*** Festival on cruise control ***

Wenatchee, Washington -- 05/07/2005
Apple Blossom brings scores of
revelers to town for first night of cruising

Two groups of people showed up on Friday night.
There were the cruisers rolling down Wenatchee Avenue
inside their pimped out, candy-painted Escalades and Honda
Accords with subwoofers blaring Tupac, Eminem and OutKast.

And then there were the thousands of other bead-wearing revelers
who just walked the sidewalks, chilling with their friends or gawking
at women who forsook traditional clothing for fishnet or traded in
the notion of a necklace around the neck for a python named Baby.

But everybody had the same goal in mind
-- having a good time at the Apple Blossom festival.

"There's no such thing as too much fun," said Sara Horner,
Wenatchee, who hung out with her sister, Rachel, and several
friends from Renton and Montana.

Cruising is as much a part of Apple Blossom as the parades.
At times, southbound traffic on Wenatchee Avenue was at a
snail's pace.

Still, the first night of Apple Blossom got off to a quieter
-than -typical start, said Wenatchee police Sgt. Ken Manke.

"The officers we relieved this morning said it was pretty good,"
Manke said Saturday morning. "It picked up and was really
busy for a couple of hours, then it cleared out, and we don't
know where they went."

Judgging from past years, Manke said Friday night could have
been "the lull before the storm," a reference to the party crowd
that was expected to hit the streets again on Saturday night.

On Friday night, street vendors like Genesis C. Veronon were
out promoting Insyders Entertainment's newest artist, C-Flow,
selling the compact disc for $5. Other groups also played their
music loudly for the passers-by, hoping they would hear the lyrics,
feel the beat and buy the music.

"We come out to Apple Blossom every year to get exposure,"
said Veronon. "Hip-hop is alive and well in the Northwest."

So is Mexican rap, Mariachi and country music, all of which
were heavily rotating Friday night because if cruising during
Apple Blossom does nothing else, it makes Wenatchee a more
diverse place.

"I would never come over on this side of the mountains if it wasn't
for this (Apple Blossom)," said Jayshawn Thomas, a black man
from Seattle.

Besides the hydraulic-powered Buick Regals and 1980s-era
Oldsmobiles with DVDs in the console and seats, there was the
monster truck with the Confederate flag flying and the usual
beads-for-bared breasts propositions.

"This is my first year coming and it's totally awesome,"
said Nick Blakeway, a 25-year-old from Puyallup who
wore a flashing breastpendant and several strands of beads.

Sure, the alcohol could be smelled in the late evening air and
some people's eyes told they had smoked a bit more than a
Pall Mall. But for the most part Friday, the cruising and street
scene was pretty calm.

"It's kind of boring this year," said 15-year-old Cody Marshall,
a Wenatchee High School freshman, as he took off the 50 strands
of beads to give himself a break before his neck did.

However, there's always that one person who spices
things up and gets the attention of the crowd -- and police.

This year it was an 18-year-old East Wenatchee man who was
arrested on drug and alcohol consumption charges and possession
of marijuana.

He slumped up against a fence in a daze until
police were ready to transport him to jail.

But before he got inside the car, the teen relieved himself on the
parking lot by vomiting for about five minutes as police held him
up and let him get it out.

"That's really screwed up, dude!" someone yelled
from the nearby crowd that had gathered to watch.

Geneb...Wenatchee,Washington-USA
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