Souls of Folsom Street Fair

Article by: Dijon Bowden|@DijonBowden

Tue September 23, 2014 | 00:00 AM


Folsom Street Fair is the world's largest leather event, but that doesn't mean it's a festival for people looking to buy a new pair of boots...it's for people looking to get their boots licked. From S&M to B&D and every acronym in between, this isn't your grandma's street fair. Or maybe it is...after all, even Granny deserves to get her freak on.

Photographer Dijon of Souls of San Francisco was at Folsom last weekend to photograph the shenanigans, and to show that there's beauty in everything...even chains, whips and harnesses.

For a full gallery of the FSF fun, click here.

Folsom Street Fair Interviews 2014 Dijon 3

Left - “One of my friends was a street boy who didn’t quite make it through the AIDS crisis so I’m here to celebrate for both of us.”

Folsom Street Fair Interviews 2014 Dijon 4

“The thing I like most about this fair is that it’s so open with kink sexuality and BDSM. They try to make everybody feel comfortable with whatever they’re into because all this stuff is so taboo right now. Here everyone is just themselves and they’re so amazingly happy. Some people think of it as Halloween costumes but this is our life. For me, I like being a slave.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I have a daddy or a dom and I do whatever he tells me because I like serving him and seeing him happy. My needs get met when he feels good enough to met them. It’s fun because I have to earn my next anal play or my next spanking. It’s like ‘Oh no, I made daddy mad, now I get punished.”

Folsom Street Fair 2014 Dijon 26

“What do you love about this festival?”
“It’s a great little love bubble.”

Folsom Street Fair Interviews 2014 Dijon 8

“I’ve been coming here for 10 years, even when I wasn’t living here I would fly out to come here. It’s just the inhibition. You’re not judged when you’re here. You can be whatever you want to be. People are open to different body types, it’s my favorite festival in the whole city.”
“After 10 years it seems you’re very comfortable with yourself, when you first started coming, was it hard to open up?”
“Yeah, that’s why I did a bunch of blow. Now I don’t even have to drink…it’s like whatever.”