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Update: Fireworks over Elliott Bay – for Farmers Insurance event

March 6, 2010 8:44 pm
|      66 COMMENTS
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle news

(photo added 9:33 pm – see explanation below)
ORIGINAL 8:44 PM NOTE: First we got various reports of noise in the Admiral District that sounded like fireworks. Apparently there are fireworks over Elliott Bay off the downtown waterfront. Trying to find out why!

8:58 PM: A brief report of a possible reason, turned out to be somebody’s joke. The Local Notice to Mariners issued by the Coast Guard mentions Farmers Insurance‘s 100th anniversary as an Elliott Bay event – but we can’t find any link to fireworks – so that might not be it – still checking!

9 PM: Via Twitter, KIRO confirms it’s the Farmers’ Insurance party. They are apparently celebrating at the Space Needle – which would have a great view of the bay!

9:15 PM: For our fellow info-geeks, here’s the aforementioned “Local Notice to Mariners.” Note that it mentions the Farmers Insurance party and a narrow evening time window, but doesn’t specify fireworks. Citywide media did not get advance alert, either, in case you were wondering.

9:33 PM UPDATE: Adding a photo e-mailed to us by Emory E.; accompanying note says Emory is 13 and took the photo from Hamilton Viewpoint. Meantime, THANKS AGAIN to everyone who sent word of this while it was happening – phone, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook. That’s why we had something up fast – when YOU share word of something like this happening, that helps inform others who are wondering too – we didn’t hear/see it ourselves because HQ is in south WS. Here are all the ways to reach us, 24/7.

10:12 PM: One note for absolute clarity: Per the news release we found, this is Farmers New World Life Insurance celebrating its centennial – not the entire Farmers Insurance Group, which acquired Mercer Island-headquartered New World Life in the ’50s.

1:10 PM: Found out from a citywide-media friend that one website has turned up with an advance mention of the fireworks: City of Seattle Special Events. We’re linking it to the list of calendars at the bottom of the WSB Events calendar so we will be able to check it regularly ourselves!

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66 Replies to "Update: Fireworks over Elliott Bay - for Farmers Insurance event"

  • Mugs Boardman March 6, 2010 (8:47 pm)

    I knew I could find out what was up at this website – thanks for being on top of things WSB!!

  • JAT March 6, 2010 (8:47 pm)

    this blog is astounding. I came up from doing laundry in the basement wondering what’s that noise,… and you’re on it.

    you’ll keep us posted for the end of the world, won’t you?

    …on second thought – don’t.

  • Ms Evelyn March 6, 2010 (8:49 pm)

    Thanks for the scoooop! Could hear ’em now I can see them and know where they are coming from.

  • Elle March 6, 2010 (8:49 pm)

    What the heck is it for?? A building is blocking my view, so I only see the halo of lights around it :(

  • wow March 6, 2010 (8:51 pm)

    i was also wondering about the noise. searched about it and found this, haha

  • Alkilover March 6, 2010 (8:52 pm)

    Came here for a reason to the noise, thanks for being so on top of everything!

  • z smith March 6, 2010 (8:52 pm)

    yeah it crazy big, any idea why?

  • alkigirl March 6, 2010 (8:52 pm)

    My two kitties think the world is coming to an end RIGHT NOW! Look forward to hearing about the ‘fire behind the fireworks’

    Ever appreciative of WS Blog..,..

  • Jobu March 6, 2010 (8:52 pm)

    Sounds like it stopped now

  • Jason March 6, 2010 (8:52 pm)

    I have an apartment overlooking Elliott Bay (just a few blocks from the downtown ferry terminal) and I noticed a pleasure cruise ship holding position just south of the display. As soon as the show ended, the cruise ship blew its horn and got underway. I wonder if the two are related.

  • Diego March 6, 2010 (8:53 pm)

    Did you guys find out what this was all about?

  • Kira March 6, 2010 (8:53 pm)

    I can hear them all the way in Columbia city

  • SU law student March 6, 2010 (8:53 pm)

    I could see the firworks from my apt downtown. Maybe someone got marriend and the fireworks display is apart of their reception festivities.

