West Seattle, Washington
28 Thursday
(WSB photo, WS Grand Parade 2019’s double-prize-winning All-City Marching Band)
With the pandemic not yet quashed, another major local summer event is skipping this year too. Just in from the Rotary Club of West Seattle:
It is with great sadness that we have to announce that the 2021 West Seattle Grand Parade has been cancelled for this summer. Keeping our participants and community members safe is our main priority. We are looking forward to returning in 2022!
The parade usually draws thousands along its route on California SW, from The Admiral District to The Junction, in July. Here’s our archived coverage of past years, including video clips and photos of the parade prize winners from 2019.
Another major summer event is off until next year. Just received from Keith Hughes, who chairs the West Seattle Grand Parade Committee for the Rotary Club of West Seattle:
It is with great sadness that I have to announce that the 2020 West Seattle Grand Parade has been cancelled.
The Parade has been held in July for 87 years, and is the longest running Community Parade in Seattle. The Parade Committee believes that in these difficult times, public safety is the greater concern. We are all committed to being back in 2021.
Our coverage of the 2019 West Seattle Grand Parade continues with more of the people who made it memorable. Above, Adah Rhodes Cruzen was this year’s recipient of the Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community (named for the parade’s founder, as explained here). Carl Blake – who had a bakery for decades in the space now home to Bakery Nouveau – was Grand Marshal:
Local veterans’ organization leaders often ride in convertibles too, but this year VFW Post 2713 commander Steve Strand walked, carrying the post flag:
Dozens of local Scouts walked in the parade, starting with the Troop 282 flag-bearers at the start:
There were also Sea Scouts:
And Girl Scouts:
Announcing all the entries as they passed, Brian and Christa Callanan in The Junction:
And at the new West Seattle Amateur Radio Club reviewing stand at California/Charlestown, Ron Zuber:
(As mentioned in our parade previews, amateur-radio operators work behind the scenes during the parade to coordinate and monitor everything along the route.) Another parade gallery or two to come before the weekend’s out!
(Photo courtesy Michelle Edwards)
Those are some of the hard-working volunteers who make the West Seattle Grand Parade happen – the judges! They’ve sent the awards list from today’s parade, and we’re adding video/photos we took along the way:
On behalf of Barbara Edwards (above center) and the West Seattle Grand Parade Judges, here is the list of winners from today’s parade:
OVERALL GRAND PRIZE WINNERS:
1st Place: Seattle Schools All City Marching Band
2nd Place: Sumner High School Spartan Marching Band:
3rd Place: Seafair Pirates
First @SeafairPirates cannon blast of @wsparade pic.twitter.com/CbEvAPeiy7
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 20, 2019
Marching Bands:
1st Place – Seattle Schools All-City Marching Band:
2nd Place – Sumner High School Spartan Marching Band:
Tie for 3rd Place:
Rainbow City Marching Band and Spinout:Kennedy Catholic High School Marching Band:
Performing Acts:
1st Place: Seafair Pirates:
2nd Place: Pathfinder K-8 School Unicycle Team:
3rd Place: Joyas Mestizas – Seattle Mexican Folk Dance Youth:
Cars & Motorcycles:
1st Place: West Seattle Amateur Radio Club:
2nd Place: 1942 American LaFrance Fire Truck
3rd Place: Camp Crockett Dog Day Camp:
Commercial:
1st Place: Counterforce Taekwando:
2nd Place: O’Neill Plumbing:
3rd Place: Luna Park Café:
Community:
1st Place: Hope Lutheran School:
2nd Place: West Seattle Bengals Youth Football & Cheer
3rd Place: WA State Sons of the American Revolution
Drill Teams Jr & Cheer Squads:
1st Place: Butterfly Electronettes Drill Team:
Tied for 2nd Place:
West City Rope Ninjas & Ropeworks:Washington Diamonds Drill Team Jr.
Drill Teams Sr.:
1st Place: Washington Diamonds Drill Team & Drums:
2nd Place: Electronettes Drill Team & Drum Squad
3rd Place: West Seattle High School Cheer:
Floats:
1st Place: Holy Rosary School:
2nd Place: West Seattle Lions Club:
3rd Place: Skunkworks Robotics:
We’ll continue to add video and/or photos of the winners listed above, and we have other parade galleries in the works too.
Between the Float Dodger 5K and the West Seattle Grand Parade, dogs and their people had a chance to stroll The Junction this morning in the second annual PAWrade. Creativity and whimsy abounded:
So did cuddliness:
The PAWrade was organized by Lora Radford of the West Seattle Junction Association (below left):
The PAWrade even had its own marching band – the Junior All-City Band.
