If your group, school, team, business (etc.) has a float in Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade, it’s definitely crunch time for float-building! Above, Cindi sent that photo of the West Seattle Amateur Radio Club‘s float-in-progress (pickup-truck-borne). The WSARC has another role during the parade, as we’ve mentioned before – ham operators assist with communication, coordination, and safety up and down the parade route, before, during, and after. WSARC is one of more than a dozen community groups in the parade; more than a dozen sports-related groups will be in it too; so will eight dance and drill groups; and six music groups. Those aren’t all the types of entries you’ll see – in all, the parade lineup currently holds more than 90 entries, leading off with the Seattle Police Motorcycle Drill Team (building back, with at least eight officers this year) departing California south of Lander at about 10:45 am Saturday, headed southbound to The Junction. All of California from Admiral to Edmunds closes for the parade, and parking restrictions (stretching beyond those boundaries – you should have seen the signs by now) kick in around 7 am (you will be towed, so don’t risk it). There are official “parade watch parties” at some businesses this year (we’ve added one to the list, hosted by West Seattle Runner, which presents the pre-parade Float Dodger 5K – if you’re having one that’s not listed but is open to the public, let the parade team and us know – westseattleparade@gmail.com and westseattleblog@gmail.com. See you Saturday!
