12/6, Friday. 6-8:30pm. The 33rd annual Figgy Pudding Caroling Competition. A great turn out. A lot of people. It stayed dry until after the closure. The winning team amassed more than $7000 donation. However, asking for money has never been so blunt and intrusive before. Not only they sell buttons and song printouts, donation box in front of every team, but also folks carrying boxes around to collect money. Oh, yes, you can use a variety of online and credit card payment methods. I just stuffed some cash in the box in front of a jazzy youth group, which I liked. Didn't had time to listen to all the groups. If you are not in the inner circle, it's hard to hear the lyrics, with street noise and people talking. Some troupes are better in their costume than their voice. One elderly group tap dances (not singing) in ugly Christmas sweaters. Very festival.Around 7:30pm, all the groups collected their costumes and donation boxes. The judges (I have no idea who they are), and curators on stage, dolling out prizes in different categories. The winning team performed one song after claiming its trophy. This lasted one hour, ending with Beaconettes singing Twelve Days Before Christmas completely revised for 2019 Seattle (running bunnies, Viaduct torn down, Macy's closing, soccer championship, ...).
I met with two sets of friends. A fun time to meet, however, a difficult time to find anyone in the crowd.
