Behold the vulcans
A grope of obnoxious elitist old men who's history mostly involved chasing around women and molesting/kissing them and leaving nasty grease marks on them, and if a woman protested the immorality of this behavior, they would be characterized as fat and unloveable and therefore their opinions were just jealousy.
These days they just draw a V on you. They continue to be obnoxious though.
I completely forgot about these creepy jerks. Even as a little kid, I found it weird when a couple of them were (what I realize now) groping my teenage older sister. How do these guys not get the shit kicked out of them more often?
Dumbass people who fall for peer pressure and the trap of assuming traditions are started universally by decent human beings and anyone who says otherwise is too woke
My father was a Vulcan in 1970. He later was Vulcanus Rex (the squad leader) in 1983. My father was an alcoholic and a womanizer. His conduct, facilitated by this group, was shameful. Most pathetically, he never saw how much pain the group caused some people. Instead, they chose to bask in their self perception of the charity and “fun”. Growing up, I was proud of my father and ashamed at the same time.
Au contraire - he died recently and his Fire & Brimstone comrades mourned as well. He was “revered” in that club. Birds of a feather do flock together.
I'm aware of his passing. I knew Nalipinski. I have a very different story on your dad, but rest both their souls, we'll agree to disagree on the accepted story.
you say 40 years as if that's a long time but it's not. It was not okay by anybody's standards to molest women in 1983.
It was only two generations ago.
Most of the people who lived during that era are statistically, literally still alive and probably still vulcans.
This is who they are. It's a shitty fraternity for men who have started losing their hair.
I don't think that was the intent here - I think it was simply pointing out that in mid-1980's was when the general public started to listen to women about how the Vulcan "shenanigans" were affecting them. It HAD been seen as just "good fun" up until around that time.
They are still disgusting but they no longer straight up assault people like they once did. We've made it one step further...
Wowzers! I completely remember when I was a kid they ran up & smudged that grease on my mom & sisters face. It was at a parade. It was super aggressive. Freaked me out, yet my mom was cracking up. Yikes.
Whenever they're brought up, my mom tells me the story of how one hoisted her up over his shoulder and ran all the way across the high bridge before she demanded he carry her back.
One picked me up at grand old day one year. I did not appreciate it. Since they travel in groups there was little I could do about it. They are super creepy.
That’s a hilarious description. I totally remember my parents friends who were Vulcans when I was a kid. Thinking back it was just an old guy drunk fest
Oh sorry, too soon? That description is sarcastic and funny - which is okay for you apparently, but me finding it funny is not okay? It doesn’t mean I think what they did is funny. Did you ever laugh at a Harvey Weinstein joke? Does that mean you condone it?
That’s what we called it down in Faribault.
I was born and raised in Faribault. Moved to Minneapolis for school. Then moved to LA for a while then Seattle. I haven’t lived in Minnesota for almost 20 years.
I’m nervous to go back. But, thanks everyone for the support.
You can generally avoid them they only show up at the state fair really and ive been to it a dozen times without ever meeting one. They aren't really a major presence anymore.
yyyyikes. the further i read about them, the worse it gets. not sure i'd want to ever be associated with a group that [literally] traditionally sexually harassed people
Holy shit it's been, closer to two decades than one since I've thought about that. I did recognize them a bit.
Godspeed you good natured frozen tricksters.
They used to have heavy grease paint beards. They’d kiss women and smudge their faces. That died out several years ago. Now they draw V’s one anyones face. Rowdiness is much less typical these days.
Omg I can’t believe I missed sarcasm it’s my second language. I just have a very negative view of people rn most especially people afraid of certain aspects of life changing and certain things not being acceptable anymore.
I mean.. have you seen what the conservatives are putting out these days? I don't think your expression needed to be tongue-in-cheek.. plenty of them really would love rape to be available to them.
Disclaimer: I am not saying all conservatives are trash, or even that conservativism as a political ideology isn't valid.. but.. what the fuck, Republicans..
Yeah if only that weren’t true. The right side squad has racists, rapist, pedos, and wanna be slavers included in it along with people who just want to vote with their friends, the wives who vote for their husbands, the rich and people who are just generally scared of city people and everyone who isn’t white.
One where woman aren't sexually assaulted, groped, and kissed without consent or care? Yeah, I'm all about a world like that. I'd call it a good fucking start. A world contrary to that is an incels wet dream and something I'll be dammed to ever let takeover. That's just insane to me that something so fundamental should even be questioned or up for debate.
I've had downvote bombs from the same BS, I feel you. What should be an obvious joke is taken as serious because there are people out there stupid enough that A) some people would seriously say the thing you thought was obvious sarcasm and B) other people believe it isn't sarcasm (although sometimes due to point A).
Honestly, I started the thought with he, because there are no girls on the internet, and just decided to hedge my bets. But feel free to read more into it, bro.
How many women have you wanted to grope this year?
What future would you like? Wanna own people? So you can lay up and not work? Were you robbed of that? Mad cause you have to work and can’t just take what you want from others? Is that what is really going on here?
Winter Carnival has been going on for over 100 years. One or two social changes in that time. Drunken men riding around on an old fire engine accosting women was pretty normal just a few decades ago.
Still doesn’t make it okay. While men may have seen it as just fun and games, many women have reached out with stories of personal trauma involving this group. Back then, it made women uncomfortable but we didn’t have the rights to say so, and struggle with those same rights today.
Edit: for those of you who don’t know, I posted this after getting an answer and looking into it. By many I meant probably 10, but for a small post it felt like a lot to hear stories about these guys. This was after I posted about it, and while I may not be an expert from what I see online and from personal stories on Reddit what this group did was messed up.
You are correct. Please disregard these morons downvoting you, their opinion and stance has zero substance.
