(WSB photos)
We went to last night’s Seafair Torchlight Parade with the intent of watching a parade we weren’t planning to cover (after this month’s Fourth of July Kids’ Parade and West Seattle Grand Parade) – and checking out its new route along Alaskan Way – but encountered a few sights we wanted to share. Above, King County Executive and West Seattleite Shannon Braddock was reacting to what appeared to be a friend approaching her car on the route; this was her only chance to ride in the parade as KCE, since she’s not running for the job and one of seven candidates will have it by next year’s parade. Also seen – the first Seafair Clown to appear near the start of the route was West Seattle’s own Officer Lumpy (aka Chris Henggeler):
One business with a West Seattle location had a parade entry – Ezell’s Famous Chicken had a roller-skating drill team:
Since the Blue Angels – arriving Wednesday – are such a hot topic this time of year, we took a pic of the parade balloon in their honor:
Also from the U.S. Navy, the Silverdale-based Navy Band Northwest, promoting Seafair’s Fleet Week, which includes the Parade of Ships past West Seattle’s north shore (Tuesday, July 29, noonish):
Meantime, here was at least one West Seattleite in the All-City Band, a uniformed young musician we saw in the West Seattle Water Taxi line as we headed home, so we’re including this video contributed by West Seattle journalist/historian Clay Eals, one of the many West Seattleites who went downtown to see the parade (Clay’s vantage point was the new Overlook Walk, so you get a great look at the parade ambience from there):
(Several of the bands that joined ACB in Band Jam – WSB coverage here – in West Seattle on Friday night were also in the parade – including Kennedy Catholic and Sumner High Schools.) As Clay notes at the start of the clip, ACB was second to last in the parade, which concluded with the cannon-blasting, sword-scraping Seafair Pirates. It lasted almost two hours.
SIDE NOTE: If you’re thinking of going next year, note that signage indicated chairs could be placed along Alaskan Way to hold spots after 2 pm on parade day, but not before. Lots of curb space, as in some places the concrete median on the outside of the bike lane – which along with traffic lanes was closed during the parade – was wide enough for chairs.
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