West Seattle, Washington
20 Tuesday
If you were somewhere on California SW between Admiral or The Junction, watching today’s West Seattle Grand Parade, congratulations on being part of its big comeback! We’ve already published photos of the winning entries, plus video of the entire parade, but we wanted to acknowledge even more of the people who participated:
Above, with the Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community, is this year’s winner Deb Barker – we told her story here last Monday (with a list of prior winners); it’s a special honor presented by the parade committee every year (except for the recent hiatus). She was chauffeured by local entrepreneur and preservationist John Bennett in his 1949 Cadillac convertible. Also in a classic convertible, a 1972 Eldorado, this year’s Grand Marshal, restaurateur and small-business advocate Dan Austin:
The award-winning Highland Park Improvement Club entry (also featuring a replica of the fire-damaged HPIC building) had a guest of honor – riding in Kelly Lyles‘s art car was past HPIC president Martha Mallett:
(Photo by Holli Margell)
Parade co-sponsor Potter Construction (WSB sponsor)’s founder Gary Potter walked with his company’s entry:
From West Seattle Baseball, the tournament-champion 10U Red All-Stars:
(Photo by Holli Margell)
Two West Seattle-residing elected officials walked in the parade – King County Executive Dow Constantine, with a battery-electric Metro bus …
… and U.S. House Rep. Pramila Jayapal, walking with the 34th District Democrats …
The only city entry was North Admiral-headquartered Seattle Fire Engine 29:
(Photo by Holli Margell)
Again, if you weren’t there, you can see our video of the entire almost-an-hour parade – presented by the West Seattle Rotary Club Service Foundation – here; see the award winners here.
The summer of comebacks continues – right now at Camp Long, the first West Seattle Outdoor Movies series in four years has begun! We went to the park just under an hour ago to see the setup; as previewed, the screen is set up in the south end of the big grassy field at the heart of the park. “The Goonies” is tonight’s movie, with co-sponsor Sound Credit Union (also a WSB sponsor) on hand.
The series, presented by the West Seattle Junction Association, is scheduled for four more Saturday nights – all at the Hotwire Coffee courtyard (4410 California SW), longtime home to the summer movies.
As for Camp Long, the park has a lot coming up – we’ll have a story about that in the coming week.
The end of today’s West Seattle Grand Parade didn’t mean the end of work for the volunteers who make it happen. Among them, the judges, who gathered at the Senior Center of West Seattle post-parade to decide the winners. Here are the results!
OVERALL GRAND PRIZE WINNERS
1st Place – Seattle All-City Band
2nd Place – Sequim Irrigation Festival
3rd Place – Electronettes Drill Team and Drill Squad
DANCE AND CHEER TEAMS
1st Place – West Seattle High School Cheer
2nd Place – Joyas Mestizas – Seattle Mexican Folk Dance Group
3rd Place – Grupo Folklorico Citlali
MARCHING BANDS
1st Place – Kennedy High School “Lancer” Marching Band
2nd Place – America’s First Corps Army Band
3rd Place – All Star Drumline
SELF-PROPELLED FLOATS
1st Place – Sequim Irrigation Festival
2nd Place – Fathoms O’ Fun, Port Orchard
CONVEYED FLOATS
1st Place – Holy Rosary School
2nd Place – Mountain to Sound Outfitters
3rd Place – Seattle Commodores
COMMUNITY
1st Place – Washington State Sons of the American Revolution
2nd Place – Southside Revolution Jr. Roller Derby
3rd Place – Highland Park Improvement Club
DRILL TEAMS – SR.
1st Place – Electronettes Drill Team and Drum Squad
2nd Place – Washington Diamonds Drill Team
DRILL TEAMS – JR.
1st Place – Electronettes Butterfly Drill Team
2nd Place – Washington Diamonds Drill Team Jr.
