Only in Fairfax: Find the Penguin Man

You may have seen him during town festivals and local events: a man clad in a full-body penguin suit, belting songs about the arctic bird with a pink ukulele accompanying him. The self-dubbed “Penguin Man” of Fairfax roams the streets during large public gatherings, playing for the children and anyone who cares to listen. However, Jim Fox, the man inside the suit, does much, much more than play the ukulele and sing.

Fox has found other uses for his penguin suit, including marrying couples and attending Burning Man. But along with the penguin act, he also runs some other notable projects: a business creating and keeping-up a stationed in Fairfax near the ballfield. Fox’s many quirks and talents, in some way, represent the spirit of Fairfax: a little off-kilter, but all the more interesting for it and difficult to find elsewhere.

Fully-ordained and equipped with a marriage license, Fox puts his penguin suit to good use. He can and has married Fairfax residents in full penguin character and solely for the joy of being there. Fox does all his penguin work free of charge. “It’s not a business,” he said; he just does it for the fun.

Fox has also taken his Penguin Man routine to other events, most notably the annual Burning Man Decompression Party in San Francisco (a sort of pre-party to the actual festival), and the real annual Burning Man Festival in Nevada. “Penguin Man has been to Burning Man many times,” said Fox, who tries to attend the festival every year.

In Marin, Penguin Man makes at least bi-annual appearances, with guaranteed attendance at both the and parades. Playing mostly for the children, Fox has created a few original songs that, if you live in Fairfax, you’ve heard probably at least once: “The Penguin Blues” being the most played, along with “The Halloween Blues,” “The Penguin Song,” and many others.

You can see a video of the Penguin Man performing his songs at right.

Since the Penguin Man is not a source of income, Fox makes his money selling clothes he creates from LEDs. Operating out of a garage, Fox makes entire suits out of LED lights: clothing with flashing, full-body patterned lights that can be changed with the click of a button located in the wrist of the suit. The patterns are all programmed by Fox, a self-taught programmer who learned the skill by tinkering in his home.

Fox makes two kinds of CyberWear as he calls it: the full-suit and the CyberBra, a flashing bra with light patterns just like the suit. While the suits sell for $2,000, the bras are a considerably smaller investment of $600 and a more popular product. He’s sold a few to private residents, but has also been contracted by dance troupes in Barcelona and even pop-superstar Katy Perry, although that particular deal did not go through all the way.

When he’s not making LED clothing or in his penguin suit, Fox might be found taking care of a 15-year-old Jerry Garcia memorial situated in Fairfax. Currently on a small hillside next to the Pavilion’s parking lot, the memorial is small: a few feet by a few feet. However, he still plants scarlet begonias, types of sage, and other flowers that have connections to Grateful Dead song lyrics or titles. The flowers cluster around a small concrete square, faceted with iconic trinkets that represent Garcia’s life. Fox takes care of the memorial “every day in the summer, and about every week in the winter,” he said.

Fox aspires to have the memorial moved closer to the Pavilion to be more visible and to erect a light-up statue in Garcia’s honor; a project he estimates will cost $25,000. He hopes to get a fundraiser going to build the statue, but is also relying on private philanthropy to make it happen.

LED clothes, the memorial, and his Penguin Man routine – along with countless other side projects he’s constantly working on – are all small parts of what Fox contributes to Fairfax. Though he may just be one guy dressed in a penguin suit at the town festivals and parades, Jim Fox is part of the uniqueness of the town. He could be found only in Fairfax.