The following is my account of "Redheads and More Redheads Day" in Sammamish Washington on Saturday July 17th, 2010.

The event was scheduled to start at 2:00 PM, and a lot of folks including myself decided to arrive early as there so were MANY events happening this weekend and traffic was expected to be difficult. The event was held at the Skyway High School sports stadium.

The event photographers were busy taking last minute head shots of those folks who did not get registered in time on the online web site. By 2:00 there was a long line that extended well past the entrance to the stadium and almost all the way out to the main entrance to the school grounds. The event organizer, Anne Lindsay, of Anne Lindsay Photography was attempting to set a Guinness record for the largest number of natural redheads gathered together in one place.

Earlier in the week prior to the event she had 610 redheads signed up, and the actual count including the last minute registrants came to just over 900! Guinness only required 250 for a record.

There were so many redheads that it took almost a full hour for all the attendees to show their tickets and file into the stadium. The redheads all sat on the field, while the "other" ordinary folks were allowed to sit in the bleachers.

A mobile DJ played music as the stadium filled, and we were told later that all of the songs played were performed by - yep, you guessed it - REDHEADS!

The mayor of Sammamish proclaimed the date to be the new annual "Redhead Day" in Sammamish. There was a guest appearance by former KING 5 Evening Magazine host John Curley.

The real surprise visit was from Santa Claus, with a genuine long flowing white beard who claimed that he too, used to be a redhead years and years ago. Santa went on to explain that he normally vacations this time of the year and also checks out what are the hot items on this years children's Christmas lists. Asked why he does not need to be there at the North Pole to supervise the elves, he replied that "they have been doing this for SO long that they all know the drill" - and besides said Santa, "I do not believe in micro management."

The official pictures were planned for 3:00 PM but the actual time turned out to be around 3:30 PM It was quite a scene as everyone waited for the official picture. Redheads taking pictures of each other, comparing redhead notes, and meeting new friends. Redheads sharing their sunscreen with redheads who forgot theirs. One woman came all the way from California on the train.

I met some folks from Portland, and even eastern Washington. One couple I met came from Centralia - both are redheads, and have been going together for about a year. I asked them how that is working out? Do they ever have any really bad fights? They replied NO, but the young man did mention that he is into GUNS, but was quick to add that she is a better shot :) There was even one person who was originally from Ireland.

This author used about a 1/4 bottle of Bull Frog SPF 50 sunscreen, which is great stuff and provided complete protection for the almost 4 hours spent in the SUN. A RARE activity for this individual :) Same individual did manage to forget his sunglasses and ball cap. An extra white t-shirt came in quite handy to use as a makeshift hood.

Another interesting observation was the number of umbrellas in use. In Seattle, you are immediately identified as a "tourist" if you use an umbrella in the rain. Here it was in the middle of summer, on a clear day and the number of umbrellas in use was amazing.

All told, it was great REDHEAD day! And it was so much fun to be among SO many other redheads all gathered in one place. My pictures do not do the event the justice it deserves - but you get the basic idea.

Official web site: http:www.redheadsandmoreredheads.com

If you missed the event, they hope to do it again next year.

Kevin

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