On California SW by the Admiral Safeway parking lot, Holy Rosary School volunteers were putting flowers on their WestFest entry for the West Seattle Grand Parade, which starts at 11 am. Not far away, this bubble-breathing dragon is getting ready for its star turn – we won’t spoil the surprise by showing you who’s towing it:

We got here just after 9, convoying with the mystery vehicle we’ll ride in the parade – spotted staked-out spots outside ArtsWest in The Junction along the way (and more than a few in other areas, including some whose “owners” were already in place):

Back up here at parade-start central, the Seafair parade marshals – more than 30 of them – are helping American Legion Post 160‘s Grand Parade coordinators get everybody arranged:

One of our later reports will have more behind-the-scenes glimpses; we have photojournalist Edgar Riebe here covering that side of the parade-day story; photojournalist Christopher Boffoli will be along the route to cover the parade itself. See our earlier previews (all archived here) for info on the route and times and some of who you’ll see – the action all starts at 11 am, though the motorcycle drill teams (Seattle followed by Vancouver, B.C.) scheduled to go down the route a bit sooner, so you’ll definitely want to be in place by 10:30; even The Junction, end of the line, will see parading soon after 11, since the Rotary Club of West Seattle-presented Kiddie Parade will travel south from California/Genesee at that point. Not sure if we’ll add more pre-parade pix here – but you can definitely watch our @westseattleblog Twitter feed (even if you’re not a Twitter member) for photos we’ll “tweet” before and during.