  • Adam March 6, 2010 (8:53 pm)

    Fantastic, if you find out what it was let us in on it. I’ve searched google and found nothing to indicate what the source might be. Had a very nice view from atop North Beacon Hill. :)

  • Jennifer March 6, 2010 (8:53 pm)

    All I can find is the Women’s show? I live in Belltown and just watched them for over 15 minutes! Almost better than the Space Needle show! :) SO cool. Lots of sirens out there too. What’s up?

  • schmoop March 6, 2010 (8:53 pm)

    Wow, they were great!! As good or better than the 4th of July…wish I knew why :)

  • Bethany W March 6, 2010 (8:54 pm)

    Pretty good show, actually. Beat the New Years’ show on the Space Needle. So curious to know what its all about…

  • Jobu March 6, 2010 (8:54 pm)

    I searched the web for it and nothing. Some rich persons birthday is my guess

  • Noelle March 6, 2010 (8:54 pm)

    Amazing! I’m up near Kenmore and can hear them up here. Had no idea what the noise was until I found your blog.

  • Sean March 6, 2010 (8:55 pm)

    Haha. How great! Saw the awesome fireworks, was interested in what they were myself. This blog is on it! Keep us updated! Have a great Saturday!

  • sun*e March 6, 2010 (8:55 pm)

    OH MY GOSH!!! Do we live in the best place or what?!!! Sittin’ here at the dinner table and noticed a bright light over the city and loud bangs. What the heck is that?!!! Then we got the best fireworks show ever!!! We don’t know why but can’t say enough about how much we enjoyed it!!! Thanks to whomever!!! You’re the best!!! :)

  • Byron March 6, 2010 (8:55 pm)

    Great view from Queen Anne. But why, that was alot of fireworks for noone knowing about them.

  • kjr March 6, 2010 (8:56 pm)

    Ghana Independence Day?

  • Kathy March 6, 2010 (8:56 pm)

    So glad to know what this is – it was bugging me for a while. At first I thought I had a raccoon on my roof as my dogs were worked up and I kept hearing something. Then I saw some flashes to the north along with the booms (we live in N. Delridge). Then I decided to check the tv – nothing there, so I checked here where you were on top of it. Thanks WS Blog!

  • Me March 6, 2010 (8:56 pm)

    Oh good, I was frantically googling to find out WTH the noise was all about. Every dog in my neighborhood is flipping out. Wonder what was going on?

  • Admiral Janeway March 6, 2010 (8:57 pm)

    A 20 minute firework display! There goes the profits.

  • WSB March 6, 2010 (8:58 pm)

    Anyone who briefly saw the TeachStreet line – that was a JOKE, its founder then tweeted. My total bad for picking it up, because a much larger media organization had picked it up. Still working to find out.

  • Admiralette March 6, 2010 (9:00 pm)

    Aw poo, wish I’d known about them ahead of time. I’d have taken the kids to the Admiral viewpoint to watch. :(

    • WSB March 6, 2010 (9:06 pm)

      As we have added to our story – Farmers’ Insurance is indeed the answer. Sorry for no advance report – this is the time of year when we need to start checking the “Local Notice to Mariners” (issued weekly by the Coast Guard) EVERY week because that’s what provides advance word of events like this – and when we get advance word, we WILL publish it here. Thanks to everyone for the e-mails, calls, and of course comments here – that’s why we had a line about it on the site fast – because WSB’ers are AWESOME at sending word when something is happening (our HQ is in south West Seattle so we didn’t hear or see it ourselves) – TR

  • Belltown Fireworks Viewer March 6, 2010 (9:00 pm)

    So insanely crazy that there’s nothing on the net about this! Just watched 20 minutes of the most glorious fireworks – what a wonderful surprise. My neighborhood was filled with cheers and honking horns.

  • Devri March 6, 2010 (9:02 pm)

    There was also an Argosy cruise boat all lit up just beyond the police boat, so I assumed it was a private party of some kind. A corporate event does seem the most likely reason.

  • Hil March 6, 2010 (9:03 pm)

    I’m at Pike’s right now and we overheard it was a Microsoft gig

  • kw March 6, 2010 (9:03 pm)

    Thank you so much for posting something about it! That was not so fun, getting home and hearing that, but this blog saves the night! Thanks!