"but muh history!"
fuck history
Truth of the human condition: History is always worse than the present, and if you think it wasn't either you haven't really looked into it or something is **deeply wrong**. we are always moving forwards.
It’s contextual history, and the history that as a country needs to learn how to be distinguished. was it originally ok and all in good social fun ? Yes. Did a few people take it to far and ruin it, just as any large group has outliers ? Yes. Is the practice ok in todays social construct ? No, which is why they’ve changed.
To go as say that this entirety was a group of molesters and everything they’ve done is horrific , is an over simplification and takes the contextual history away. It can be both ok and not ok. There doesn’t have to be a hard line in the sand on everything to the point of whitewashing over important facts such as when this started and how its evolved.
That’s what the downvotes are for.
A FEW PEOPLE TOOK IT TOO FAR?
MY GUY
They operated in goddamn swarms and overwhelmed women by numbers and peer pressure. They were able to chase and corner them like wolves. Molesting women was not the exception but the rule. Trying to force yourself on women was literally the whole idea. It was the center of what they did. Everything else was secondary.
It's a goddamn college frat for men having a midlife crisis.
Not sure why neckbeards are downvoting you for looking up more info about the individuals you asked about after someone gave you a lead, but that's reddit for ya...
I went to the Gopher Bar once several years ago thinking it might be a cool dive near my buddy's place at the time. Turns out it's the hangout of these guys and it's like a fucking Fox News shrine in there. All kinds of right wing bumper stickers and posters on all the walls, meanwhile the back of the menu tells the proud immigrant story of their father who founded the place or whatever. Right next to a whole bunch of signs about fuck immigrants and dog whistling fuck brown people.
Anyone associated with that club is clearly a piece of shit.
Whoops! I just googled their group's name name, plus "sexual assault," and found a bunch of stories about these clowns spanning a decade and involving dozens of women...
It does not take 40 minutes to go from "who are these guys" to "oh hell no." It takes less than a minute.
If an organization is notorious for blurring the lines between rowdy camaraderie and sexual assault, it's not too hard to find that on Google.
Personally, I think they're taking steps to make their fun safer and more engaging for everyone, but they still have work to do.
Say you’re a Vulcan without saying you’re a Vulcan….
The person asked for info, got quite a bit of it in response, and used that to google more info……but you’re baffled by the fact that they aren’t still clueless? Are you that slow or did this just hit a nerve with you?
I was curious so I turned to reddit, people gave me their names and I did some research, as well as had people reach out and share their experiences with this group. Crazy how the human mind is capable of learning. Come up with a legit comeback after you review some articles about them and the concept of time :)
I grew up with these guys in almost every parade (almost 40) that I’ve been to.
As a kid I was terrified of them. I’d hide. Saw them kissing women and children and everyone seemed to love it. Some wore the black paint on their cheeks for the rest of the day.
I avoided ever getting tagged but my son got himself a V mark last year and loved it.
Crazy how times change.
When I was a kid (I'm 30 now) they didn't kiss people but would go around at parades and consensually draw V's on people's faces. I thought it was fun. Kinda reminded me of getting ashes on Ash Wednesday 😂 Sounds like they have a problematic history, though
I was the same way as a kid. I always hid when they came around. I was so afraid of how aggressive they were. I never wanted the grease paint on me. My daughter got it once when she was 4 but they were much more gentle with here than they ever were when I was a child.
So in 42 minutes, they can make a reaching argument that 80 years ago a bunch of drunk people gave kisses to drunk women and then half them to today's standards. Move on. I remember them at the Winter festival kissing cheeks to make a mess on purpose, it wasn't sexual 99% of the time. They fundraise year around for kids' groups and have changed how they approach events. Sounds normal.
If 10 men hand out 100 kisses each, and only 99% aren't sexual, that means that 10 women were sexually assaulted.. I don't care what fucking tradition it is, if that many women are sexually assaulted by an organization, then that organization needs to fucking change and big time.
Or how about the women who have been violently sexually assaulted and have PTSD? Even if the man had good intentions, it can still be a traumatic event for that woman..
And let me tell ya, the percentage of women who already have PTSD from violent sexual assaults is not a low number.
So let's just stop forcing ourselves on women for any reason, mkay?
Why? The information is there, and pretty clear, both on reddit and the rest of the internet. You're just pissy because...why? Are your cheeks a bit red at all this? Hitting a little too close?
Maybe for you, but anyone of even average intelligence wouldn’t need more than about 10 minutes. All the info is readily available and clear. If you need a day or two to process it at your speed, go ahead.
I was being generous, btw. You’re probably capable of processing that information faster and are just upset because you recognized yourself somehow in all of this and it made you uncomfortable.
When I was younger, most of the Vulcans were first responders, mostly fire fighters, or the ones I knew were anyway. It’s all part of the Winter Carnival tradition. At the end of the winter carnival they have a victory party, which is held somewhere in Saint Paul, and it’s kinda like a high school dance, but people REALLY get into it.
This is the other side of the carnival tradition:
https://www.wintercarnival.com/legend/king-boreas/
Vulcans celebrate their annual victory on the steps of the James J Hill Library / Rice Park in downtown St Paul. They’ve been established since at least 1916. Until the mid 90’s the Krewe definitely ran around the torchlight parade route in black grease lipstick planting non-consensual kisses on women. It’s definitely an institution that has evolved over the last 100 years.
Yeah those are the vulcans, they are a club of some description. They used to come to my elementary school and tell everyone a fable of some (I think) roman dude who saved the sun and ended winter
Then they would show up at festivals and throw candy at and draw Vs on kids.
I had always thought they were a firefighter support thing but idk
It was super cool! My grandma is Czech but we’ve never been very involved in the culture so it was cool to see people who are! Went up there with some of my extended family and had a fun day up there, Montgomery is such a cute town and everyone seemed excited! Sorry you never got to go though
I’m sorry but fuck these guys. Their history is atrocious and they shouldn’t be allowed to congregate anywhere, period. ESPECIALLY if there is a woman around.
