As we continue counting down to Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade, presented by American Legion Post 160, we have news of another honoree who you’ll see toward the start of the parade: Recent Seattle Lutheran High School retiree Shirley Vradenburgh is this year’s winner of the Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community.

SLHS honored Shirley, a West Seattle native, just last month – as she retired – with its first-ever Ring of Honor Award. She spent 33 years as teacher and registrar/college counselor at Seattle Lutheran, after spending a few years away from West Seattle, while she studied and taught in the Midwest.

Her community service here has included myriad roles including youth ministry and volunteer work with local nonprofits. In particular, she is well-known at Providence Mount St. Vincent, and explains:

I began volunteering at the Mount in 1996 when my mother spent her last two years there. I went every evening to visit her and began helping at dinner time. After my mother died in 1998, I was back the next day, and I have continued most days since that time. I found the Mount to be a special place; the staff were very supportive, and I have enjoyed many friendships with residents and their families through the years. It is a delight to see the smiles on the faces of residents as I spend a few minutes visiting while I help serve their drinks and the evening meal. They enjoy hearing about my activities with the students or travels, etc. I also spend time visiting with other residents around the building. Spending time with teenagers and the elderly each day makes a great balance – both are amazing groups of people.

The Kiwanis Club of West Seattle celebrated Shirley as an Everyday Hero in 2008, and the Rotary Club of West Seattle honored her recently too. Now, Post 160 is honoring her with the award named after the man who led the Post as Commander when it was first presented, 1984, Orville Rummel. Last year, community advocate/volunteer Cindi Barker was the honoree. In 2010, your WSB co-publishers were honored to receive it; that year, we wrote about its history.

So come to the parade this Saturday and cheer for Shirley – the route is California SW from Lander to Edmunds, starting around 11 am, with the motorcycles as usual launching earlier, so don’t be last-minute if you’re watching from the start of the route!

One week from today, California Avenue SW will be lined with spectators and filled with floats, marchers, and more, for the West Seattle American Legion Post 160 Grand Parade. And today, we learned that WestSide Baby executive director Nancy Woodland will be Grand Marshal, just one day before her organization’s big annual Stuff The Bus diaper-donate-a-thon (10 am-2 pm Sunday, July 22nd, in the AmericanWest Bank parking lot). The diaper drive’s signature bus will be in next Saturday’s parade right behind the convertible in which she’ll be displaying a well-executed parade wave (we saw a preview in the West Seattle Summer Fest Info Booth today). Note that this year’s parade timing will be a bit different for reasons including the first-ever Float Dodger 5K – which will start at California/Lander, the start of the parade route, around 9:45 am. The parade will begin with the Seattle Police Motorcycle Drill Team as usual – and then between the SPD motorcycles and their Vancouver, B.C., counterparts, you’ll see the Seattle Police Pipes and Drums with some guests from back east. In The Junction, the Rotary Club of West Seattle Kiddie Parade will precede the main part of the parade as usual (click the linked title to sign up now) – more parade previews here all week.

(WSB photo from last year’s Grand Parade; Stuff the Bus, by the way, will be on 7/22 this year)
First came the warning the West Seattle Grand Parade was in danger of cancellation without sponsors/donations to cover costs including the road-closure barricades that the city used to bankroll – then came word that enough people stepped up, it looked like the parade was saved – and today, parade co-coordinator Dave Vague sends official final word it’s on for July 21st, along with thanks to donors and sponsors old and new:

Thanks to the spectacular generosity of the West Seattle and Greater Seattle communities we have donations enough to now hold the parade as scheduled on Saturday, July 21, 2012 at 11:00 AM! Inquiries and support came from all over Seattle and even as far away as Chicago.

In addition to the individual donations made by many of you we have three great organizations sponsoring the American Legion’s West Seattle Grand Parade this year:

Our returning sponsor from last year – the West Seattle Y, and two new great sponsors this year – Sound Advertising Group and International Parking Management! A huge thank you for all of your participation, we really can’t do it without you.

