celebration. His response was "ya, I am pulling for the men, tomorrow". The presence of all these large men I'd never seen before became obvious, Bolinas was bringing in ringers from all over!
The wonem's contest went as expected, a 15 minute struggle for supremacy, with Bolinas gradually gaining ground, until the Stinson Beach women began slipping into the water.
The men's contest was a sight to behold, it lasted maybe 3 minutes, the two teams began pulling, and with heels dug into the sand, the Stinson Beach men dug a nice deep trench into the water.
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The Bolinas women's Anchor. She's not going anywhere! |
| The rope, stretched across the inlet to Bolinas Lagoon, with the contest judges in a fishing boat positioned at the center of the lagoon. You still see the ripples in the water left by the rope as it was pulled above the surface. |  |
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Some of the women's team pulling hard. View towards the Northwest. |
| Another view of the women's team, showing the end of the line, and one of the cheerleaders, who will later be pulling on the men's team. |  |
The Bolinas 4th of July parade consists of a route down Wharf Rd (the main drag, as it were, in Bolinas), that's almost too short to contain the entire parade from end-to end. The parade lasted a good hour and a half, mostly spent waiting for the vehicle, float, or dancers ahead of you to move. Here are a few pictures.
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The Dragon Scooter is one of my favorite vehicles from the parade, It's also linked to from my Weird Motorcycles web page. The dragon's head is attached to the handlebar, so it turns to face the direction the scooter is going. |
| The Bolinas Drum Corps, with the foothills of Mt. Tamalpias in the background |  |
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Some wood nymphs on the hood of the flower car. |
| A couple of the more "artistic" entries in the parade. |  |
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I've always called this the "Nevada Truck" myself, since it's really an old International pickup truck. Those are my kids with the cardboard Uncle Sam hats. |
| Me and my wife's cousin's daughter (cs'niece?), awaiting the start of the parade. We've decked my German motorcycle out in American flags (didn't fool anyone), and we're posing in front of the surfboard car, which is a big 1960's sedan with the roof cut off, and a giant surfboard sticking out front and rear. We're parked in front of the College of Marin Marine Biology Center. |  |
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The Carmen Miranda Drill Team. |
| The viewing stand for the parade marshalls |  |
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Some more parade entrants parked after the parade. |
| It's Miller time! |  |
Last update was February 07, 2002
Copyright Carl Best, 1997-2001
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