Now, the followup to our as-it-happened West Seattle Grand Parade coverage (which you can see here – be sure to follow the photo links!) – we’ll do this in several installments. First: We told you weeks ago that designer/barista/Project Runway star Blayne was going to be the Grand Parade Grand Marshal – but just how grand, managed to stay a secret till Parade Day. That photo’s from shortly after Blayne showed up with his “unicorn” in tow. We heard from Lora at Hotwire weeks ago that Blayne had the idea of riding a unicorn but they weren’t sure they’d find a white horse to fit the bill – they did. Blayne told us that when he showed up to check in, the parade coordinators were impressed, saying they hadn’t had a horseback rider in years. WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli caught him further down the route:
Speaking of design, from the staging area, here’s a famous car – the Illusions Hair Design (WSB sponsor) bug, promoting Pencil Me In for Kids, and the car wash at West Seattle Eagles tomorrow – that’s Heather behind the wheel:
Also photographed in the staging area where we all waited along Lander by Lafayette Elementary, the Pathfinder K-8 unicyclists:
West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival president Tim Winston and wife Carol Winston got to make two tours of the parade – after they accompanied the float, royalty and candidates, they circled back to ride in our entry, celebrating West Seattle Volunteers (they are among the first West Seattle Volunteer Recognition honorees announced at the Concert in the Park just this past Tuesday):
Honoree Beth Grieser walked with us too. Other unsung heroes of the parade include the police who keep everything orderly and watch the closed streets – but perhaps the most unique officer on view was Officer Lumpy:
He’s actually a Seafair Clown who lives in West Seattle, and is seen there checking the cab of the concrete mixer that led the clowns’ series of vehicles. Many non-clown officers were IN the parade, too, including the motorcycle drill teams from Seattle Police and Vancouver, B.C., Police – one of the latter got an offer of a cool-down shpritz about mid-route – thanks to Luckie for the photo:
Of course, our favorite parade people of all include YOU! – everybody who lined the parade route. We have loved the parade for so many years and walking in it is a real kick – great to see everybody still out there after more than two hours (we were toward the end of the lineup)
Back toward the start of the route, here’s the smoke clearing from the very first Seafair Pirates cannon blast of the parade – the crowd whooped mightily afterward:
Then back to the end of the route – after you’ve walked 2 miles or so in hot sunshine, the adrenaline can start to wear off – as it did for Junior Member of the Team, who assisted our Volunteers of West Seattle entry mightily by handing out candy to parade watchers all along the way – Christopher caught him in the home stretch:
We’re expecting word shortly of who the judges chose for Grand Parade awards – we’ll publish those in another update as soon as they’re in! P.S. Thanks to Rhonda from The Mortgage Porter (WSB sponsor) for adding tons of parade photos to the West Seattle Blog Flickr group pool – if you’re uploading parade photos to Flickr, please consider doing so too – that way we all have a HUGE pool of great pix!
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