Scenes from Hi-Yu Parade Day ’07: Final installment
Hi-Yu festivities aren’t over yet. The community brunch just wrapped up; the coronation of the next Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu is tomorrow night. But this is the last of our parade reports — a few loose ends, including the list of award winners, a few more pix, and links to other parade-photo galleries out there in WSB-land, after the jump:Read More
Scenes from Hi-Yu Parade Day ’07, 5th installment: The people
While we sit back in our fold-up chairs and enjoy the parade, we can’t forget how many people it takes to make it happen — not just the hundreds of participants, but the others behind the scenes. Kudos to the Hi-Yu and American Legion folks, among a legion of others. Now, another group of photos — focusing on people. We start with the Hi-Yu royalty and other Hi-Yu folks (red shirts), who held court on the SW corner of Cali/Alaska (the camera crew you see behind/above them involved Art Institute students who have been shooting video at Hi-Yu events as a project):
Click ahead for more parade people, from the famous to the oughta-be-famous:Read More
Scenes from Hi-Yu Parade Day ’07, 1st installment
Many more to come later. But for now, four photos, starting with deep-fried disappointment: The Spud Fish & Chips mascot did not show off The Calves (quoth one WSB Team Member, “at this rate, next time the mascot will be in a burqa”):
We did spot a letter carrier in shorts before the parade, but we were not photographing him for his legs, but rather, his scarf in honor of Literary Phenomenon Du Jour:
Here’s the parade-watcher with the best seat in over the house:
Finally (many more pix later), WTG to the Hi-Yu folks who urged the crowd in The Junction to do a “no rain” chant before the parade. Except for a one-minute spray of light mist — it worked. Later tonight, we hear, it could be a different story, so we hope we won’t have occasion to see this parade entry back in WS for something less festive:
Links to our other parade photo posts:
Second installment (The Kids)
Third installment (The Enforcers)
Fourth installment (The Wheels)
Fifth installment (The People)
Sixth/final installment (The Winners)
Complete notes from The Parade
Maybe next year we’ll live-blog it (or live-vlog it?) just for fun. Sadly, we’re not wireless-Internet-enabled just yet. Here are the highlights from our analog notes:
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The coolest two people at The Parade
Not going to get to the Mega-Post till the dead o’night. So here’s one more thing:
A lovely senior-citizen couple in their military uniforms, with a banner on their car, “ART AND GLORIA/WWII AND KOREA/STILL MARRIED!” and a smaller banner, “ART’S 80 TODAY!”
Don’t know their backstory but they got lots of applause. And deserved it.
First 5 parade highlights
More to come later … gotta head back out to the next Big Summer Thing to Do …in no particular order, here are five of the things we noticed:
-Fine parade, as always. Ran almost exactly two hours, at least from our vantage point near the heart of The Junction (first sighting of the Seattle motorcycles up the street @ 11:19, last vehicle passing with the “Th-Th-That’s All Folks, See You Next Year” banner — new, and a nice touch, for the folks who are never quite sure “is this the end” — around 1:15).
-A little odd that the Rainbow City Band was followed immediately by a Scouts group. Perhaps in the spirit of “can’t we all just get along”?
-Also WRT placement, the giant Henry Weinhard’s beer bottle would have been a particularly special touch if it had immediately preceded the Seafair Pirates.
-The Pirates handed out souvenir silver coins advertising “Iron Horse Casino, Auburn and Everett” on the back. Just made sense somehow.
-The Vancouver Police motorcycle team TOTALLY ROCKED as usual. I would love to know how parade organizers manage to get them to come to the WS parade year after year when as far as I can tell, they don’t appear in any other area parade. It was quite fun to watch the Seattle PD motorcycle team members, who performed right before Vancouver, standing on the sidelines applauding, high-fiving, and exchanging salutes with their compatriots from the north.
Countdown concludes: Reason #1 to love The Parade
YOUR FELLOW WEST SEATTLEITES!!!!
OK, this will sound treacly, but it’s true. The parade is all about people: The folks who volunteer their time to plan and stage it; the folks who participate in it (you’ll even get a chance to cheer for our local legislators if you are so inclined); and the folks on the sidelines. Every year we meet somebody interesting; you never know who’s going to wind up in the chairs (or on the blanket next to yours).
So here it is parade time — starting at California & Lander, on the south side of Lafayette Elementary, and rolling all the way down to California & Edmunds on the south side of the Junction, with a “kids’ parade” a little while before the big show. Things will probably be hopping till 1 pm or so; after that, you’ll probably see participants all around WS — usually the Last Resort antique fire trucks turn up down along Beach Drive, and the Seafair Pirates are seen wandering around in search of a tavern (things haven’t been the same since the Admiral Benbow shut down). Check it out; have a blast.
Countdown continues: RTLTP #2 (and an unrelated vent)
PIRATES! In a double dose … the Seafair Pirates and the Caribbean Pirates (no relation to Cap’n Jack & company), both in tomorrow’s parade. Viewing tip: The east side of the street starts in shade. Just save us a spot over near Petco.
**unrelated vent**
Unrelated but I gotta say it … ONE HOUR to get through downtown en route home tonight, before I could get onto the Viaduct. ONE HOUR IN 96-DEGREE AIR, NO AIR CONDITIONING IN THE MODEST WSB-MOBILE. Once I finally got onto the Elevated Freeway of Doom and past the Mariners backup in the left lane, it didn’t even take 10 minutes to get home. I’m sure somebody out there went through something similar, so I’m mentioning it here for virtual commiseration. MY, the air coming off the bay felt great … once the jammed traffic was past …
Countdown continues: Reason #3 to love The Parade
J.P. PATCHES!
A team of local real-estate agents has brought him along in their parade car for a few years now, and they’re all scheduled to show up again this Saturday. We weren’t here back when he was a TV fixture, but in order for us (or anyone else) to even remotely pretend to be semi-natives, it’s vital that you know who J.P. is, AND cheer him wildly any time you happen onto one of his public appearances. (As for my REAL childhood TV memories, I’m partial to Checkers & Pogo …)
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