3rd Place – Daughters of Royalty Drill Team
PERFORMING ACTS
1st Place – Seafair Pirates
2nd Place – Seafair Clowns
3rd Place – Rain City Rope Works
CARS & ANTIQUE CARS
1st Place – 1942 American LaFrance Fire Truck
2nd Place – WA MINI United Parade Team
3rd Place – West Seattle VFW
COMMERCIAL
1st Place – Capital West Homes
2nd Place – Chuck-E-Cheese
3rd Place – West Seattle Reign Sports
The West Seattle Grand Parade Judges Committee members are Rolla Queen, Sheryl Bogie, Mike Sutter, Carol Pennie, Rob Zoffel, led by Barbara Edwards:
We’ll continue adding photos/videos above, and we’ll have a few additional photo galleries to come too; for video of the entire parade, see our earlier report.
Thanks to West Seattle musician and entrepreneur Brent Amaker for the photos and report – he says the Seafair Pirates followed up their appearance in the West Seattle Grand Parade by storming the newly reopened Admiral Benbow (4210 SW Admiral Way), a past lair.
Not too much time to tarry ashore, though – parade season is peaking, with the Seafair Chinatown Parade tomorrow night and the Seafair Torchlight Parade one week from tonight!
We’ve been hearing for days that hot weather, likely in the 90s, will return next week. Now the National Weather Service has issued an alert about it. Here’s the Special Weather Statement saying 90+-degree temperatures are “likely” Tuesday through Friday, and that could raise the risk of heat-related illness for people and pets.
11:09 AM: Just under way from California/Lander, with Grand Marshal Dan Austin leading the way, the first West Seattle Grand Parade since 2019 has begun. The 70+ entries – floats, marching bands, drill teams, community groups, schools, businesses, more – will proceed down California SW to SW Edmunds, at the south end of The Junction, over the next hour or so. Parade-team members are all along the route to make sure things go well; California will remain closed along the route until the parade has passed (here’s the bus-reroute info).
(Added: Photo courtesy West Seattle Kiwanis)
Announcers are at California/Charlestown (with the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle) and California/Alaska (with Brian and Christa Callanan).
(Added: WSB photo)
We’ll have some in-progress updates on our Twitter feed at @westseattleblog, plus we will update here when the parade’s over; then we’ll have separate reports here on WSB later with lots of photos and video from the parade.
11:58 AM: The parade is over at the start line. (Above – that’s coordinator Michelle Edwards, and when she’s left the starting line, you KNOW the last entry has hit the road.) We’ll update again when it has concluded at The Junction.
12:42 PM: Parade’s entirely over, and California has reopened.
2:25 PM: Before we assemble other highlight reports, here’s our unedited video of the entire parade as it reached The Junction, just under an hour long:
10:05 AM: Today’s first big event is on – the Float Dodger 5K, which started this year in waves – above, the first wave, Team Triumph. Others followed:
The Float Dodger takes participants along the West Seattle Grand Parade route on California SW from Hiawatha to The Junction, this year “dodging” the West Seattle Rotary‘s float pre-parade. West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) presents the Float Dodger 5K, and told us this morning that more than 520 people had registered! Following the 5K, it’s root-beer-float time. Results are here; fastest finisher was 34-year-old Steve Raswey Ng’etich, in 15:31.
More video, and photos, later – next up, the parade starts in about an hour (and California SW along the route will be closed until it’s over in early afternoon – usually reopening segment by segment).
ADDED 3:14 PM: First female finisher was 40-year-old Megan Heuer, in 18:39:
Before the 5K, the Kids’ Dash got everybody pumped:
Race founders and presenters Tim McConnell and Lori McConnell of West Seattle Runner presided over the morning’s events:
They’re donating race proceeds to West Seattle Food Bank, which was on site too:
Also on site, Lake Washington Physical Therapy‘s West Seattle clinic (WSB sponsor) proprietor Mark Bouma and kids:
The race was dedicated to longtime West Seattle running-community member Helen Lee, a Float Dodger participant going back to the first year. In her memory, people are invited to donqte to the National Cervical Cancer Coalition‘s Southwest Washington chapter.
From Greg:
I would like to report that my white 1998 Ford Econoline cargo van was stole sometime last night. It was parked outside my house in the Gatewood area and a police report has been made. There was an orange extension ladder on the roof rack, and the plate number is C82514W. If anyone happens to spot it, please call or text Greg at 206-234-6402.