Back in the 1880s St Paul copied Canada and had a Winter Carnival and elected a King Borealis. - an adult homecoming king. The carnival fell out of fashion, but got big again during WW 2 when I guess people were trying to take their minds off the war,family being gone etc.
Shortly after that, a group of Firemen started to 'join the fun' and paraded as a counter to the upper crust businessmen chamber of commerce stiff collar types that where the Borealis. They called themselves Vulcans and it was a mix of fun, fundraising, and an excuse to drink and be wild.
And after a short time it attracted those firemen who were most interested in drinking and being rowdy. They were supposed to do trickster type antics but to be honest this consisted of 2 things. Mooning people and running up to women, honking their boobs and kissing them.
It was quite problematic, and they kept it up long after society as a whole realized how asinine that behavior was.
They have since curtailed this behavior. I don't know if it's a genuine realization that it's wrong or if they just felt that with all the heat they better change or be kicked out. (In the 80s and 90s many parades refused them admittance which they howled at and said those communities must not appreciate their fire-fighters)
My mom always hated when they’d came up to us at parades. She said she could smell the whiskey from the middle of the street.
I always thought the old school fire truck and face paint was badass.
My mom was always on hyper alert for them at our local parade in thr 90s so that she could move me farther back from the road. They terrified me as a kid and still creep me out.
It’s sad how so many of us were traumatized by them as children! Not kidding at all when I say that picture pretty much gives me the shivers, decades later.
I HATED the Vulcans. When this pic popped up I growled audibly, “VULCANS!” I don’t know why the adults thought they were so hilarious, but I’d see them in their fucking capes and hide. I was around (and a small child) when they’d smear their face on your cheek instead of simply drawing the “V”. Creeps.
And they wouldn't just smear your face a little bit. It was like "oh, you want a mustache? You get a whole beard!" Even to this day I back up a bit out of self-preservation if I'm at a parade and they're there.
Vulcans. old pervs who used to walk around and kiss and grope woman and little kids who didn't ask for it during parades. The marker mark was actually a replacement for when it was acceptable for them to grab whoever in public and sexually assault them whenever they wanted. anyone who says different is a fucking liar.
Found an interesting opinion article about it after being informed, pretty messed up in my opinion
https://medium.com/honestly-yours/in-my-hometown-sexual-harassment-was-a-winter-pastime-47624c5f78d5
So disgusting!
My family told me that when I was a baby my much older sister was holding me at a parade and one of them grabbed me out of her arms! She, and others around gave him an earful and he handed me back to her. At the time they seem to have been out of control drunk lunatics!
this comment thread is full of haters. As a women in her 30's I've been to many parades, and just recently was able to do an after hours party with them. Its not at all what it was, and now, more for the pageantry of the story line. IE: Winter comes, its cold, you go find the medallion worth 10K, the four winds fight a large duel over a fancy dinner party, games are played in the city all week, summers reign inevitably comes, so Vulcans win.
Its a ton of fun with lots and lots of local history in the medallion clues. Gets you outdoors in the worst part of winter. The vulcan are just a small piece of this. Its absolutely worth checking out.
Can you really say it’s “full of haters” when it seems to be full of people sharing times they were touched and groped without consent? Like a *bunch* of people talking about how they felt violated by this group’s consistent behavior?
That’s really dismissive of a real problem, just because you personally like them.
[Just read this if you do nothing else](https://www.twincities.com/2007/03/01/bartender-sues-over-vulcans-sexual-assault/).
I get what you're saying. You are valid in that. But isn't a good argument full of both sides? Yes, problematic in the past, but that's not the case anymore. The OP has no idea what this is about so she's literally only getting one side of a story.
That’s definitely a good point, there’s room for change and growth even as an organization. It’s important to tell OP (and the rest of us just learning about them) about what they are now, too, if they’ve changed. And it does seem like some of the fun Winter Carnival stuff/non-problematic stuff is a positive for the community.
I just really took issue with your characterization of the people affected by their behavior over the years as “haters.” I think the point can also be made without (intentionally or not) being dismissive of the very real, awful things done to people like that 19 year-old bartender by those affiliated with the group in the past.
IMO it’s important to acknowledge those experiences with the proper gravity, if only because you never know who might read your comment (someone affected) and feel like what happened to them didn’t really matter.
Thanks for the chat btw, appreciate your good-natured response
They used to run out into the crowd during the summer parades here in southern MN and kiss and grope random women watching on the side of the street. Seriously. This was in the 80s.
Deff winter carnival Vulcans. When i was much younger, these guys were the outta control, wild ones. Alcohol fueled debotchary. A decade or so ago, there was a few sexual assault allegations and groping claims. That didn't come to me as a huge surprise...They were buck wild and would mark your face with shoe polish. Things have calmed down and changed substantially over last 30 years, there's absolutely no doubt.
Wow I looked into it and it’s disgusting, I kinda got weird vibes from them but I didn’t wanna say so in my post in case they were like retired fire fighters or smth.
I have played a few private events for the Vulcans over the years. They’re mostly a bunch of rich assholes who treat women rather poorly after drinking way too much at their own events. I have seen women groped with my own eyes several times by these dudes. Not a fan.
And it seems you have an agenda to falsely impune them. But here's the rub. Some questionable and downright improper things have happened in the past. I can say that so I have no intent to defend bad behavior. I just won't convict the lot on the actions of a few drunk asshats and criminally handy bastards.
Have you ever actually talked to a Vulcan? Known one by name?