Along with the parade rolling forward, we can now also reveal something new this year – the Float Dodger 5K run that will take place up and down the parade route just before the parade. Clowns, pirates, princesses and now sweaty runners! What a day this will be!

We’ve mentioned the new Float Dodger 5K before – but if you haven’t signed up yet, this is a great time to go ahead and jump in – you can do it here or in person at West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor). P.S. Sound Advertising Group, if you don’t recognize the name, is the business that’s currently in The Junction’s former Petco storefront.

(WSB photo from 2011 West Seattle Grand Parade)
“Thanks, everyone, for your support of this wonderful West Seattle tradition!” says West Seattle American Legion Post 160 Grand Parade co-coordinator Jim Edwards, reporting good news today: They’re received enough sponsor pledges and community donations “to move forward with this year,” two days after putting out a last call for $ help. In addition to the barricade costs – $7,000, as previously reported – they also deal with an even-higher cost for other elements of producing the parade, including permits, trophies, and liability insurance; Jim notes, “At a time when our veteran community has grown smaller with the passage of the elder members of the American Legion, it will be wonderful to help reduce the burden on the Post.” Jim and the other volunteers who coordinate the parade are still catching up on tallying the donations and figuring out where things stand, as well as planning for the future to avoid a donation-drive panic EVERY year – so they don’t have a detailed update yet, but wanted to get this news out. Go ahead and mark your calendar for July 21st (and if you’d like to run/walk the parade route, register now for the first-ever Float Dodger 5K before the parade!).

P.S. Another reminder that one of the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (maps here) sales this Saturday is a benefit for the parade, at Legion Post 160 – sale #140.

Before you can see pirates and floats and royalty and classic cars and community groups strolling and rolling down the West Seattle Grand Parade route in midsummer, it takes a lot of work by West Seattle’s American Legion Post 160 parade coordinators – andm again this year, it’s going to take some monetary help from the community.

You might recall that last year was the first year that the city required organizations like Post 160 to cover the costs of no-parking signage along the parade route. It’s not cheap. This year, they’ll have to do it again. So Dave Vague asked us to share the request for your help:

The West Seattle American Legion Grand Parade is set for Saturday, July 21, 2012. Like last year, we are needing to turn to the West Seattle community to raise funds to help us put the parade on. We are trying to raise $5,000 this year to cover the expenses of putting up the street barricades, city permits, and trophies for the winning entries.

Donations can be sent to:
West Seattle American Legion Post 160
3618 SW Alaska St
Seattle, WA 98126
(206) 935-9407
or you can donate online at the parade website: thewestseattleparade.com

The parade doesn’t charge entry fees – if it did, it would have to pay a much higher price for permits, which would wipe out any benefit and any way of making a dent in this cost. They secured some community sponsorships last year, but individual donations also can make quite a difference in keeping this decades-old tradition alive. (The online-donation link goes to a page with a PayPal button; you can use PayPal without having a PP account – just scroll till you see the “pay with credit card” option.)

(All WSB coverage of the West Seattle Grand Parade is archived here, newest to oldest)

From motorcycles at the start to DeLoreans at the end – a last-minute entry by the Pacific Northwest DeLorean Club (which won an award!) – Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade showcased a wide variety of vehicles. Though we published plenty of parade coverage yesterday, before/during/after, we still have a few roundups in the works, and this is one of them – click ahead for some of the vehicular highlights!Read More

(NOTE: We’re continuing to add video/photos to this story through Sunday evening)

West Seattle American Legion Post 160 Grand Parade organizers have just sent the list of winning entries from the nearly 80 in this year’s parade – including, in its parade debut, the Sustainable West Seattle solar/human-powered Trikeceratops winning the “Community” category! Parade organizers also are thanking sponsors West Seattle Christian Church and West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor) and other donors (listed here, including WSB). Co-coordinator Dave Vague says, “It appeared we had one of the most well-attended parades in years.” And the winners are:

