NEW YEAR’S EVE: Space Needle fireworks or no fireworks? + West Seattle notes

| Holidays | West Seattle news

(January 1, 2019 photo by Robert Spears, shared via the WSB Flickr group)

11:22 AM: The biggest West Seattle party on New Year’s Eve is usually a multi-location event – people gathering on north-facing shores and overlooks to watch the midnight Space Needle fireworks. Tonight, as we’ve reported, the National Weather Service expects strong winds, so you might wonder what that means for the show. The Seattle Times reports that the Needle’s laser light show will go on, regardless, but the fireworks could be canceled or postponed depending on the late-night wind speed. The light show runs earlier in the evening, by the way, according to the Needle website:

7 PM – 7:10 PM
8 PM – 8:10 PM
9 PM – 9:10 PM
10 PM – 10:10 PM

We’ll be monitoring late tonight and will publish an update if the fireworks are no-go. As for what else is up – we have bar parties, restaurant toasts, the Highland Park Improvement Club Not-So-Silent Night Parade and Corner Bar, plus Emerald City Wanderers‘ walks, all listed in the final version of the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide. (No “who’s open/closed” lists for this holiday – we’ve found over the years that closures are far fewer for New Year’s than for Thanksgiving/Christmas.)

3:35 PM: One cancellation for tonight: West Seattle Yuletide was going to run its light show through tomorrow night but decided the wind was too much of a threat to some of the setup so it’s done for the year.

ktrapp December 31, 2019 (12:07 pm)

I’m kind of curious about the “postponed” bit. So… do they not recall what the fireworks are for? It loses something if they decide to (hypothetically) do it at 10 pm on January 2nd. Reminds me of the time I ordered flowers to be delivered to my wife on Valentine’s Day, and the florist called to say they weren’t going to make it, but could they deliver them on February 15th.

WSB December 31, 2019 (12:36 pm)

Considering the fireworks have been purchased and placed, a later show would seem to be a better use of many thousands of dollars worth of fireworks than just taking them down and tossing them. 20th anniversary of different safety concerns affecting the Needle on New Year’s Eve: https://www.historylink.org/File/2991
Homer December 31, 2019 (12:54 pm)

Omg you are so right I passed out Xmas eve and Santa didn’t make it on time and it was like the world came to an absolute end!!! Sad how these holidays have us by the nuts.
- kap December 31, 2019 (6:30 pm)

Meyer December 31, 2019 (1:49 pm)

@WSB – I think you have the wrong URL for the Space Needle website. You re-used the Seattle Times article URL instead of https://www.spaceneedle.com/holidays :)Specifically this line takes you to Seattle Times, not to the Space Needle website:”… by the way, according to the Needle website:”

WSB December 31, 2019 (1:52 pm)

Fixed, thank you.

onion December 31, 2019 (2:40 pm)

They could just save the fireworks for six months and use them for the July Fourth celebration. Save a bit of money. I agree that shooting them off on 24 or 48 hours later would be pointless.

anonyme December 31, 2019 (2:55 pm)

Hope the weather discourages fireworks in general, but not putting my faith in the judgment of those who like to set fires and blow stuff up. Knuckle draggers.