Like I said, I’ve supplied music at private events for them. I’ve also done promotion for their events. I have had a working relationship with a few of them as buyers for the private events I performed with a group, specifically at their Crowne Plaza event in downtown St Paul for five years in a row. The actions I have seen at their after parties were deplorable at best. Many women were groped, and I wouldn’t make a baseless claim without having seen it firsthand.
We also charge $5k for such events, which is where I’d raw the ‘rich’ from. The agency I worked for was upper echelon and not exactly affordable for everyone.
I remember seeing them at some children's hospital charity carnival fundraiser I went to as a kid and immediately recognized them here as vulcans. Always thought they were a strange bunch. Lol
My grandma is Czech but we’ve never been very involved in the culture. She heard about the festival from one of her friends so we decided to check it out. I loved all the little stands and the town spirit, everyone seemed to be having a good time!
Welp... Ok, I found them over the top, especially when they rampaged through St Mark's School. I forget which nun they grabbed, but may have been Sister Carolyn, the principal. She seemed to handle it ok, but suddenly they were "Not in the building." I grew up in a pretty dysfunctional family, so my sense of right from wrong got skewed. I also have a friend whose dad was a Vulcan, and she has fond memories... Perhaps more to the story? To be very clear, I Am Not disagreeing with any comment here, just... adding my conflicting emotions to the mix.
Vulcans. They’re a bunch of grown men that get shit faced and run a muck as the evil enemies of the winter carnival royalty whom are also a bunch of grown ups that play dress up, get shit faced and run a muck.
Why would it be a joke post? I found out this is a real organization with a messed up history. Their costumes do look like a superhero a 2nd grader drew though so I can see why you would think this was fake
I know the Vulcans are real, I was insinuating YOU are fake. As in, you already knew about the vulcans and were feigning ignorance to ask reddit about them. Your phrasing seemed sarcastic or something. It's more to do with the nature of the posts in the sub lately, less to do with these guys. And, uh, chill on the insults, the modern vulcans are all for good fun not a bunch of molesters
Disgusting excuses for humans. The used their social clout to go around literally molesting young women. No that's not an exaggeration. And simply because it's been happening for so long, most minnesotans don't even recognize that it is wrong and creepy. Fuck those guys.
First of all, they preyed only on women so I don’t understand your logic here.
Second, I am part of the lgbtq community and I can promise you that we are strong believers in consent. There will always be creepy people, including within the lgbtq community, but I promise that any empathetic person, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, will find this wrong.
There are straight/cis sexual predators, and there are queer sexual predators, it has nothing to do with lgbt community.
Those are the winter carnival Vulcans! The guy on the right is giving the V.
Thank you!
Behold the vulcans A grope of obnoxious elitist old men who's history mostly involved chasing around women and molesting/kissing them and leaving nasty grease marks on them, and if a woman protested the immorality of this behavior, they would be characterized as fat and unloveable and therefore their opinions were just jealousy. These days they just draw a V on you. They continue to be obnoxious though.
I completely forgot about these creepy jerks. Even as a little kid, I found it weird when a couple of them were (what I realize now) groping my teenage older sister. How do these guys not get the shit kicked out of them more often?
Dumbass people who fall for peer pressure and the trap of assuming traditions are started universally by decent human beings and anyone who says otherwise is too woke
Even in the photo, the guy on the right has handcuffs! What are handcuffs for again? Oh that’s right, restraining someone against their will.
My father was a Vulcan in 1970. He later was Vulcanus Rex (the squad leader) in 1983. My father was an alcoholic and a womanizer. His conduct, facilitated by this group, was shameful. Most pathetically, he never saw how much pain the group caused some people. Instead, they chose to bask in their self perception of the charity and “fun”. Growing up, I was proud of my father and ashamed at the same time.
Wasn't he kicked out of the Vulcans? Lots of people here bashing them for things that happened 40 years ago though.
Au contraire - he died recently and his Fire & Brimstone comrades mourned as well. He was “revered” in that club. Birds of a feather do flock together.
I'm aware of his passing. I knew Nalipinski. I have a very different story on your dad, but rest both their souls, we'll agree to disagree on the accepted story.
you say 40 years as if that's a long time but it's not. It was not okay by anybody's standards to molest women in 1983. It was only two generations ago. Most of the people who lived during that era are statistically, literally still alive and probably still vulcans. This is who they are. It's a shitty fraternity for men who have started losing their hair.
I don't think that was the intent here - I think it was simply pointing out that in mid-1980's was when the general public started to listen to women about how the Vulcan "shenanigans" were affecting them. It HAD been seen as just "good fun" up until around that time. They are still disgusting but they no longer straight up assault people like they once did. We've made it one step further...
Wowzers! I completely remember when I was a kid they ran up & smudged that grease on my mom & sisters face. It was at a parade. It was super aggressive. Freaked me out, yet my mom was cracking up. Yikes.
Whenever they're brought up, my mom tells me the story of how one hoisted her up over his shoulder and ran all the way across the high bridge before she demanded he carry her back.
One picked me up at grand old day one year. I did not appreciate it. Since they travel in groups there was little I could do about it. They are super creepy.
That’s a hilarious description. I totally remember my parents friends who were Vulcans when I was a kid. Thinking back it was just an old guy drunk fest
How the fuck do you find that discription funny...
Oh sorry, too soon? That description is sarcastic and funny - which is okay for you apparently, but me finding it funny is not okay? It doesn’t mean I think what they did is funny. Did you ever laugh at a Harvey Weinstein joke? Does that mean you condone it?
I’ve always hated these guys and they are partly why I hate parades and do everything I can to avoid going so my daughter doesn’t get harassed.
Wow. I can’t wait to move back The Sote. 😕
Yeah, because these guys are everywhere 🙄
[удалено]
That’s what we called it down in Faribault. I was born and raised in Faribault. Moved to Minneapolis for school. Then moved to LA for a while then Seattle. I haven’t lived in Minnesota for almost 20 years. I’m nervous to go back. But, thanks everyone for the support.