Overall Winners

1st – Seattle Schools All-City Marching Band (video above, as they entered the parade route)
2nd – Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish & School
3rd – Marysville Strawberry Festival Float

Floats

Legion Trophy – Marysville Strawberry Festival, MaryFest, Inc. “Berrywood” (video above)

Alki Trophy – Sequim Irrigation Festival (video above)
Judges Trophy – Puyallup Daffodil Festival “Spirit of Adventure”
Festival Trophy – Port Orchard “Fathoms of Fun”

Community

1st – Sustainable West Seattle (see top photo)

2nd – Hope Lutheran Gospel Outreach (photo above)

3rd -Cub Scout Troops of West Seattle (video above)

Performing Acts

(Pirate photo courtesy of Byron, principal of Textura Design & publisher of Bike Hugger)
1st – Seattle Seafair Pirates
2nd – Lake City Vigilantes
3rd – Evergreen Tang Soo Do Academy

Clowns/Comics

1st – Seattle Seafair Clowns
2nd – Keystone Kops
3rd – West Seattle Shrine Club Clowns

Marching Bands

1st – Calgary Round-Up Band (video above)
2nd – Kennedy Catholic High School Band
3rd – Pacific Northwest Drum Line

Commercial

1st – Luna Park Café
2nd – Seattle Public Utilities
3rd – Hadlock Towing

Cars & Antique Cars

1st – Last Resort Fire Department
2nd – Pacific Northwest DeLorean Club
3rd – Seattle Lutheran Schools

Drill Teams – Jr

1st – Baby Dangerettes Drill Team
2nd – “Jr. Electronetts” Babynetts Drill Team
3rd – Emerald City Divas Drill Team

Drill Teams – Sr

1st – Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team (video above)
2nd – Sweet Mahogany Drill Team
3rd – Electronetts Drill Team & Drum Squad

We’ll be adding more images to this – and we have more post-parade reports to come – including spontaneous sights along the way.

10:47 AM: The West Seattle Grand Parade has just officially begun with the motorcycle drill teams – Seattle Police first, followed by Vancouver (BC). Just so you know – it’s on – hundreds of people volunteering their time to put on a rolling show! California/Lander to California/Edmunds (with the Rotary Kiddies Parade leaving California/Genesee ahead of the motorcyclists’ arrival – photo added below, Rotary president Sue Lindblom leading the Kiddies’ Parade):

11:23 AM: And the rest of the parade has now begun.

(First Seafair Pirates cannon shot of the parade!)
12:44 PM: It ended a few minutes ago at the north end of the route – with the Pacific Northwest DeLorean Club!

The parade is still continuing, of course, down toward The Junction. This end is about to reopen to traffic, police are announcing via loudspeaker, but avoid California for a while on the south end of the parade route, to SW Dawson, since that’s where floats and other entries are breaking down and regrouping. Miss the parade? Check our Twitter feed for as-it-happened photos (we’re adding a few to this) – and we’ll have other reports later with highlights, video, and more. (We’ll also be heading off to the Alki Art Fair!)

9:31 AM: We’re in the heart of the West Seattle Grand Parade staging zone on California by Lafayette Elementary – and as a Seafair Commodore noted, it’s very different this year, without the old Safeway lots for staging. The big floats are here already – that’s the sparkling purple Sequim Irrigation Festival float. Not far away, the Tibbetts United Methodist Church (WSB sponsor) parade entry:

Watch its front end in the parade – it includes a plug for their Facebook page! The Hi-Yu “Sparkling Seattle” float is of course here too:

Meantime, we checked the scene along the route, as we headed north:

Chairs are out in many places, especially The Junction. California is closed from Hanford to Admiral; the rest of the stretch will be closed shortly. We spotted parade co-coordinator Jim Edwards on a quick motorcycle run to inspect the route (looks like most were heeding the NO PARKING signs – remember, this is the first year American Legion Post 160, which puts on the parade, had to foot the bill itself, and luckily some community sponsors came forward – look for the banners in their honor during the parade).