  • wow March 6, 2010 (9:04 pm)

    according to kiro7’s twitter, it was the farmer’s insurance 100th anniversary celebration.

  • guinivere March 6, 2010 (9:04 pm)

    My boyfriend, who live On Bell St. said it was an amazing display and that his building and windows were shaking. He said the fireworks seemed to be coming off a barge and there was an Argosy Cruise boat close by. Private show??? Someone must be loaded!!!!

  • Nic March 6, 2010 (9:05 pm)

    I watched these from the Belltown side – good show – thanks for the info!

  • shannon March 6, 2010 (9:05 pm)

    Yeah….came onto WSB to find out what might be going on with the Bombing , Yikes…. , but sounded more like fireworks as we walked out of our home. Thought maybe it was someone with connections and lots of money for a loved one B-day. So…. where are the fireworks coming from ?

  • alex March 6, 2010 (9:10 pm)

    Given how many pets flip out during fireworks during the 4th of July every year, I can’t believe there wasn’t some advance warning about this event so pet owners could take precautions. Our dogs were freaking out, but at least they were inside and couldn’t run away, as I’m sure happened to some dogs. Sorry to be grumpy, but I feel infringed upon.

  • jormond March 6, 2010 (9:10 pm)

    I live on Elliott Street and can confirm the fireworks were being launched from a barge, and there was what appeared to be an Argosy Cruise ship nearby. Awesome fireworks show, but at first I thought the thugs were having a running gun battle in front of Venom. Judging by all the sirens converging on Belltown, I wasn’t the only one!

  • d March 6, 2010 (9:15 pm)

    I thought maybe some oddball folks were belatedly celebrating the New Year of the Tiger (is that right?). I thought dumb.

    Amazing I could hear it so well from Highland Park – that’s by White Center, for all you Belltown and Bothell hipsters ;).

  • Mike March 6, 2010 (9:15 pm)

    According to their website, Farmers Insurance was founded in 1928… so this would be a little short of 100 years… unless there’s another Farmers Insurance that I’m unaware of?

  • Living in West Seattle Since 1985 March 6, 2010 (9:20 pm)

    It was annoying that they did not have to give the public any warning it seems.

  • Steve March 6, 2010 (9:20 pm)

    Yes the argosy dinner boat was out, and fireworks were from a barge. The coast guard was out flying the bay all afternoon, I’ll assume scouting. The ferries seemed to have some issues with the police boats which were blocking an area around the barge. The piers were completely empty. Fairly lame to keep this a secret though was awesome from harbor steps.

    • WSB March 6, 2010 (9:22 pm)

      As we wrote above, the Coast Guard Local Notice to Mariners (linked weekly from here)
      http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/lnm/d13/
      mentioned Farmers’ 100th anniversary for 7:30-8 pm tonight on Elliott Bay – but unless I’m missing a secret code, it didn’t say WHAT that was about – could have been a large boat doing circles in the bay for all anyone knew. We’re going to inquire about protocol for this because not even the citywide media knew. (Maybe it was a surprise for the company employees, somehow???)

  • sathya March 6, 2010 (9:22 pm)

    way to go Farmers! there goes our insurance money up in smoke (I’m switching) what was that…50, 100,000 dollars worth?
    we were at the Market, celebrating the life of our friend, Sharon…they were for her……

  • dsa March 6, 2010 (9:24 pm)

    Nuts, for all the thousands my Farmer’s has collected from us, we could have been given a heads up.

  • sun*e March 6, 2010 (9:30 pm)

    I thought it was an unexpected nice surprise… and I so needed that!!!

  • Barb White March 6, 2010 (9:42 pm)

    I just happened to be on the beach by Salty’s to take night shots of downtown when suddenly the fireworks started – what a great time to have my camera already on a tripod! Wow – glad I found this, I was wondering why there were fireworks – a little early for July 4!

  • ohboy March 6, 2010 (9:44 pm)

    Well there it went our last chance to get our 4th of July fireworks fix in! I vote for Farmer’s to take over the Lake Union show this year. Would have been nice to know about this one especially on a night like tonight. We were in the area with our kid and would have stopped to watch! Why were they all secretive about it? Share the wealth Farmer’s!