10:52 AM: Just under way from California/Lander, headed south to The Junction (California/Edmunds), the 2019 West Seattle Grand Parade is on! ~75 entries, as we’ve been previewing for the past week-plus. The Seattle and Vancouver (BC) Police Motorcycle Drill Teams lead the way, and then the rest of the parade – preceded again this year, by the PAWrade in The Junction. We’ll be tweeting some of the sights alnng the way (@westseattleblog) with an update here when it’s over, and multiple reports with photos and video here on WSB later.
12:33 PM: The parade has just ended at the north end of the route. We’ll update again when it’s concluded in The Junction.
1:22 PM: The last entry has passed the end of the route. Streets will be reopening.
P.S. While we put together comprehensive coverage in the hours ahead, here’s our vote for one of the liveliest parade moments – (updated) Miss Seafair 2015, Nella Kwan, with disco moves, instead of riding in a convertible doing the parade wave:
Miss @SeafairFestival is "Stayin' Alive" pic.twitter.com/GIJbFPBA3E
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 20, 2019
(WSB file photo, Electronettes in the West Seattle Grand Parade)
Less than 15 hours until the West Seattle Grand Parade! Some last-minute notes:
MAYOR AND POLICE CHIEF: The parade-presenting West Seattle Rotary got word this afternoon that Mayor Jenny Durkan and Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best will be in the parade, and shortly after we heard about that, the mayor’s office sent a “media advisory” saying they’ll precede the parade appearance with a “walking tour” in The Junction (eight months after their last one):
Mayor Durkan and Chief Best will first tour West Seattle, hear from the neighborhood’s small business owners, and discuss public safety and issues facing residents and employers in West Seattle.
They’re starting the tour at Husky Deli at 10 am.
PARADE PREPS: For parade participants, it’s the time for last-minute preparation:
That’s the crew from Potter Construction, a longtime WSB sponsor as well as a Grand Parade sponsor. Other local businesses you’ll see in the parade include Luna Park Café, returning after a hiatus.
SPEAKING OF FOOD: If you’re watching near the north end of the parade route, Kim at West Seattle Swinery wanted to mention his special: “We will be serving Danny’s famous pork belly rib sliders and a drink for $5.50 tax included until we run out.” (The Swinery is at 3207 California SW.)
PARADE BASICS: Official start time: 11 am (but the motorcycle drill teams may start sooner)
Route: California SW southbound from Lander to Edmunds
Announcers: Brian and Christa Callanan in The Junction, Ron Zuber at California/Charlestown
Closures: California SW from Admiral to Edmunds plus some side streets on both ends, for detours and reroutes, “no parking” starting at 7 am but roads close a bit later
Bus reroutes: See the links here
Float Dodger 5K: Starts near the north end of the parade route, on the field at Hiawatha, 9:30 am (more info here)
PAWrade: 11 am from California/Genesee to California/Edmunds (want to be part of it? here’s how)
Other previews: Scroll through our archive!
Parade day is almost here! Saturday at 11 am, the West Seattle Grand Parade will start at California/Lander, headed southbound to California/Edmunds. Every year we watch and listen as parade coordinators meet to put the final lineup together, so that we can share some preview info with you. Tonight – some of the performing participants you’ll see (besides the marching bands we’ve already previewed)!
*Joyas Mestizas (2018 parade photo above)
(Pathfinder K-8 Unicycle Team in a past West Seattle Grand Parade)
*The famous unicyclists from Pathfinder K-8
*Jump-rope stars from West City Ninjas and RopeWorks (2018 entry in above video)
*Cheer teams from local high schools
*Drill teams
*Martial artists
*Seafair Pirates and Clowns
And of course, this remains the ONLY area parade with two motorcycle drill teams – it’s the only U.S. appearance by the Vancouver, B.C., PD team, and the hometown Seattle PD team is part of the Grand Parade too. The two groups of motorcyclists take to the street before the rest of the parade, and if you are in The Junction, you’ll see the PAWrade on California between Genesee and Edmunds first. (You can be part of it too – and/or you can start your morning even sooner with the Float Dodger 5K leaving Hiawatha and taking to the parade route at 9:30 am.) One more preview to come before parade day!
With three days to go until the West Seattle Grand Parade, the no-parking signs are up along California SW, Admiral to Edmunds, and some side streets near the start and end of the route that are used for staging, detours, and breakdown. The parade (11 am Saturday, July 20th) is preceded by the Float Dodger 5K (9:30 am – registration’s still open) and the PAWrade in The Junction (here’s how you and your dog[s] can be in it!), so it’s a big morning/early afternoon; please heed the signs. P.S. – bus reroute info is now available.
