The 71st Annual Wallingford Parade, the longest running Seafair sponsored parade was held on Saturday, July 13th under warm, pleasant sunny skies. The mood was festive as judged by the crowds who lined 45th Street to watch the parade.
This year’s parade featured over 800 participants and 35 marching groups or decorated vehicles/floats including many local businesses or organizations including Bedrooms and More, Cedarhouse Flowers, Sock Monster, Hawaii General Store, Historic Wallingford, and Family Works among others. Our thanks go to the Seafair Marshalls who facilitated parade day sign-in of participants on the day of the parade. They kept the process running smoothly and got all of the marchers lined up in an orderly fashion and kept the parade moving.
All the following pictures are courtesy of Ron Waldman, please check out www.celebratewallingfordwa.org as additional pictures taken during the parade will become available, a few of which are presented below. I apologize if your organization’s picture wasn’t presented below but space limited the number of photos I could include.
The parade organizers would like to thank local sponsors including Bedrooms and More, Dunn Lumber, Cedarhouse Flowers, Luna Kitchen and Bath, Keller Williams, QFC, Harold’s Lamps, Keybank, CVS, Silver Tray Thai, Wallingford Community Council, Pacific Northwest Shop and Dick’s Drive-In. We would also like to thank Mighty-O Donuts who provided refreshments at the muster location, which was greatly appreciated by the volunteers during the parade setup.
Wallingford’s own Lincoln High School Cheerleading cheered to the music of the Seattle All-City Band. As always, the parade included bands, drill teams including the Husky Alumni Band, Kennedy Lancer marching band, Baby Dolls Drill Team to name a few as examples shown below and many floats from local businesses.
The Wallingford community who turned out for the parade was a festive, energetic crowd who lined 45th street to cheer the marchers on. We congratulate the winners of the trophies and ribbons; however, all of the marchers had a blast.
If you ever wondered how a parade comes together, please read on. Back in Aug 2023, about a month after the 2023 Wallingford Parade, the organizing committee (led by Blake of Bedrooms and More, Kathy, Stephen and Cynthia of Celebrate Wallingford) was joined by volunteers Rhonda and Larry to start planning for the 2024 parade. This initial meeting was followed by several meetings to start the planning in earnest. By the end of 2023, the committee had selected a theme (Be a Hero) and a date (July 13th) for the 2024 parade. Postcards promoting the parade were completed and printed, ready to be handed out or placed in local businesses to start promoting the 2024 parade. Wallingford’s own Feliks Banel was asked to be the parade Master of Ceremonies for the second year in a row.
At the beginning of 2024, the parade committee, after evaluating route options opted to have the parade start at Meridian Park, as always, and have the trophy and ribbon presentations at the Wallingford Playfield. Patti joined as a volunteer in Feb and started contacting pre-schools, daycares, etc. By March, the postcard was approved, printed and committee members were handing them out at local businesses as our first sponsors and participants started signing up. Postcards were also sent out to individual homes in Wallingford. Blake from Bedrooms and More was even offering trailers to participants as an enticement to make a float.
The months of April, May and June saw recruitment of volunteers, most notably from KeyBank. Additional items addressed included City and Parks and Rec permit applications submitted; Power Supply (thank you Tweedy and Popp) was confirmed and a sound system for the announcer at the judges stand arranged. Posters, banners and buttons were ordered. Additional visits to local businesses continued as the parade date was approaching and to solicit additional sponsorships.
By early July, banners and A-Frame signs were placed throughout the neighborhood advertising the parade. A few days before the parade, the parade committee determined the marching order for the benefit of Judges and Marshalls based on the current registered participants. Because there were two playground locations, tables, chairs and canopies were organized for each location. Barricades were ordered and placed in designated street locations. Finally, on the day of the parade, by 8 am, volunteers were assisting the Marshalls in organizing and signing-in the participants and guided them into the parade order, and the parade kicked off at 11 am. We also greatly appreciated the Seattle Police and Parking Enforcement whose officers stood by at the various street closures while the parade walked by.
As people are enjoying the rest of Seafair or summer festivities, please remember these events could not occur without the support and participation of the neighborhoods and the volunteers working behind the scenes to help make them happen. Celebrate Wallingford is always looking for volunteers who are interested in seeing this great event continue next year.