The 60th annual Greenwood Seafair Parade is at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 28. As usual, thousands of spectators are expected to line Greenwood Avenue and 85th Street as nearly 100 floats, bands, drill teams and other groups – including the famed Seafair Pirates – take over the neighborhood.
Sponsored by the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce, the theme for this year is “Greenwood’s Got Talent, Celebrating 60 Super Summers!” This year’s grand marshals are The Coats, a local a cappella group with a national reputation.
The Coats started their career on the street corners of Seattle which evolved into a full-time international performance career. They have won national vocal competitions. “They are terrific, “says Woodward who herself has enjoyed their career for over 20 years. “I just saw them recently at the Puyallup Fair and was blown away with how talented they are. And one of the guys is also a Greenwood resident!” Jay Leno, after seeing them in Reno, said, “Those guys are amazing!”
The Greenwood Seafair Parade is the oldest neighborhood Seafair sanctioned parade. The parade route runs south along Greenwood Avenue from North 95th Street to North 85th Street, then heads west to 6th Avenue Northwest.
For more information about the parade, including how to volunteer or enter a unit in the parade, contact the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce at 206-789-1148 or [email protected].
Here’s an interesting bit of history on the Seafair Parade, sent to us by local historian Paul Dorpat. He found this photo of our Chamber’s entry in the main Seafair Parade downtown in 1969.
There are few culturally incorrect things in this 1969 recording of Greenwood’s contribution to that year’s SeaFair Parade, including the head dress. This is Greenwood Native American history interpreted by Euro-Americans through the Hollywood lens. But it had good intentions. The photo was taken by Robert Bradley – a pro. He was standing near the southeast corner of 4th Ave. and Virginia Street looking south on 4th.
And on a side note, PhinneyWood is proud to be one of the sponsors of this year’s parade. One of the benefits of sponsoring is getting an entry in the parade. But we’d like your help in figuring out exactly what we should do. If you’ve got any great ideas, please let us know in comments!