As we continue previewing the parade, a big shoutout to the West Seattle Amateur Radio Club. You might not notice the role amateur-radio operators play in keeping the parade running smoothly once the entries (~75 this year) start rolling south from California/Lander. This year, explains parade co-coordinator Jim Edwards (a WSARC member himself), 20 radio operators will be along the route, communicating about how things are going. The WSARC also is staffing the new added review (announcing) stand at California/Charlestown. You’ll also see WSARC’s own Cora in the parade with her famous moves. The club is a parade sponsor this year too! (Find out more about WSARC – whose members span a wide range of ages – here.)
(Rainbow City Marching Band in West Seattle at 2017 Band Jam)
All week, we’re previewing Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade (11 am, southbound on California from Lander to Edmunds. Tonight, the marching bands that – as of Monday night’s lineup meeting are expected! As always, the award-winning All-City Band will be there, with student musicians from all over Seattle.
(All-City Band in 2018 West Seattle Grand Parade)
You can also expect to see the Kennedy Catholic High School band from Burien. Coming up from even further south, the Sumner High School Band. And Huskies will get to cheer for the University of Washington Alumni Band. Also planning to make music in the WSGP, the Rainbow City Marching Band. They’re all part of the ~75-entry parade presented by the West Seattle Rotary Foundation and coordinated by a hard-working group of volunteers. If you enjoy looking behind-the-scenes, be at the start of the parade route, early, and watch them in action. You can watch the parade from anywhere along the route; if you’re in The Junction, you’ll also see the PAWrade right before the Grand Parade – you can even be part of it! More previews to come.
(Vancouver, B.C. Police Motorcycle Drill Team in 2018 West Seattle Grand Parade – they’re back this year)
We’re counting down to Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade, which starts at California/Lander at 11 am and heads south to The Junction. Tonight we sat in on the lineup meeting, during which the parade’s longtime volunteer coordinators arrange the order of entries – there’s an art to everything from making sure the marching bands and drill teams are evenly spaced, to deciding who’s parading immediately before and after the Seafair Pirates! (Earplugs ahoy.) And we learned about a new feature this year: An extra “reviewing stand” at California/Charlestown. Traditionally the only place you can hear the parade announced as it passes is in the heart of The Junction – that continues this year, with Brian and Christa Callanan your announcing team there, but they’ve also added announcing at California/Charlestown, where Ron Zuber will be at the mike. ~75 entries in the parade – more previews every day this week!
Keep your energy up! More big events ahead … including these three next Saturday (July 20):
FLOAT DODGER 5K: We photographed West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) co-proprietor Tim McConnell this weekend at Summer Fest, modeling custom sunglasses available to registrants while they last. The Float Dodger 5K takes you from Hiawatha down the West Seattle Grand Parade route on California to The Junction and back on Saturday morning, starting at 9:30 (after a costume contest!). WSR presents the Float Dodger 5K, with proceeds benefiting West Seattle Helpline. You can register online through Thursday. or in person through Friday at WSR (2743 California SW) to save fees. Packet pickup is 3-7 pm Friday (July 19th) at the store, where participants can also take advantage of a 10 percent in-store discount on merchandise.
2ND ANNUAL PAWRADE: In The Junction right before the Grand Parade, you and your dog(s) are invited to be part of the second annual PAWrade. No entry fee – but registration is required; you can do it online here (scroll down the page) or starting at 10 am on parade morning at California/Genesee. The PAWrade starts there at 11 am and travels a short route in The Junction, right as the Grand Parade begins in Admiral.
WEST SEATTLE GRAND PARADE: Motorcycles! Bands! Pirates! Floats! Dancers! Community groups! The parade-presenting West Seattle Rotary Foundation says 80+ entries are expected this year as the West Seattle Grand Parade heads down California SW from Lander to Edmunds starting at 11 am Saturday (be in place by 10:30 am as the motorcycle drill teams often start sooner). Cheer for the special honorees (here’s our preview about them)! If you’re in The Junction, you’ll hear parade announcers Brian Callanan and Christa Callanan. We’ll roll out more previews as this week goes on.
Thanks to Mark Hofkes for the video of the All-City Band marching at Seattle Center tonight, getting ready for a busy parade-and-more season that includes the July 20th West Seattle Grand Parade. Six days after the parade, you’ll see them in West Seattle again – the All-City Band Jam returns to Southwest Athletic Complex at 6:30 pm Friday, July 26th, after SWAC work sent it to an off-peninsula venue last year. It’s a showcase/tune-up the night before the Seafair Torchlight Parade, with local and regional marching bands. First gig of the year for ACB, which includes student musicians from all over the city, is this Saturday at the Redmond Derby Days Parade.
