West Seattle Grand Parade 2017, from The Admiral District to The Junction: Report #1

10:42 AM: The Seattle Police Motorcycle Drill Team is performing, and that marks the start of the 2017 West Seattle Grand Parade, From California/Lander in The Admiral District to California/Edmunds in The Junction. They and the Vancouver B.C. Police motorcycles perform before the rest of the parade, which is set to get going around 11, after hours of staging, practicing, and behind-the-scenes logistics by dozens of volunteers, from the parade co-coordinators, to the Seafair Parade Marshals assisting them, to the West Seattle Amateur Radio Club hams communicating along the route. This year’s parade is about the same size as last year – more than 70 entries, as of the lineup meeting we covered earlier this week – and that means it’ll likely conclude at this end around 12:30 pm, in The Junction after 1. If you’re watching on that end, also look for the Rotary Kiddie Parade leaving California/Genesee at 11. And watch our Twitter feed for parade photos and updates before our post-parade coverage!

12:13 PM: The parade has just concluded at the north end of the route, California/Lander. We have a crew at the south end, too, and will update when it wraps up there. The road will reopen block by block in most cases – the block between Admiral and Lander has just reopened, but police vehicles are keeping watch south of there while the parade proceeds. Meantime, from all the photos and videos we tweeted, a few sightings of note:

While this is the first year without Hi-Yu, a former Senior Court Queen was in the parade, one of the contenders in this year’s Seafair Scholarship Program for Women, April Davis. The next Miss Seafair will be crowned next week. And speaking of reigning …

Lots more photos and video in our upcoming roundups – but first we’re off to some of today’s other big events.

1:11 PM: Our crew in The Junction reports the parade has ended.

13 Replies to "West Seattle Grand Parade 2017, from The Admiral District to The Junction: Report #1"

  • Meredith July 22, 2017 (12:52 pm)

    Very loud explosive sounds & sirens not much fun for me…  but gotta love the people! 

  • Emily Katcher July 22, 2017 (1:06 pm)

    Hey, were those ‘splody noises and subsequent sirens just parade related or what?

    • WSB July 22, 2017 (1:41 pm)

      Yes, the Seafair Pirates’ parade “ship” has a cannon, and they use the siren to warn people before they fire it. I have to remember next year to include that kind of thing in parade previews for all the people moving here.

  • Gene July 22, 2017 (1:55 pm)

    Great Parade- love the sirens- SPD  & Vancouver BC Motorcycle Drill Teams-awesome as usual & of course the Pirates- & their canon! Just wouldn’t be the same without them & yes- as WSB says – for last not sure how many years they use the siren as a heads up. Back in ” the olden days”( been going since the 50’s)  you didn’t get a warning! If you’re new to WS- or  any other community in Seattle- & there’s a parade-there will probably be sirens & booms.  

    Thanks to all who organized & participated!!!

  • junctioneer July 22, 2017 (3:13 pm)

    That cannon makes me furious. Look around when it goes past, and notice all the crying kids! Soime were truly mortified. No, this isn’t a “haha”, glad the kids were scared mortified. These are tiny kids who almost peed their pants they were so scared and cried, begging for it not to happen again. Families around us were crying and kids who were “in the know” were able to skidaddle quickly when the saw it approaching because they knew it was not little-kid friendly. We’ve got to put the kibosh to that awful cannon–how can we get the city to revoke their permit?? Maybe it’s ok the water–but not on a narrow street.

    No one likes hearing the annoying person saying “the slide on the playground isn’t safe!” This isn’t that–tiny kids can’t process sound like that, nor are all skilled at covering their ears. The siren is hardly a warning–so many kids are too young to cover their ears. 

    For those who say to deal with it–I wish I took a video. I doubt you’d say that after watching how the kids around me “dealt with it.”

    • Maria July 23, 2017 (12:41 am)

      I have a very different experience.  Usually when the siren goes off, I see families tell their kids to cover their ears, and then post blast there are usually big “wows” and giggling from the kids.  I’m sure there are kids who don’t like surprise loud noises, but to take it away?  You may as well take away the Seafair clowns because a lot of us find clowns creepy.

      That cannon makes me and families around me thrilled that we have something as unique as Seafair.  Moby Duck brings smiles whichever parade it is in.  The pre-blast warning siren has been happening for quite a few years now.  My two cents.

  • Carole July 22, 2017 (5:42 pm)

    As much as I love the community feelings the parade brings, I wish those same community members behaved as better neighbors.  I watched adults and children tramp through our front yard plantings,  and saw them pummeled by bikes and strollers.  Now we are left with plastic bottles and snack bags, cigarette butts, paper debris, etc., both in our yard and in the street. Maybe we need a reminder before next year’s parade to be considerate of others’ property.

    • MsD July 23, 2017 (11:42 pm)

      Carole – my sentiments exactly.   I love the parade despite how crazy the cannons drive my dog (and the dogs I’ve had before this one) – it’s once a year so we deal with it.  I love seeing the community come together and enjoy the parade, but having to clean up behind everyone is a drag.  I quit trying to replant my parking strip several years ago because of the people who have no respect for the people’s property they are on. 

      • Carole July 24, 2017 (9:51 am)

        These people were pummeling plants in our front yard, not the parking strip.  Totally out of control.

  • Gene July 22, 2017 (9:36 pm)

    Take a chill pill Junctioneer- the sirens & pirate canon have been  & hopefully always will be part of our parade- other community parades as well as Seafair Torchlight parade. Maybe there were many newbies at today’s parade who didn’t know about the Seafair Pirates – but those guys have been pretty good about motioning to cover ones ears when the siren goes off. If the kids aren’t old enough to figure that out- the parents should do it. And I disagree that there’s not enough time between the siren & the boom. 

    • junctioneer July 23, 2017 (10:19 pm)

      I would have had the same response had I not seen kids respond the way the did (“who’s this curmudgeon junctioneer that’s trying to ruin everyone’s fun that’s been happening for years?”). Nor do I usually favor making things worst for most when things only affect a small percentage.

      But, could others possibly be affected in a more dramatic way than you might expect? I’m confident the majority of kids, and surely adults, like it. I’m in no way speaking for the majority (clearly). But if a smattering of kids each block are literally shaking in the knees, crying, that to me this makes it not a family friendly parade. If that’s what we want–so be it–but can we at least make that clear in advance of the float? Like, have some sort of advance banner that the sounds are extremely loud? It’s already toward the end. The siren doesn’t give people enough time to leave the parade. I don’t buy the “sucks for you that you aren’t in the know” argument.

      It isn’t that the parade has something “scary” (the pirates are “scary” too), it’s that for a smatter of the kids in that parade the deafening, physical jolt of the cannon feels like their world is crashing down and they don’t know how to handle it.

      Particularly at the beginning of the parade where you don’t know it’s coming until it’s too late. 

      Lastly–your comment about the parents doing it assumes that there are the same # kids as parents, and that covering ears is even enough.

  • Alki mom July 22, 2017 (10:32 pm)

    I have two little ones (3 and 5), and we LOVED the pirates cannons! Nothing hands on ears can’t fix for a kid sensitive to noise, especially with the warning siren before. If you can’t handle noise and crowd, stay home! And everyone else around including many kids and families were loving it too!

  • ImmaMom July 23, 2017 (9:26 am)

    Loved it. 

    suggestion:

    the west Seattle food bank truck and west side baby could be soliciting donations ahead of time for pick up during the parade.  Goodness knows it’s slow enough… and could play off the pirates pilfering booty. It would be fun, interactive and put a bit more entertainment into their parade routes.  

Sorry, comment time is over.