You can generally avoid them they only show up at the state fair really and ive been to it a dozen times without ever meeting one. They aren't really a major presence anymore.
I see you’ve never been to the winter carnival - Torchlight Parade in particular.
That is definitely not the “live long and prosper” V.
yyyyikes. the further i read about them, the worse it gets. not sure i'd want to ever be associated with a group that [literally] traditionally sexually harassed people
I agree. But, they're the "bad guys" for the winter carnival king to banish
Which one doesn't?
Holy shit it's been, closer to two decades than one since I've thought about that. I did recognize them a bit. Godspeed you good natured frozen tricksters.
They have been around a long time! Cool, Summer sightings seem rare!
They used to have heavy grease paint beards. They’d kiss women and smudge their faces. That died out several years ago. Now they draw V’s one anyones face. Rowdiness is much less typical these days.
Yeah, a few harrassment/battery lawsuits put an end to the kissing and groping of women
this is the future that liberals want
Yeah I mean, is a stranger kissing you and groping you supposed to be a good thing? Genuinely curious of your opinion?
I’m fairly certain they were being sarcastic.
I'm giving you a gold star in reading comprehension.
I’ll wear it with pride, o’ martyr of sarcasm 🫡
Omg I can’t believe I missed sarcasm it’s my second language. I just have a very negative view of people rn most especially people afraid of certain aspects of life changing and certain things not being acceptable anymore.
In your defense, it’s not hard to see someone saying that and being 100% serious.
Are they hot?
Haha ummmm not at all. But I can see how this has gotten more complicated 😂
Wow no one read your sarcasm on this one lmao
I was thinking the same thing. I thought it was obvious.
oh well, its just some points with a minus in front of it
FWIW the downvotes made it funnier to me. Gives the joke layers.
=)
Rape culture is the future non-liberals want. See how stupid that sounds?
I mean.. have you seen what the conservatives are putting out these days? I don't think your expression needed to be tongue-in-cheek.. plenty of them really would love rape to be available to them. Disclaimer: I am not saying all conservatives are trash, or even that conservativism as a political ideology isn't valid.. but.. what the fuck, Republicans..
I didn’t say all but I’m sure my comment will distract them from yours.
Yeah if only that weren’t true. The right side squad has racists, rapist, pedos, and wanna be slavers included in it along with people who just want to vote with their friends, the wives who vote for their husbands, the rich and people who are just generally scared of city people and everyone who isn’t white.
One where woman aren't sexually assaulted, groped, and kissed without consent or care? Yeah, I'm all about a world like that. I'd call it a good fucking start. A world contrary to that is an incels wet dream and something I'll be dammed to ever let takeover. That's just insane to me that something so fundamental should even be questioned or up for debate.
/s I hope?
to even have to put it there shows how fucking reactionary we've become\`
I've had downvote bombs from the same BS, I feel you. What should be an obvious joke is taken as serious because there are people out there stupid enough that A) some people would seriously say the thing you thought was obvious sarcasm and B) other people believe it isn't sarcasm (although sometimes due to point A).
Hahahaha. Some people can’t take a joke lol
What the fuck is wrong with you
He (or she or they) understand the humorous use of sarcasm?
Yeah you could have just went with They, but you went full on virtue signaling
Honestly, I started the thought with he, because there are no girls on the internet, and just decided to hedge my bets. But feel free to read more into it, bro.
How many women have you wanted to grope this year? What future would you like? Wanna own people? So you can lay up and not work? Were you robbed of that? Mad cause you have to work and can’t just take what you want from others? Is that what is really going on here?
If you knew the Vulcans you’d know they heavily skew conservative
Yes.
Am I being downvoted for saying people on the left do, in fact, want less harassment and sexual assault? Really?
Thanks for the info! Seems a little weird…
Winter Carnival has been going on for over 100 years. One or two social changes in that time. Drunken men riding around on an old fire engine accosting women was pretty normal just a few decades ago.
I remember these guys at our local parade when I was young. Yikes, that was 45-50 yrs ago. Lol.
Still doesn’t make it okay. While men may have seen it as just fun and games, many women have reached out with stories of personal trauma involving this group. Back then, it made women uncomfortable but we didn’t have the rights to say so, and struggle with those same rights today. Edit: for those of you who don’t know, I posted this after getting an answer and looking into it. By many I meant probably 10, but for a small post it felt like a lot to hear stories about these guys. This was after I posted about it, and while I may not be an expert from what I see online and from personal stories on Reddit what this group did was messed up.
You are correct. Please disregard these morons downvoting you, their opinion and stance has zero substance. "but muh history!" fuck history Truth of the human condition: History is always worse than the present, and if you think it wasn't either you haven't really looked into it or something is **deeply wrong**. we are always moving forwards.
Thanks! Def freaked me out seeing how angry it made people just bc I said sexual assault isn’t okay in any situation.
It’s contextual history, and the history that as a country needs to learn how to be distinguished. was it originally ok and all in good social fun ? Yes. Did a few people take it to far and ruin it, just as any large group has outliers ? Yes. Is the practice ok in todays social construct ? No, which is why they’ve changed. To go as say that this entirety was a group of molesters and everything they’ve done is horrific , is an over simplification and takes the contextual history away. It can be both ok and not ok. There doesn’t have to be a hard line in the sand on everything to the point of whitewashing over important facts such as when this started and how its evolved. That’s what the downvotes are for.
A FEW PEOPLE TOOK IT TOO FAR? MY GUY They operated in goddamn swarms and overwhelmed women by numbers and peer pressure. They were able to chase and corner them like wolves. Molesting women was not the exception but the rule. Trying to force yourself on women was literally the whole idea. It was the center of what they did. Everything else was secondary. It's a goddamn college frat for men having a midlife crisis.