Back here at the north end of the route, it’s time for some to rehearse, like All-City Band members on the field by Hiawatha:

And we spotted parade Grand Marshals Art and Gloria Peters arriving:

ADDED 10 AM: More photos as the staging zone really starts to fill up – here’s Art with Lts. Pierre Davis and Ron Smith from the Southwest Precinct:

Courtesy of Our Lady of Guadalupe – you’ll be seeing stars!

On the side streets: Here’s how you get a tow truck ready to bring up the rear in the parade:

And here’s an entry that won’t need towing – solar- and human-powered, from Sustainable West Seattle:

Again, the parade runs along California from Lander (Lafayette/Admiral Safeway/Hiawatha) to Edmunds (south end of The Junction – Terrible Beauty/7-11), officially starting at 11 (but the motorcycle drill teams will get going a bit earlier) – get your seat if you want to see it in person!

ADDED 10:39 AM: One last round of preview photos before the parade starts shortly – first, Orville Rummel Trophy winner Cindi Barker with her mate Ron Zuber, who’s riding in a separate convertible as the new Commander of the West Seattle VFW Post:

And leading off the parade as always will be the two motorcycle drill teams – here are the visitors from Vancouver, for whom this is their only local parade appearance:

We’ll post a separate update when the parade starts – just in case you’re waiting, or else wondering when it’s under way because you need to get around town – then complete coverage, with video, afterward.

Less than twelve hours till the West Seattle Grand Parade, presented by American Legion Post 160, and tonight we’ve heard from two of the new participants – Above, Patrick from Sustainable West Seattle shared a shot of SWS and Alki Bike and Board crews “putting the finishing touches on Trikeceratops, our human & solar powered float for the Grand Parade.” And Debbie Stern e-mailed to say her daughter Becca Stern, a student at Madison Middle School, is “so excited to get to march in front of her home town”:

Becca (center, in red poncho) is captain of the Li’l Señoritas, the younger squad affiliated with La Señoritas, drill teams that are marching in the West Seattle Grand Parade for the first time. (Debbie notes that unlike La Señoritas, Li’l Señoritas do NOT have sabers!)

If you missed our earlier parade previews – scroll down this page for our entire (newest-to-oldest) WS Grand Parade coverage archive; the parade starts at 11 am from California/Lander and proceeds southbound on California to Edmunds at the south end of The Junction. The road closes a couple hours ahead of time, and side streets in the Admiral area on both sides of California are staging areas, so note that even if you are not going to see the parade, cars and buses will be affected till early afternoon. We’ll be out in the staging areas with advance coverage here on WSB tomorrow morning, and of course full coverage afterward.

P.S. Two more notes – we’re reminded that the motorcycle drill teams roll as early as 10:30, so don’t wait till the last minute to get your parade spot along California. Plus, the Kiddie Parade from Calif/Genesee gathers at 10, and if you’re anywhere near there, $3 gets you a hot dog or veggie dog from Furry Faces Foundation‘s Dogs 4 Cats at Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor, and parade participant, 4410 California SW), 11 am-1 pm.

(2009 WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli)
At this time tomorrow, 77 entries will be getting into place for the 2011 edition of the West Seattle Grand Parade, presented by American Legion Post 160. The post’s Junction headquarters are where parade coordinators gather to rough out the lineup – we sat in on that meeting this past Monday night. But after two hours of intensive discussion – with parade co-coordinator Dave Vague using his Father’s Day gift iPad, and parade co-coordinator Jim Edwards checking a table full of the actual entries, while Doreen Vague handled logistics regarding judging – the final plan still had some tweaking to be done, before one last meeting last night. The lineup includes:

