Before you can see pirates and floats and royalty and classic cars and community groups strolling and rolling down the West Seattle Grand Parade route in midsummer, it takes a lot of work by West Seattle’s American Legion Post 160 parade coordinators – andm again this year, it’s going to take some monetary help from the community.

You might recall that last year was the first year that the city required organizations like Post 160 to cover the costs of no-parking signage along the parade route. It’s not cheap. This year, they’ll have to do it again. So Dave Vague asked us to share the request for your help:

The West Seattle American Legion Grand Parade is set for Saturday, July 21, 2012. Like last year, we are needing to turn to the West Seattle community to raise funds to help us put the parade on. We are trying to raise $5,000 this year to cover the expenses of putting up the street barricades, city permits, and trophies for the winning entries.

Donations can be sent to:
West Seattle American Legion Post 160
3618 SW Alaska St
Seattle, WA 98126
(206) 935-9407
or you can donate online at the parade website: thewestseattleparade.com

The parade doesn’t charge entry fees – if it did, it would have to pay a much higher price for permits, which would wipe out any benefit and any way of making a dent in this cost. They secured some community sponsorships last year, but individual donations also can make quite a difference in keeping this decades-old tradition alive. (The online-donation link goes to a page with a PayPal button; you can use PayPal without having a PP account – just scroll till you see the “pay with credit card” option.)