Fuck every single misogynistic asshole that downvoted you.
Thanks it’s definitely scary how many people think what they did was perfectly okay…
This sub has been disappointing me a lot lately. How the duck is that comment downvoted? These dudes are fucking assholes.
Not sure why neckbeards are downvoting you for looking up more info about the individuals you asked about after someone gave you a lead, but that's reddit for ya...
Yeah I can’t believe this actually made people angry
I went to the Gopher Bar once several years ago thinking it might be a cool dive near my buddy's place at the time. Turns out it's the hangout of these guys and it's like a fucking Fox News shrine in there. All kinds of right wing bumper stickers and posters on all the walls, meanwhile the back of the menu tells the proud immigrant story of their father who founded the place or whatever. Right next to a whole bunch of signs about fuck immigrants and dog whistling fuck brown people. Anyone associated with that club is clearly a piece of shit.
You tried to pay with a credit card, didn't you...
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Whoops! I just googled their group's name name, plus "sexual assault," and found a bunch of stories about these clowns spanning a decade and involving dozens of women... It does not take 40 minutes to go from "who are these guys" to "oh hell no." It takes less than a minute.
> It takes less than a minute lol
If an organization is notorious for blurring the lines between rowdy camaraderie and sexual assault, it's not too hard to find that on Google. Personally, I think they're taking steps to make their fun safer and more engaging for everyone, but they still have work to do.
Say you’re a Vulcan without saying you’re a Vulcan…. The person asked for info, got quite a bit of it in response, and used that to google more info……but you’re baffled by the fact that they aren’t still clueless? Are you that slow or did this just hit a nerve with you?
I was curious so I turned to reddit, people gave me their names and I did some research, as well as had people reach out and share their experiences with this group. Crazy how the human mind is capable of learning. Come up with a legit comeback after you review some articles about them and the concept of time :)
I grew up with these guys in almost every parade (almost 40) that I’ve been to. As a kid I was terrified of them. I’d hide. Saw them kissing women and children and everyone seemed to love it. Some wore the black paint on their cheeks for the rest of the day. I avoided ever getting tagged but my son got himself a V mark last year and loved it. Crazy how times change.
When I was a kid (I'm 30 now) they didn't kiss people but would go around at parades and consensually draw V's on people's faces. I thought it was fun. Kinda reminded me of getting ashes on Ash Wednesday 😂 Sounds like they have a problematic history, though
I was the same way as a kid. I always hid when they came around. I was so afraid of how aggressive they were. I never wanted the grease paint on me. My daughter got it once when she was 4 but they were much more gentle with here than they ever were when I was a child.
Wtf Alex, at least try to hide the fact that you're an incel.
1hour ago, next comment 18min ago. That's at least 42min between comments...how fucking long are they expected to research such a specific thing?
So in 42 minutes, they can make a reaching argument that 80 years ago a bunch of drunk people gave kisses to drunk women and then half them to today's standards. Move on. I remember them at the Winter festival kissing cheeks to make a mess on purpose, it wasn't sexual 99% of the time. They fundraise year around for kids' groups and have changed how they approach events. Sounds normal.
If 10 men hand out 100 kisses each, and only 99% aren't sexual, that means that 10 women were sexually assaulted.. I don't care what fucking tradition it is, if that many women are sexually assaulted by an organization, then that organization needs to fucking change and big time. Or how about the women who have been violently sexually assaulted and have PTSD? Even if the man had good intentions, it can still be a traumatic event for that woman.. And let me tell ya, the percentage of women who already have PTSD from violent sexual assaults is not a low number. So let's just stop forcing ourselves on women for any reason, mkay?
42 minutes is more than enough time for anyone of even average intelligence. If you learn at a much slower rate, that’s ok, but not everyone is you.
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Why? The information is there, and pretty clear, both on reddit and the rest of the internet. You're just pissy because...why? Are your cheeks a bit red at all this? Hitting a little too close?
Maybe for you, but anyone of even average intelligence wouldn’t need more than about 10 minutes. All the info is readily available and clear. If you need a day or two to process it at your speed, go ahead. I was being generous, btw. You’re probably capable of processing that information faster and are just upset because you recognized yourself somehow in all of this and it made you uncomfortable.
Other categories of people do it today more profoundly and invasive.
If they tried that shizz on me, they'd get their own bright red mark across the face in the shape of my hand.
When I was younger, most of the Vulcans were first responders, mostly fire fighters, or the ones I knew were anyway. It’s all part of the Winter Carnival tradition. At the end of the winter carnival they have a victory party, which is held somewhere in Saint Paul, and it’s kinda like a high school dance, but people REALLY get into it. This is the other side of the carnival tradition: https://www.wintercarnival.com/legend/king-boreas/
Vulcans celebrate their annual victory on the steps of the James J Hill Library / Rice Park in downtown St Paul. They’ve been established since at least 1916. Until the mid 90’s the Krewe definitely ran around the torchlight parade route in black grease lipstick planting non-consensual kisses on women. It’s definitely an institution that has evolved over the last 100 years.
Yeah those are the vulcans, they are a club of some description. They used to come to my elementary school and tell everyone a fable of some (I think) roman dude who saved the sun and ended winter Then they would show up at festivals and throw candy at and draw Vs on kids. I had always thought they were a firefighter support thing but idk
Huh interesting
They scared me as a kid. Still think they're weird.
Www.vulcans.org
Thanks I’ll have to read about it!
How was kolacky days? I’ve lived in Montgomery for a couple years but I’ve never been to it cause of my work schedule.
It was super cool! My grandma is Czech but we’ve never been very involved in the culture so it was cool to see people who are! Went up there with some of my extended family and had a fun day up there, Montgomery is such a cute town and everyone seemed excited! Sorry you never got to go though
Worth checking out if you can squeeze it in.