*2 motorcycle drill teams (this is the only local parade where you see the Vancouver, B.C. team too – they’re in the top photo)
*More than half a dozen floats, including West Seattle Hi-Yu‘s “Sparkling Seattle” and visitors from as far away as the Sequim Irrigation Festival float
*4 marching bands, including the famous Calgary Roundup Band, back for the first time in a few years
*More than half a dozen drill teams, including the saber-wielding Las Senoritas
*Community entries including a few new ones, such as Sustainable West Seattle, and longtime participants including schools, churches, Scouts, community groups
*Commercial entries including Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor)
*The full Seafair contingent, including their new (as of last year) float and, of course, the Pirates
*As announced here earlier: 2011 Grand Marshals Art and Gloria Peters, and 2011 Orville Rummel Trophy winner Cindi Barker

The parade starts at 11 am Saturday from California/Lander and travels down California till the route ends at Edmunds on the south end of The Junction (here’s the map on the parade’s official website). Side streets along California at the north end of the route are part of the staging area, so in the early morning hours tomorrow, you’re going to want to steer clear of there. Kids are invited to join in the West Seattle Rotary Kiddie Parade gathering at 10 am at California/Genesee (more here). And remember, the parade’s not over till you see the tow trucks! (They’re entry #77.)

The “no parking” signs are up, looking ahead to Saturday, when the American Legion Post 160-presented West Seattle Grand Parade will not only close California from Admiral to Edmunds (the parade starts a block south of Admiral, at Lander), but also will restrict parking on that stretch and some side streets near the start of the parade route, starting at 7 am. There’s one big difference this year – Post 160 had to pay thousands of dollars for signage that the city used to handle, so community sponsors have pitched in, and you’ll see them acknowledged in big new banners. But otherwise, parade coordinators told us at the official pre-parade lineup meeting (that’ll be a separate preview story!) that the restrictions are pretty much the same as in years past, and if your street is affected, the signs are now in place (the one in our photo is at the start of the route by Lafayette Elementary). The pre-parade staging also is minus the former back parking lot of Admiral Safeway, but some of the vehicles that used to queue up there, like convertibles with Hi-Yu Senior Court candidates, aren’t a factor this year since the competition has moved to the fall (you’ll still see current royalty on the Hi-Yu “Sparkling Seattle” float). So who IS in the parade, you ask? Some old favorites, and new additions – more on that tomorrow! It all starts at 11 am Saturday, southbound on California from Lander to Edmunds (here’s the map),

Tonight, you’ll find Cindi Barker at the quarterly meeting of the Morgan Community Association, in her role as information coordinator. Like many leadership positions in neighborhood councils, it’s an unsung-hero role – no glamour, no glory, no pay, lots of hard work. But last night, as much as she shies from the limelight anyway, Cindi was in it for a brief moment at intermission of the West Seattle Hi-Yu Concert in the Park, as West Seattle Grand Parade co-coordinator Dave Vague (above left) presented her with the Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community, which she’ll carry in Saturday’s parade:

We wrote about the award’s history last year, after WSB was announced as its 2010 recipient. Parade-hosting American Legion Post 160 has presented it each year since 1984, a half-century after its namesake, then-Post Commander Orville Rummel, founded in 1934 what was originally called the Hi-Yu Parade.

Cindi works as a manager in Boeing’s 777 program, and spends copious hours of her “free time” in community volunteer work. Perhaps her most visible current role is with West Seattle Be Prepared, the groundbreaking neighborhood-preparedness effort that for the past three-plus years has set the bar for other parts of the city, setting up volunteer-led “neighborhood hubs” that will help coordinate communication and calls for help if the unthinkable ever happens. Below, Cindi is at left with Sharonn Meeks during a “hub” drill last fall:

Cindi’s history as a volunteer in community service goes back more than a quarter-century, including advisory committees such as the citywide Parks Levy Oversight Committee and the local Southwest Precinct Advisory Committee, neighborhood-planning roles with the City Neighborhood Council as well as MoCA – a long list of committees and roles with detail-oriented work whose results will last for years – the roll-up-your-sleeves-and-dig-into-the-details work that is particularly unglamorous, since you can’t point to a specific project and say “I did that!” (not that Cindi would anyway). She also has worked with youth, mentoring the Robotics Club at Chief Sealth International High School for several years. And she helped found Boeing Women in Leadership almost a decade ago.

