Apparently, those Northgate kids were at it again Sunday, doing a car wash fundraiser in their tiny swim suits. The blog Claycord reports that the young gentlemen of the water polo team at Walnut Creek's Northgate High were donning Speedos and maybe little else while standing at a busy corner in central Contra Costa County, holding signs and trying to lure motorists into a gas station to have their cars washed.
The issue of high school students and their so-called bikini car wash fundraisers, exploded on the local blogosphere last September. This includes on Crazy in Suburbia. It all started on an early September weekend in 2009 when the blogger Mister Writer and other witnesses spotted Northgate High cheerleaders, in string tops and "tight" shorts that barely covered their buttocks, holding a car wash fundraiser at a gas station at Ygnacio Valley Road and Civic Drive in Walnut Creek.
The blogger Mister Writer said the scantily clad girls were "waving signs" to advertise their fundraiser.
A few weeks later, members of the Northgate water polo team were out at the same Walnut Creek intersection--some in Speedos.
Much debate ensued on the Crazy in Suburbia, Claycord, and Mister Writer message boards--about the appropriateness of kids showing a bit of flesh while doing their fundraisers.
Some readers were horrified at young people exploiting their bodies in such ways. Other readers accused us bloggers of being grumpy farts who should just give these kids a break. These students are young, health, in shape and should feel no shame about their bodies. Also, readers said, these car washes happen to fall on particularly warm afternoons. For students, stripping down to their bikini tops, short shorts or Speedos was a way to keep cool.
Last year, after the first bikini car wash hit the blogosphere ("High school girls gone Lolita (?) at Walnut Creek car wash"), I contacted Northgate High Principal John McMorris.
He told me that students at school fundraisers must adhere to a dress code--"shorts, shirt, etc." I didn't think he was talking about bikini tops, short shorts and Speedos.
What was interesting about presenting this debate was soon learning that the bikini car wash fundraiser is something of a phenomenon in contemporary suburban culture. Enough that the hit musical TV show Glee had fun with the phenomenon by featuring a song and dance number, set at a car wash fundraiser for the fictional McKinley High Shool Glee Club. And, yes, cheerleaders were involved. And, yes, the cheerleaders were in their bikini tops and short little skirts.