Midsummer fun abounds! First, two big events:
(HPIC photo – their “mini-float” is reqady for the parade!)
WEST SEATTLE GRAND PARADE: An annual tradition since 1935 is back from pandemic hiatus. 70+ entries start rolling, walking, marching, dancing, etc. at 11 am, from California/Lander, south on California to Edmunds. The parade website is here; our previews include:
–Everything you need to know
–Behind-the-scenes preps
–Nautical entries
–Why you won’t see motorcycle drill teams
California will be closed south of Admiral to Edmunds; some side streets will be used for staging, particularly near the start of the route pre-parade. (Note: Pre-parade updates are on our Twitter feed.) If you have a no-parking sign, on California or a side street, don’t ignore – the parking restrictions start as early as 7 am, and the street closure (with bus reroutes) starts in time for this parade-preceding event:
FLOAT DODGER 5K: West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) presents this run/walk on the parade route, starting from Hiawatha Playfield (2700 California SW) at 9:30 am. If you’re not already registered, you can sign up this morning. And children are welcome to run a free Kids’ Dash at 8:45 am.
Here’s what else you should know on this busy summer Saturday:
NON-PARADE TRAFFIC ALERTS: In addition to the aforementioned street closure/parking restrictions for the West Seattle Grand Parade, here are two other alerts for today: 7 am-5 pm, repaving the east side of 35th SW between Morgan and Holly, closing one lane in each direction while the work’s under way; 8 am-4 pm, sidewalk repair and curb-ramp construction is planned at 37th/Fauntleroy, and this will close a northbound traffic lane.
(WSB photo from Alki Art Fair, day 1)
ALKI ART FAIR, DAY 2: 10 am-8:30 pm, with artists, bands, a silent auction, Kid Zone, all along the promenade (60th/Alki) – see the lineups on the Art Fair website; see our Friday coverage here.
SOUTH DELRIDGE FARMERS’ MARKET: Fresh produce, prepared food, more at this twice-monthly market on the grounds of Hope Academy (9421 18th SW), 10 am-2 pm.
MORNING MUSIC: Marco de Carvalho and Friends, 10:30 am-noon at C & P Coffee Company (5612 California SW; WSB sponsor).
WADING POOL/SPRAYPARK: With a warm day expected, the city will open the wading pools, so the pool in central upper Lincoln Park (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW) will be open noon-7 pm. Also, Highland Park Spraypark (1100 SW Cloverdale) will be open 11 am-8 pm.
COLMAN POOL: You can swim at the outdoor pool on the Lincoln Park shore today, noon-7 pm.
VIETNAMESE CULTURAL CENTER: Open to visitors noon-3 pm, as noted here. (2234 SW Orchard)
LOG HOUSE MUSEUM: The Southwest Seattle Historical Society museum is open on Alki, and you can visit noon-4 pm. (61st/Stevens)
WINE TIME: The Viscon Cellars (WSB sponsor) tasting room – selling wine by the glass or bottle – is open 1-6 pm. (5910 California SW)
VINTAGE CLOTHING POP-UP: 1-7 pm at Brocante Beach House (2622 Alki SW).
REMEMBERING REV. RON MARSHALL: The public memorial for Rev. Ron Marshall, pastor of First Lutheran Church of West Seattle, is planned at the church (4105 California SW) at 2 pm, with a reception following in the Parish Hall.
\DUBSEA FISH STICKS: See the DubSea Fish Sticks at 6:05 pm, intrasquad game vs. DubSea Seal Slingers (special rules!), at Steve Cox Memorial Park (1321 SW 102nd) – ticket info here.
AT THE SKYLARK: Live music from Diirt, Vianne, Everybody’s Sidekick, doors at 7 pm, music at 8. 21+. (3803 Delridge Way SW)
WEST SEATTLE OUTDOOR MOVIES RETURN: First of this summer’s five free screenings is at a special location, Camp Long (5200 35th SW), gates open at 7:30 pm, movie – ’80s classic “The Goonies” – at dusk. Our preview has additional info, including where in the park this is happening.
COMEDY SHOW AT ADMIRAL PUB: 9 pm, free
Something to add, for today/tonight or beyond? Email westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
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