  • rainycity1 March 6, 2010 (9:44 pm)

    Great picture, Emory! Thanks for sharing.

  • sathya March 6, 2010 (9:49 pm)

    WOW, really great pic Emory…thanks…I do the sourpuss thing and then I really enjoyed it…childhood and all of that good stuff…

  • sathya March 6, 2010 (9:51 pm)

    P.S. Thanks to this blog, I am actually GETTING it..(the tweeting etc.etc.etc.) thanks for being on the ball…and sure, the end of the world….cheerfully? OOMMMMMMM!!

  • dsa March 6, 2010 (11:45 pm)

    Thanks for all the info WSB and clarifying which Farmer’s to give the credit to.

  • md March 6, 2010 (11:59 pm)

    Was in Belltown celebrating my birthday, thought it was a display just for me. Amazing treat! The cherry on a sundae of a day. Knew WSB would get to the bottom of it quickly, as always.

  • Mike March 7, 2010 (7:49 am)

    Ah, now it makes more sense. First explosion I thought was a gunshot at Alki. My dog freaked and barked at the back door. Then when they kept coming I figured it was fireworks but didn’t know why.

    WS Blog, best resource for news!

  • Celeste March 7, 2010 (7:55 am)

    We herd the noise too

    we knew WSB would have the reason why

  • Duane March 7, 2010 (8:15 am)

    Well it’s nice to know the Farmer’s can waste money with the best of corporations. Especially during a recession! Way to go I will not be patronizing Farmer’s! (BTW I am shopping for new insurance)

  • michael March 7, 2010 (9:26 am)

    yes —-more free advertising for FARMERS—the people who dont pay your claims !!!!!

  • JoanM March 7, 2010 (9:45 am)

    What I’ve learned in my three years here: Any excuse for a fireworks display in Seattle!

    Thanks, I knew I wasn’t crazy.

  • josh March 7, 2010 (12:14 pm)

    I did wonder about the lack of local media coverage — it’s not every day a large local company (founded in Spokane, used to own Seattle’s first skyscraper, now headquartered on Mercer Island, 700+ local employees) celebrates 100 years in business. Didn’t notice any local media picking up the story until the fireworks started.

    FYI the party this time was at Bell Harbor — the Needle party was for the New Years Eve fireworks at the Needle.

    • WSB March 7, 2010 (12:58 pm)

      Thanks, Josh. Honestly, if they had announced the fireworks in advance, as an ex-TV news manager I can tell you it would have gotten mentions. The Seattle events calendar was the ONLY place that had it – and since they are involved with permits, that would make sense, but it’s not necessarily something every assignment desk monitors. (We have linked it to our calendar now and I’ll certainly be checking it weekly!) I found the PR Newswire news release by Googling for the company name after seeing the Local Notice for Mariners mention of it, but it didn’t say “and we’re having a party with fireworks”! – TR

  • ad March 7, 2010 (12:23 pm)

    Alex, I agree with you. Though a beautiful suprise, notice would have been nice. My elderly dog needs to be drugged or he may have a heart attack or stroke during fireworks & Blue Angels.

  • WSDad March 7, 2010 (5:16 pm)

    Makes sense-insurance company celebrating their own Independence Day event.Thankfully you and I didn’t pay for it!

  • dsa March 7, 2010 (5:38 pm)

    Check out March 27th on that Special Events calender. It looks like more.

    • WSB March 7, 2010 (6:37 pm)

      DSA, you win the discovery of the day for that one! I hadn’t read any further than next week. Writing it into the calendar now … TR
      .
      p.s. just verified this on the calendar … same night as “Earth Hour” … about an hour later …

  • Jim March 7, 2010 (8:40 pm)

    You might have been wondering what prompted the fireworks display on the night March 6 at Seattle’s waterfront. It turns out it was the birthday celebration for Disne who was costing Seattle with her husband and friends. As they left Umi Sake House at 8:43 the skies errupted eith 64 amazing displays.After severalinutes as the coulple passionately embraced a crowd of several hundred who gathered cheered wildly. Not since ‘Message in a Bottle’ has Seattle experienced such a moment!

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