When the West Seattle Grand Parade ends, the final phase of that group’s work begins – deciding the winners in a dozen categories, as well as the overall grand-prize winners. They are the parade’s volunteer judges, and along with that photo, we’ve received the list of their decisions about today’s ~90 parade entries! We’ve already published images of some of them, and will be adding more to this list in the hours ahead as we continue processing all the video and photos we have:

OVERALL GRAND PRIZE WINNERS:

1st Place: Seattle All-City Band

2nd Place: Electronettes Hi-Steppers Drill Team & Drumline

3rd Place: West Seattle Mrs. Ropers

CHEER TEAMS:

1st Place: West Seattle High School Co-Ed Cheer Team

2nd Place: Chief Sealth International High School Cheerleading

COMMUNITY DANCE TEAMS:

1st Place: Joyas Mestizas

2nd Place: Comerford Irish Dancers

3rd Place: West Seattle Irish Dance

MARCHING BANDS:

1st Place: Seattle All-City Band

2nd Place: The All-Star Drumline

3rd Place: Kennedy Catholic High School “Lancer” Marching Band and Color Guard

PERFORMING ACTS:

1st Place: Hi-Liners Musical Theatre

2nd Place: Seattle Chinese American Chamber of Commerce

3rd Place: Rain City Ropeworks Jump Rope Team

CARS AND ANTIQUE CARS:

1st Place: Corvette Marque Club

2nd Place: STS Construction

3rd Place: 1942 American-LaFrance Fire Engine

COMMUNITY YOUTH:

1st Place: Southside Revolution Junior Roller Derby

2nd Place: Endolyne Children’s Choir

3rd Place: Highline Premier FC

COMMERCIAL:

1st Place: Dragonfly West Seattle

2nd Place: Airport Towing, Burien Towing, & Columbia Towing

3rd Place: Can Doo Pet Waste Service

COMMUNITY ADULT:

1st Place: West Seattle Mrs. Ropers

2nd Place: F3 Seattle

3rd Place: West Seattle Lions Club

DRILL TEAM SENIOR:

1st Place: Electronettes Hi-Steppers Drillteam & Drumline

2nd Place: Rhapsody Winterguard

3rd Place: Evergreen Drill Team

DRILL TEAM JUNIOR:

1st Place: Babynettes Drill Team (Jr. Electronettes team)

2nd Place: Daughters of Royalty Drill & Dance Ensemble

CONVEYED FLOAT:

1st Place: Holy Rosary School

2nd Place: Calvary Chapel West Seattle

SEAFAIR:

1st Place: Seattle Seafair Pirates

2nd Place: Seattle Seafair Clowns

3rd Place: Seattle Commodores

Again, we’ll be adding photos and video for as many of the winners as we can – and we have more parade scenes to come beyond this list, too! (We should note that the Rotary Club of West Seattle Foundation presents the parade, and community sponsors help cover the costs, which are considerable; volunteer power is vital, too.)

Photo credits: Most by Oliver Hamlin for WSB. A few photos, plus the videos, by Tracy Record. Others as credited.

You don’t generally see individual Seattle Public Schools bands in summer parades because musicians from schools around the city join forces for the All-City Band, which not only appeared in today’s West Seattle Grand Parade, as shown in our video above, but also is practicing on the peninsula this year – at Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex – since Memorial Stadium is out of commission for its overhaul. This also means ACB will host Band Jam here this year, next Friday (July 25) – a showcase of bands as well as a practice for those who are in the Seafair Torchlight Parade – more on Band Jam later. Other school groups in today’s Grand Parade included, up from Burien, the Kennedy Catholic High School Marching Band:

Our area’s two largest high schools both had cheer teams in the parade – here’s West Seattle High School:

And Chief Sealth International High School:

When Holy Rosary School went by with its float, we noted about 100 people walking alongside!

And Hope Lutheran School brought along its eagle mascot:

Next up – the parade judges’ winning picks!

(First and third photos by Oliver Hamlin for WSB)

For more than a decade, we’ve photographed Lou Cutler walking or running. Today, he was riding … in a convertible from the Corvette Marque Club, as Grand Marshal of the 2025 West Seattle Grand Parade. Lou, a retired P-E teacher, was honored primarily for his many years volunteering with and raising money for Make-A-Wish, which grants wishes to seriously ill children.

Lou’s “Make-A-Wish Friends” walked behind his car to raise awareness that you can help too (here’s how to volunteer, and here’s how to support MAW through Lou’s latest fundraiser).

Also riding in a convertible as parade honorees, Joanie Jacobs and Dan Jacobs of the Admiral Neighborhood Association (as well as many other community endeavors):

The West Seattle Grand Parade Committee chose them as this year’s recipients of the Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community; Mr. Rummel was the parade’s founder, and our story about last year’s honorees includes a list of those who’ve received it dating back to 1984 (including WSB in 2010). The Jacobs’ focus has been on community connections, and that was in evidence during this stop along the parade route:

They also got two turns riding in today’s parade, turning up toward parade’s end atop the Seafair Pirates‘ Moby Duck.

(Photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
More parade reports ahead!

The West Seattle Grand Parade is happening now, with SPD’s motorcycle unit – eight officers this year – having just headed south on California from the parade starting point at Lander, by the north end of Hiawatha. The rest of the 90+ entries will start walking, rolling, etc. soon too. If you’re not settled in to watch the parade, remember that California is closed from Admiral to the south end of The Junction, and buses are rerouted, until the parade is over – we’re covering it from our usual spot near the start (with team members elsewhere too) and will update when it wraps up here and elsewhere; usually the street is reopened section by section.

12:20 PM: After an hour and a half, the parade is over in Admiral – with parade coordinator Michelle Edwards riding down the route at the end – but it continues southbound to The Junction for a while longer – we’ll be following so we can update when it’s concluded there too. And then – lots more coverage to come, with photos and video.

1:15 PM: Done in The Junction too,

It wouldn’t be West Seattle Grand Parade Eve if Potter Construction didn’t send a photo of their entry – a brightly decorated work truck. Potter is a longtime WSB sponsor and also a parade sponsor; proprietor Gary Potter also is a member of the Rotary Club of West Seattle, which presents the parade. It follows the Float Dodger 5K, presented by West Seattle Runner (also a WSB sponsor) as a fundraiser for the West Seattle Food Bank (not too late to register to run or walk in the 5K!). We’ve been previewing all this all week, and including parking/road-closure reminders in our daily traffic roundups, but here’s one more look at what you should know:

PARADE ROUTE: Southbound on California Avenue SW from Lander to Edmunds.

PARKING RESTRICTIONS: The signs have been up for days and they cover more ground than the parade route, including side streets, for staging and detour reasons. So if you see a no-parking sign, pay attention – starting at 7 am tomorrow, the restrictions are in effect, and if you try to get away with ignoring them, you are at major risk of being towed – the streets need to be clear for safety reasons.

STREET CLOSURE AND PARADE/5K START: California closes south of Admiral fairly early in the morning too, with parade entries starting to arrive and getting directed to their staging zone (entries enter the parade route from three directions, as parade coordinator Michelle Edwards and assistants greenlight them). The route has to be clear by the time the Float Dodger starts at 9:30 am, and participants in turn have to be off the route so the SPD Motorcycle Drill Team can get going around 10:45. The other motorcyclist you’ll see is Jim Edwards, past parade coordinator and current safety/communication leader, checking the route and staying in touch with the ham-radio operators reporting in on how things are looking along the route.

RANDOM THINGS TO KNOW: The parade is an official Seafair-sanctioned event, so near the start of the route, you’ll see some of their seasoned parade personnel helping out (the Seafair Clowns, Seafair Commodores, and Seafair Pirates are in the parade too) … Speaking of which, the Pirates usually fire their cannon multiple times along the way, so even if you’re not on or near the parade route, you’ll hear those blasts …The Seafair Clowns have some sirens and horns too, so they can be kind of loud … Three announcing stations are expected this time – Brian and Christa Callanan at California/Alaska, the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle at California/Charlestown, and the West Seattle Eagles at California/Genesee … and there are official watch parties at various businesses on California this time, starting at West Seattle Realty (2715 California SW; WSB sponsor) and heading southward (including, on the same block, post-Float Dodger, at West Seattle Runner [2743 California SW; WSB sponsor]) … Be sure to cheer for parade honorees riding toward the start – grand marshal Lou Cutler and Orville Rommel Trophy winners Dan and Joanie Jacobs … We’ll have plenty of parade coverage tomorrow – if you’re going, see you there!

If your group, school, team, business (etc.) has a float in Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade, it’s definitely crunch time for float-building! Above, Cindi sent that photo of the West Seattle Amateur Radio Club‘s float-in-progress (pickup-truck-borne). The WSARC has another role during the parade, as we’ve mentioned before – ham operators assist with communication, coordination, and safety up and down the parade route, before, during, and after. WSARC is one of more than a dozen community groups in the parade; more than a dozen sports-related groups will be in it too; so will eight dance and drill groups; and six music groups. Those aren’t all the types of entries you’ll see – in all, the parade lineup currently holds more than 90 entries, leading off with the Seattle Police Motorcycle Drill Team (building back, with at least eight officers this year) departing California south of Lander at about 10:45 am Saturday, headed southbound to The Junction. All of California from Admiral to Edmunds closes for the parade, and parking restrictions (stretching beyond those boundaries – you should have seen the signs by now) kick in around 7 am (you will be towed, so don’t risk it). There are official “parade watch parties” at some businesses this year (we’ve added one to the list, hosted by West Seattle Runner, which presents the pre-parade Float Dodger 5K – if you’re having one that’s not listed but is open to the public, let the parade team and us know – westseattleparade@gmail.com and westseattleblog@gmail.com. See you Saturday!