This spring, philanthropist Adah Rhodes Cruzen was honored as Westsider of the Year by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Now, another honor – she will ride in the West Seattle Grand Parade on July 20th as this year’s recipient of the Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community. The West Seattle Rotary Club Foundation presents the parade and just announced Adah Cruzen as the recipient, as well as announcing Carl Blake – of bakery fame – as this year’s Grand Marshal. The parade runs southbound on California SW from Lander to Edmunds starting at 11 am Saturday, July 20th, and you can cheer for the honorees in advance as the awards are presented at next Tuesday’s West Seattle Big Band Concert in the Park (7 pm July 16th on the east lawn at Hiawatha Community Center, Walnut/Lander).
P.S. This will actually be Adah Cruzen’s second Grand Parade ride with the Rummel Trophy – in 2014, her husband Earl Cruzen was the honoree but had to stay home on doctor’s orders, so she filled in:
(July 2014 photo by Steve Fuller)
Mr. Cruzen died in 2017.
So much still to come as we head toward the heart of summer! One of the biggest days is now less than 3 weeks away. Saturday, July 20th, starts with the return of the Float Dodger 5K, presented by West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) at 9:30 am (register here!), then continues with the second annual PAWrade at 10 am (you and your dog are invited to be part of it!), and then the West Seattle Grand Parade at 11 am. Just wanted to make sure those are on your radar! More specifics as we get closer.
These photos from Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade are a shoutout to some of the younger participants who we haven’t shown so far. Above, West Seattle Bengals football players were a crowd favorite. Below, another group of young athletes, the Southside Revolution roller-derby skaters, rolled down the route:
The Mexican-Folklorico youth group Joyas Mestizas joined the parade again this year:
Many scouts, too, including this group from the Baden-Powell Service Association:
And as mentioned earlier in our coverage, Boy Scout Troop 284 provided the honor guard to lead this year’s Grand Parade:
The parade is produced by the West Seattle Rotary Service Foundation. Still more to show! And if you enjoy parades in general – the Jubilee Days Parade is happening today in White Center, 11 am start from 16th SW/SW 112th, heading north on 16th SW to SW 100th.
It wasn’t all about the wheels for the Vancouver B.C. Police Motorcycle Drill Team‘s annual visit to ride in the West Seattle Grand Parade. In The Junction, where the riding ended for Vancouver and their Seattle Police counterparts, there was time to get up close and personal. Not just with the fans.
There were a lot of special things about Saturday.
VPD is celebrating its centennial. SPD, we’re told, has someone retiring.
Also seen on the route, though not with a motorcycle, Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Pierre Davis.
And the “other” two-wheeled SPD officers:
P.S. West Seattle’s parade is the only one outside Canada in which the Vancouver team participates.
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 JunkPerforming Acts
1st Place: Seafair Pirates
2nd Place: Seattle Seafair Clowns3rd 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 SeattleDrill 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 DrumlineDrill 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 282Floats – Community
1st Place: Daffodil Festival
2nd Place: Fathoms of Fun Port Orchard
3rd Place: Marysville Strawberry FestivalFloats – 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.
About 80 people, with 60 dogs, showed up for the first ever PAWrade before today’s West Seattle Grand Parade – it was a new collaboration this year between the parade-presenting Rotary Club of West Seattle and the West Seattle Junction Association. Thanks to the WSJA for sharing these photos of the winners:
And yes, says WSJA executive director Lora Swift (grand marshal of today’s Grand Parade – much more GP coverage to come), there will be another PAWrade next year!
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:
The Vancouver BC motorcycles arriving right after @SeattlePD – this is their only US parade! pic.twitter.com/yMFkDQwSxj
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) July 21, 2018
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.
Just hours until this year’s West Seattle Grand Parade (motorcycles ~10:30, rest of the parade 11, starting at California/Lander)! A few night-before notes:
HONOR GUARD: This year, instead of a military honor guard, you’ll see a Boy Scout honor guard carrying the flags at the start of the parade – Troop 284.
GETTING READY: Longtime WSB sponsor Potter Construction is also a Grand Parade sponsor and entry, and sent the photo after decorating the truck that’ll roll down the route tomorrow morning.
PREPARING FOR THE PAWrade: Also in prep mode – Newman, official spokesdog of the first-ever West Seattle PAWrade:
Prizes! Glory! And/or, just plain fun. You and your dog(s) can just show up at the starting spot – 4400 California SW – after 10:15 but before 11 am tomorrow and be part of the PAWrade right before the Grand Parade. Here’s the latest info.
ROAD REMINDERS: California SW will be closed, from just south of Admiral Way to SW Edmunds, from mid-morning until all parade entries have cleared the route (usually just after 1 pm). Side streets will be used for staging, so if you’re seeing parking restrictions tonight, heed those too. Bus reroutes are all linked from the Metro alerts page.
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