After she accepted the award last night, we asked for her reaction. “Very cool!” she said – then quickly adding, “Nothing happens without everyone else” – in other words, no matter what you’re coordinating or leading, you can’t do it unless there are others to pitch in. Exactly what you would expect to hear from Cindi, whom we first met when WSB began to focus on community news more than four years ago. She’s practical but also resolutely cheery, no matter how tough the task. So look for her winning smile toward the start of the parade route (California SW from Lander to Edmunds) on Saturday morning, starting at 11 am, and give her a cheer. The unsung heroes have so few chances to receive one. She’s been in the parade before – appropriately enough, with an entry honoring volunteers.

After the jump – the full list of Orville Rummel Trophy winners, from 1984 through Cindi:Read More

Another big weekend ahead, rain or shine – including the West Seattle Grand Parade‘s 2011 edition, presented by American Legion Post 160, Saturday (July 23) at 11 am, from California/Lander to California/Edmunds. We’ll be previewing it all week long, starting this morning with parade organizers’ announcement of two of the special honorees you’ll see toward the start of the parade – the Grand Marshals, Art and Gloria Peters:

(2007 West Seattle Grand Parade photo by Creighton)
Art and Gloria have been parade favorites for close to a decade now – a long-married couple who are U.S. Navy veterans from World War II and the Korean War. We talked to them along the pre-parade sidelines three years ago. Adding three years to what they told us then, they’ve been married for 64 years, and the longevity of their union is what their parade vehicle usually pays homage to, “Art and Gloria, still married” (as seen here). Cheer them on – along with the 70-plus other entries/participants – this Saturday, all along this route, following the West Seattle Rotary Kiddie Parade at 10 am on a shorter route southbound from California/Genesee (all kids invited to join in, more info here).

(WSB photo from July 2009 parade)
Hours before one of the major events that American Legion Post 160 sponsors/co-sponsors each year – the Memorial Day service at Forest Lawn (WSB sponsor), 2 pm – there’s good news about another one, the West Seattle Grand Parade. Because of city budget cuts and changes, Post 160 has to pay the estimated $3,000 bill to block off California SW, as reported here in February; the parade has no entry fees, so Post 160 asked for donations to make sure the parade could go on. In April, they added a link for online donations. And this morning, Post 160’s Dave Vague sends word they have reached the goal:

You did it, West Seattle! Thanks to the sponsorships and donations by our generous West Seattle community, the West Seattle American Legion Post 160 will be hosting the 78th annual Grand Parade on Saturday, July 23, 2011, at 11:00. Thank you so very much West Seattle Blog for getting our message out, and to all of your readers for their support! We could not have done this without the generous support from the following:

*West Seattle Christian Church
*West Seattle YMCA
*Illusions Hair Design
*Ventana Construction
*Luna Park Cafe
*Ivars Inc
*PCC Natural Markets
*34th District Democrats
*Sheila Boyer
*Kiersten Lovejoy
*Jennifer Hedge
*Julie Gramm
*Dorothy H Wickland
*Explorer West Middle School
*West Seattle Blog

Thanks to all for helping to continue with this cherished community event. More news about the event will follow as we get closer to the parade date.

(The Y, Illusions, Ventana, and PCC are also WSB sponsors.) If this is your first summer in West Seattle, the parade runs from California/Lander in the Admiral District to California/Edmunds in The Junction (here’s a map). It’s preceded by the Kiddies Parade, sponsored by the Rotary Club of West Seattle.

