A WAY Overdue Folsom Post

Folsom outfit before going out Saturday Night

I know the saying goes, better late than never, but my blog on Folsom Fair weekend is now so overdue that it’s getting ridiculous! For those of you not familiar, Folsom Street Fair is a big leather/fetish fair that happens in San Francisco at the end of September every year. I believe that it is the largest one in the country. People flock from all over to come to SF, and it’s very festive here. Just the strangeness of it really exemplifies the spirit of SF. I’ve gone every single year, starting the month after I moved here. This year was the busiest Folsom weekend yet for me. I packed a lot of fun in there!  Some people start celebrating during the week before, but I don’t usually go out on weekdays. Friday I decided to stay in and rest up!  After an errandy Saturday day, it was time to start folsoming. This was my friend Carina’s first time doing folsom, so I started off her experience by taking her to the folsom edition of Duro. My costume was made up of a lot of random things I pulled together from the back of my closet, but it came out well. Me, Carina and some other friends all had fun dancing to some DJ Tristan Jaxx music at the club!! When it ended Tristan and I ran back to our house to change and get ready for Aftershock, which started at 4am. That was an interesting night…  Anyway, after literally just a couple hours of sleep, on Sunday we were ready for the actual fair. The fair has gotten sort of watered down over time, so for me it’s not as important as the parties, but of course, this is what people come here for. Tristan and I met up with Carina, and then also with Cavin and Drake. Cavin wrote a more timely blog about our weekend, which you can read here. The thing about the fair is that it’s super hard to find people. We were lucky to find these three, but there were many friends I didn’t get to find, sadly.  It was a nice interesting time, and my outfit looked cute, and soon it was time for dinner (where I tried crocodile) and running home to get ready for yet another club. Real Bad is the big closing club for Folsom Street Fair and I’d never been before. It was PACKED! Once again, I somehow missed out finding a billion friends that I wanted to see, however we were at least able to find Cavin and Drake and we closed out the club at 4am after a fun time. They came back to our house for recovery day. I’d obviously taken Monday off, and the four of us had a great time lazing around watching tv and eating Patxi’s Pizza (deep cornmeal crust it’s the official recovery day meal at the Merri/Tristan home). I was mildly surprised that I’d managed to do it all, but I had a super weekend that felt like a vacation in my own city, and can’t wait for the next big party time! PS I did NOT get many photos this Folsom, I’ll try to do better next year!

Before I left for the Fair on Sunday

Me, Franko & Tristan at Aftershock Sat nite/Sun Morning

Me & Carina at the Folsom Street Fair Sunday Day

Folsom Street Fair Sticker

Me & Carina at Duro Earlier Saturday Night