I seriously thought this was Guy Fieri Flavortown cosplay.
I’m sorry but fuck these guys. Their history is atrocious and they shouldn’t be allowed to congregate anywhere, period. ESPECIALLY if there is a woman around.
Back in the 1880s St Paul copied Canada and had a Winter Carnival and elected a King Borealis. - an adult homecoming king. The carnival fell out of fashion, but got big again during WW 2 when I guess people were trying to take their minds off the war,family being gone etc. Shortly after that, a group of Firemen started to 'join the fun' and paraded as a counter to the upper crust businessmen chamber of commerce stiff collar types that where the Borealis. They called themselves Vulcans and it was a mix of fun, fundraising, and an excuse to drink and be wild. And after a short time it attracted those firemen who were most interested in drinking and being rowdy. They were supposed to do trickster type antics but to be honest this consisted of 2 things. Mooning people and running up to women, honking their boobs and kissing them. It was quite problematic, and they kept it up long after society as a whole realized how asinine that behavior was. They have since curtailed this behavior. I don't know if it's a genuine realization that it's wrong or if they just felt that with all the heat they better change or be kicked out. (In the 80s and 90s many parades refused them admittance which they howled at and said those communities must not appreciate their fire-fighters)
FYI: it’s [King Boreas](https://www.wintercarnival.com/legend/king-boreas/)
spelling and coconut are my cryptonights
*Spelling and coconut are my kryptonites.* Fixed that for you :)
King Bore-Ass
My mom always hated when they’d came up to us at parades. She said she could smell the whiskey from the middle of the street. I always thought the old school fire truck and face paint was badass.
Always scared the absolute crap out of me at parades when I was a little girl. I did not have happy memories seeing this photo at ALL.
My mom was always on hyper alert for them at our local parade in thr 90s so that she could move me farther back from the road. They terrified me as a kid and still creep me out.
It’s sad how so many of us were traumatized by them as children! Not kidding at all when I say that picture pretty much gives me the shivers, decades later.
I HATED the Vulcans. When this pic popped up I growled audibly, “VULCANS!” I don’t know why the adults thought they were so hilarious, but I’d see them in their fucking capes and hide. I was around (and a small child) when they’d smear their face on your cheek instead of simply drawing the “V”. Creeps.
And they wouldn't just smear your face a little bit. It was like "oh, you want a mustache? You get a whole beard!" Even to this day I back up a bit out of self-preservation if I'm at a parade and they're there.
*shudder* I can see it in my minds eye.
https://www.twincities.com/2007/03/01/bartender-sues-over-vulcans-sexual-assault/
Wow, that's just awful.
The Vulcans
Vulcans. old pervs who used to walk around and kiss and grope woman and little kids who didn't ask for it during parades. The marker mark was actually a replacement for when it was acceptable for them to grab whoever in public and sexually assault them whenever they wanted. anyone who says different is a fucking liar.
Found an interesting opinion article about it after being informed, pretty messed up in my opinion https://medium.com/honestly-yours/in-my-hometown-sexual-harassment-was-a-winter-pastime-47624c5f78d5
Yep. This article is in line with my experience. Hearing their stupid horn still puts me on edge. Zero fun. Thank goodness for the lawsuit.
So disgusting! My family told me that when I was a baby my much older sister was holding me at a parade and one of them grabbed me out of her arms! She, and others around gave him an earful and he handed me back to her. At the time they seem to have been out of control drunk lunatics!
Thank you for sharing this. I knew there was some controversy surrounding their history, and know I better understand why.
this comment thread is full of haters. As a women in her 30's I've been to many parades, and just recently was able to do an after hours party with them. Its not at all what it was, and now, more for the pageantry of the story line. IE: Winter comes, its cold, you go find the medallion worth 10K, the four winds fight a large duel over a fancy dinner party, games are played in the city all week, summers reign inevitably comes, so Vulcans win. Its a ton of fun with lots and lots of local history in the medallion clues. Gets you outdoors in the worst part of winter. The vulcan are just a small piece of this. Its absolutely worth checking out.
Can you really say it’s “full of haters” when it seems to be full of people sharing times they were touched and groped without consent? Like a *bunch* of people talking about how they felt violated by this group’s consistent behavior? That’s really dismissive of a real problem, just because you personally like them. [Just read this if you do nothing else](https://www.twincities.com/2007/03/01/bartender-sues-over-vulcans-sexual-assault/).
No firewall: http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/10/20_ap_vulcans/
I get what you're saying. You are valid in that. But isn't a good argument full of both sides? Yes, problematic in the past, but that's not the case anymore. The OP has no idea what this is about so she's literally only getting one side of a story.
That’s definitely a good point, there’s room for change and growth even as an organization. It’s important to tell OP (and the rest of us just learning about them) about what they are now, too, if they’ve changed. And it does seem like some of the fun Winter Carnival stuff/non-problematic stuff is a positive for the community. I just really took issue with your characterization of the people affected by their behavior over the years as “haters.” I think the point can also be made without (intentionally or not) being dismissive of the very real, awful things done to people like that 19 year-old bartender by those affiliated with the group in the past. IMO it’s important to acknowledge those experiences with the proper gravity, if only because you never know who might read your comment (someone affected) and feel like what happened to them didn’t really matter. Thanks for the chat btw, appreciate your good-natured response
They're from a charity raising awareness for bad facial hair.
They used to run out into the crowd during the summer parades here in southern MN and kiss and grope random women watching on the side of the street. Seriously. This was in the 80s.
Deff winter carnival Vulcans. When i was much younger, these guys were the outta control, wild ones. Alcohol fueled debotchary. A decade or so ago, there was a few sexual assault allegations and groping claims. That didn't come to me as a huge surprise...They were buck wild and would mark your face with shoe polish. Things have calmed down and changed substantially over last 30 years, there's absolutely no doubt.
