Random Friend: What are you doing later this afternoon?

R’ville: Some chores; no real plans. Why, what’s up?

RF: At 4:20pm today at a certain location in Fremont, a bunch of us are getting together to make out while a song plays, then walk away when it’s over like nothing ever happened.

R’ville: Huh?

RF: I’m serious, and it sounds like it will be mostly strangers.

R’ville: That kind of sounds like a recipe for herpes. Oh well, we’ll be there!

 

After a little motivation, we did some exploring and found that this is the event that our friend was speaking about. Reading into it a little further, the Seattle Flash Makeout does not seem to be an open call for an orgy, much to Randomville’s dismay. Instead, it seems to be just a silly happening. Harmless kissing will occur, and that more than likely will be between couples.

 

Still, curiosity ran through Randomville’s mind all day; what is this actually going to be? At about 4:15pm, we arrived at the 16ft Vladimir Lenin statue at the corner of Evanston Avenue and North 36th Street in Fremont (a Seattle suburb.)

 

It’s an unseasonably warm day, with lots of sunshine and a springtime feeling is floating in the air. A decent crowd of maybe 30-35 has gathered and people are kind of looking at each other, wondering what to expect. Eyeballs are zooming all over the place, with thoughts that probably range from “This is going to be fun” to “I hope I can kiss that person” to “I hope that person doesn’t want to kiss.”

 

 

The Cheech and Chong moment of 4:20 arrives and there is no music yet, so there seems to be some confusion on when and how to begin. Right in front of us, two attractive women begin to make out. It’s really a bizarre sight to witness because we aren’t used to seeing people just blatantly make out in public; at least not the way these two women are going at it. The natural reaction is to pretend that it’s not shocking. It’s usually rude to stare, but at the Flash Makeout, it seems to be okay to stare because no one is giving us evil looks for peeping. Eventually the women stop and one departs. A man comes into the scene who appears to be the boyfriend of the woman who stayed in place because she instantly snuggles up to him with that comfortable look in her eye. Then they begin to make out pretty heavily as well.

 

 

Finally a man shouts for everyone to begin, and it’s on. Instantly, Randomville is bombarded by a woman who wants to share a kiss. We explain that we are professional journalists to the highest degree and we must kindly refuse her offer. “Journalist” might not be the correct word to use here because we are feeling more like the “Paparazzi” as we take pictures. “Pervert” is a word our friend so kindly used to describe the Randomville role today.

 

 

Guys kiss gals. Gals kiss guys. Guys kiss guys. Gals kiss gals. A guy in a grey kilt kisses his dog. About a minute into this event, a guy yells “switch” to some laughter, and the stragglers comply. The majority of the people kissing do appear to be couples, and there are a few people randomly moving about to others, but it has no dirty vibe to it at all.

 

 

A crowd has predictably formed with much chatter and laughter. Tons of people are taking pictures; even a few professional cameras at that. The participants don’t really seem to care about their audience, nor should they.

 

 

The session comes to an end after about five minutes, and it’s announced that the song “What I Got” by Sublime had been playing in a restaurant close by, though no one ever heard it out here.

 

 

This has been a fun, harmless event to witness firsthand. It’s hard to tell how serious each participant took the Flash Makeout to be, but it really just seemed to be an excuse to get out and show affection for a person that they care about. With all of the stress that can sometimes generate in life on a daily basis, simple kisses can make people feel better and on different levels. Kisses do not necessarily have to be loving, sexy, or even raunchy; they can just be simple expressions of affection.

 

As the smoochers begin to leave and continue on with their lives, smiles abound and friendly chatter continues on.

 

Oh yeah, and Randomville even received a peck on the cheek.

 

We couldn’t resist.