You know what? I think Seafair and the Torchlight Parade, specifically, are really a throwback to another era. Gosh, with all the professional sports in town and big-time entertainment available in this, suddenly, very sophisticated world-class city, who needs a grassroots celebration like Seafair’s night time parade? We do! More than ever!
Seafair and the Torchlight Parade are ours! A 64-year Seattle tradition! It’s not owned by a rich guy, who can choose to sell it or move it when he pleases. We didn’t have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build a stadium for it. A league can’t decide we can’t have it. No, quite the contrary, Seafair lives in the very neighborhoods where we live and work. The Torchlight Parade, and the running competition before it, takes place on a city street, right down the middle of our beautiful downtown area at the most beautiful time of the night. It’s the brainchild of our city fathers and mothers. And I, for one, am very thankful it still goes on today.
Some of what makes our city a community is disappearing before our eyes. But Seafair and the Torchlight Parade are still here and still going strong. Seafair is a celebration of the one the most beautiful cities on this planet, at it’s most beautiful time of the year. Seafair and the Torchlight Parade are made up of local competitors, local groups that lend support, local volunteers, generous businesses, large and small, that donate money and resources, and many others in our community. Let’s not forget the government agencies that work together to make the celebration come off safe and with as little inconvenience as possible. Seafair’s events are generally free-of-charge or ask for a very nominal fee. The parade is free and open to all of us who share this small slice of heaven called Seattle.
Seafair and the parade are great examples of what Seattle truly is: a generous, diverse, fun-loving community that is grateful for what we share together. We’re a community with a sense of humor and a sense of where we came from, not just where we are going.
Yup, if anyone thinks Seafair and the Torchlight Parade are old-fashioned, I say, “Yes they are and I certainly hope they stay that way!” Oh, and just so you don’t get the wrong idea from our The Boat Guy episode, I was generously offered to be in the parade by my good friends at Seafair and KIRO. Unfortunately, I’ll be out of town at a wedding. Gosh, with me not there, I wonder who’s gonna be scooping up after the animals? Whoever it is, remember, bend your legs and keep your back straight!