(2010 West Seattle Grand Parade photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
Is it worth at least a few dollars to you to save a West Seattle tradition?

Two months ago, the volunteers who run the West Seattle American Legion Post 160 Grand Parade sent up the first warning signal (WSB story here) that they will need financial help to bring back the decades-old tradition this year: Thousands of dollars worth of help that used to be provided by the city, to block off a mile-plus of California SW for the parade, is now something Post 160 is supposed to pay for. And since the parade does not charge entry fees – if it did, it would have to pay an even bigger bill for a costlier permit – that means a call for sponsors/donations.

In that February report, parade chair Dave Vague asked for ideas of how to raise the money. WSB commenter Jordan suggested using PayPal for donations. That’s now been set up – to take donations large and small.

Here is the webpage where you will find the donation link.

(Note that while the parade is NOT a West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival event, Hi-Yu has agreed to lend the Grand Parade its PayPal setup, so that’s what your receipt will reflect.)

Vague tells WSB they need to raise $4,000. As first noted in the February report, the road-closure barricades will cost $3,000. The parade permit will cost $500 (if they charged entry fees, it would be $2,000 more!). And they would like to have a bit of pad beyond that for potential expenses such as sign damage and a banner if major donors/sponsors emerge.

Speaking of that, they would still welcome sponsors – you can reach Vague through Post 160 at (206) 935-9407, or e-mail him: vagued@comcast.net.

Three months till this year’s parade (July 23) – provided the money can be found. Here’s the donation-page link again. You don’t have to have a PayPal account – you can use any major credit card.

P.S. The parade now has a Facebook page, too – “like” it here.

(WSB photo from 2010 West Seattle Grand Parade, by Christopher Boffoli)
Yet another city-budget shock wave is rippling tonight – this time, one that casts a cloud over a decades-old West Seattle summertime tradition.

American Legion Post 160, longtime sponsor of the midsummer West Seattle Grand Parade, has just started planning for this year’s parade, set for July 23rd, and has learned it’s facing a big new bill – not unlike the local youth-sports leagues that are suddenly paying thousands more than they used to.

Last year, we reported on the close call American Legion Post 160 and other summertime event sponsors had with a city “cost-recovery” proposal – at one point in May, it looked like events happening just weeks later might have to pay for their own traffic control, which the city has always picked up, and that could have cost the West Seattle Grand Parade $1,500 it didn’t have.

Given the short notice and big protests from other affected groups, the city decided to pull back for last year, while issuing a warning about this year’s budget. So now, it’s 2011. Post 160’s parade chair Dave Vague tells WSB, “Although the city has not changed its fee schedule for the parade, the Seattle DOT is now requiring us to handle all of our own No Parking signs. I asked one of the barricade companies for a bid and it is going to cost us $3,000 to put up all of the signs. Needless to say, this is too large a burden for the American Legion to take on by themselves now.”

The “no fee-schedule change” to which Vague refers cuts both ways. As explained in our story last year, while the obvious solution would seem to be for Post 160 to charge entry fees for commercial participants, they can’t; parades that charge entry fees are charged sharply higher permit fees. Right now, so that their permit fees stay low, there’s no fee for anyone to enter (though some donations are received).

So how to handle the $3,000? Vague says, Post 160 is turning to you for ideas and support:

We are looking to the West Seattle Community to help us raise the necessary funds for the parade or help us find a sponsor or sponsors to help us with the cost. If your readers would like to donate or have ideas on how we could raise the funds needed, they can contact the American Legion at (206) 935-9407 or write me at vagued@comcast.net.

(WSB photo from 2010 West Seattle Grand Parade, by Mindon Win)
As longtime fans of the West Seattle Grand Parade, and co-sponsor of multiple community events each year since we became a business, we have already said (as we did last year) that WSB will be first in line to be a sponsor if Post 160 decides to go that route. What’s your thought about the best solution? Let Post 160 know, and/or post a comment here.