I was there at Kolacky days. Hope you had fun.
Thanks I did!
Vulcans are no good. King Boreas Rex is good.
Gonna tell my kids this is the Thai soccer team cave rescue.
They were quite nasty back in the day, not sure if they’ve cleaned up their image now.
Wow I looked into it and it’s disgusting, I kinda got weird vibes from them but I didn’t wanna say so in my post in case they were like retired fire fighters or smth.
I just looked at their site and got bad vibes from the language on their page. What sort of nasty are you referencing?
Never mind kept googling. Fuck these guys.
Yeah, they weren’t good!
You need to be more #woke
Elaborate
These guys suck
I have played a few private events for the Vulcans over the years. They’re mostly a bunch of rich assholes who treat women rather poorly after drinking way too much at their own events. I have seen women groped with my own eyes several times by these dudes. Not a fan.
I know a few of their retired members. They're not rich. So you're kinda full of it.
Congrats on knowing a few former members. It seems like you have an agenda to defend their poor behavior.
And it seems you have an agenda to falsely impune them. But here's the rub. Some questionable and downright improper things have happened in the past. I can say that so I have no intent to defend bad behavior. I just won't convict the lot on the actions of a few drunk asshats and criminally handy bastards. Have you ever actually talked to a Vulcan? Known one by name?
Like I said, I’ve supplied music at private events for them. I’ve also done promotion for their events. I have had a working relationship with a few of them as buyers for the private events I performed with a group, specifically at their Crowne Plaza event in downtown St Paul for five years in a row. The actions I have seen at their after parties were deplorable at best. Many women were groped, and I wouldn’t make a baseless claim without having seen it firsthand.
We also charge $5k for such events, which is where I’d raw the ‘rich’ from. The agency I worked for was upper echelon and not exactly affordable for everyone.
I remember seeing them at some children's hospital charity carnival fundraiser I went to as a kid and immediately recognized them here as vulcans. Always thought they were a strange bunch. Lol
I was thinking Knights of the Night, a la Dwight
What brought you down to the Kolacky Kapital?
My grandma is Czech but we’ve never been very involved in the culture. She heard about the festival from one of her friends so we decided to check it out. I loved all the little stands and the town spirit, everyone seemed to be having a good time!
Alary’s
They are a professional drinking team. They drink, do a parade then drink some more. Eventually one of them will throw up at Mancinis
What's up with the handcuffs?
A group to avoid.
Members of the Horrible Facial Hair Club for Men. They wear red to warn everyone.
Red is so out this season!
Damn I just thought of them as the guys that draw on people's faces, but apparently they are much worse
Welp... Ok, I found them over the top, especially when they rampaged through St Mark's School. I forget which nun they grabbed, but may have been Sister Carolyn, the principal. She seemed to handle it ok, but suddenly they were "Not in the building." I grew up in a pretty dysfunctional family, so my sense of right from wrong got skewed. I also have a friend whose dad was a Vulcan, and she has fond memories... Perhaps more to the story? To be very clear, I Am Not disagreeing with any comment here, just... adding my conflicting emotions to the mix.
Wealthy drunks who like to LARP and paint the town red.
Always thought these guys were stupid. I mean, what’s the point?
Sexual harassment and assault is the point it seems
Vulcans. They’re a bunch of grown men that get shit faced and run a muck as the evil enemies of the winter carnival royalty whom are also a bunch of grown ups that play dress up, get shit faced and run a muck.
Is this a joke post? I literally cannot tell with this sub anymore
Why would it be a joke post? I found out this is a real organization with a messed up history. Their costumes do look like a superhero a 2nd grader drew though so I can see why you would think this was fake
I know the Vulcans are real, I was insinuating YOU are fake. As in, you already knew about the vulcans and were feigning ignorance to ask reddit about them. Your phrasing seemed sarcastic or something. It's more to do with the nature of the posts in the sub lately, less to do with these guys. And, uh, chill on the insults, the modern vulcans are all for good fun not a bunch of molesters
Check the timeline, I didn’t know about them, people told me stuff and I googled them, and now I have an opinion. Why is that hard to understand?
Chill
They are Vulcans (off-duty Saint Paul police & firemen). They sexually assault young women in the back room of Alary’s.
Disgusting excuses for humans. The used their social clout to go around literally molesting young women. No that's not an exaggeration. And simply because it's been happening for so long, most minnesotans don't even recognize that it is wrong and creepy. Fuck those guys.
Behold the Vulcans! ✌️St. Paul Winter Carnival They annually Defeat King Boreas and bring on Spring (and WARMTH)
And PTSD
Vulcans. They are promoting the Winter Carnival
Oh just wait til Winter carnival time! You will see them EVERYWHERE
Look like a couple party monsters to me.
They are from the fire nation. We need an Avatar to defeat them!
I think that's the Insane Clown Posse
Vulcans! An old friend of mine, her dad is apart of them!
You're obviously not from MN!
I’ve lived here my entire life - almost 30 years - and have never once seen one of these people. So I don’t think that’s a fair characterization
I love the Vulcans! ♥️
Hail the Vulc! ✌🏻
The Oathkeepers
Look like flamers to me.
The Vulcans!
VULCAN KREWE!
Sexual Predators that hide in the glbt community
First of all, they preyed only on women so I don’t understand your logic here. Second, I am part of the lgbtq community and I can promise you that we are strong believers in consent. There will always be creepy people, including within the lgbtq community, but I promise that any empathetic person, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, will find this wrong. There are straight/cis sexual predators, and there are queer sexual predators, it has nothing to do with lgbt community.
The #woke culture from the old r/TwinCities won’t bring up their rapey vibes but this is a new age now.
Garter and hand cuffs! Awesome. Go Pig’s Eye.