Next set of photos – VIPs of the West Seattle Grand Parade! Grand Marshal Lora Swift (backstory here) was bubbly:

Also effervescent, with an outsize smile, Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community recipient Velko Vitalich (backstory here):

Newly announced member of this year’s Seafair Scholarship Program for Women, former West Seattle Hi-Yu Senior Court Queen Kelly Crum (backstory here), rode atop the Seafair Commodores‘ landgoing yacht:

Announcing the parade for the first time, West Seattle-residing Seattle Channel journalist/host Brian Callanan (with wife Christa Callanan):

Still a few more parade roundups to come!

(At left, parade chair Keith Hughes; at right, parade coordinator Michelle Edwards; center are Dolls and Gents Drill Team reps accepting their trophies)

Our West Seattle Grand Parade coverage continues! Received from Barbara Edwards and the West Seattle Parade Judges Committee, the list of award winners in today’s parade:

Overall Grand Prize Winners.

1st Place: All-City Band

2nd Place: Dolls and Gents Drill Team and Drumline

3rd Place: Electronettes Drill Team and Drum Squad

Category Winners:

Marching Bands
1st Place: All City Marching Band (video above)

2nd Place: Kennedy High School Marching Band

Commercial

1st Place: Little Gym of West Seattle

2nd Place: King County Metro Transit
3rd Place: College Hunks Hauling Junk

Performing Acts

1st Place: Seafair Pirates
2nd Place: Seattle Seafair Clowns

3rd Place: West City Rope Ninjas and Rope Works

Cars and Motorcycles

1st Place: West Seattle Lions Club

2nd Place: 1942 American LaFrance Fire Truck
3rd Place: Senior Center of West Seattle

Drill Teams Sr.
1st Place: Dolls and Gents Drill Team and Drumline (video above)
2nd Place: Electronettes Drill Team and Drummer Squad (video above)
3rd Place: Washington Diamonds Drill Team and Drumline

Drill Teams Jr.

1st Place: Baby Dolls Drill Team
2nd Place: Butterfly Electronettes Drill Team
3rd Place: Washington Diamonds Drill Team Jr.

Community

1st Place: West Seattle High School Cheer

2nd Place: Hope Lutheran Church
3rd Place: Cub/Boy Scouts of America Pack 282

Floats – Community

1st Place: Daffodil Festival

2nd Place: Fathoms of Fun Port Orchard
3rd Place: Marysville Strawberry Festival

Floats – Conveyed and Small Community

1st Place: West Seattle Lions Club

2nd Place: Holy Rosary School

Thanks to the parade team for sharing photos of some of the awards being accepted; otherwise, all photos/videos above are ours. In the hours ahead, we will add to this report with photos/video of more of the winners, and we’ll publish several other parade roundups, too.

10:49 AM: The 2018 West Seattle Grand Parade is on! The Seattle Police Motorcycle Drill Team has taken off, with the Vancouver B.C. PD motorcycles following – and then after a bit of a pause, the rest of the parade (with the PAWrade in The Junction in the meantime).

11:11 AM: And now that the motorcycle teams have made it far enough down the route, the rest of the parade has begun, with the Troop 284 honor guard:

Watch our Twitter feed for updates (you can access it via the Web – you don’t have to be a Twitter member); we’ll also update this report when the parade has concluded and California SW has reopened.

12:11 PM: After an hour, the parade has ended at the start line – the parade coordinators, judges, and chair are traveling down the street at the end. But it’ll be a while until the conclusion in The Junction (we have a crew there too).

1:10 PM: The parade is now over at the ending point (California/Edmunds), too. As always, lots more coverage to come in separate reports, with photos and video.

9:48 AM: Before the West Seattle Grand Parade – the preparations. Including clearing the route – those “NO PARKING” signs are serious business, and after two tow trucks headed southbound on California, one returned with that ReachNow car on the hook. Parking restrictions are in place on some side streets, too. Meantime, just north of the parade route …

The Seafair Pirates are making their pre-parade appearance at Brookdale Admiral Heights, which hosts visiting “royalty” for a special breakfast. They will of course “sail” the parade route in their trusty landlubbing vessel Moby Duck, currently parked outside Brookdale. Back on the parade route:

Michelle Edwards and Jim Edwards – who rides the route before, during, and after, coordinating communication with amateur-radio operators – of the parade-coordination team were conferring, steps from the tent bearing the logo of the Rotary Club of West Seattle, which presents the parade. Also present, SFD and SPD – Engine 29 from nearby Ferry Avenue SW is a parade entry.

We also saw Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Steve Strand, who, while currently in his SPD uniform, will be changing pre-parade, he tells us, to ride as commander of the West Seattle VFW post.

Remember that California is now closed along the route, south of Admiral to north of Edmunds, and will be until the parade concludes around 1 pm. More updates to come!

10:20 AM: Motorcycles are here:

This is the only US appearance for the Vancouver B.C. PD drill team every year. They’ll follow the SPD team.

10:35 AM: The motorcycles haven’t left yet. We’ve seen another car towed, though! Still room to sit, even here at the head end of the route – even on the Hiawatha slope over the sidewalk.

We’ll post a separate story once the parade has begun, and we’ll also add a few more pre-parade photos to this one later.