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Community Corner

Youth Connection: Presenting - The Seattle Seafair

Seattle to host its annual Seafair festival.

By Michael Qian

Seattle’s annual Seafair festival began as a plan to celebrate the city’s one-hundred-year anniversary. However, the director of the event, Walter Van Camp, was too excited about the event to wait until the actual day of the centennial in 1952. Instead, he planned to have event take place over the course of ten days from August 11 to 20 in 1950, and thus the first annual Seafair festival were set in motion.

Aside from attracting tourists and providing the people a sense of pride in their hometown, the original intent of Seafair was to display Seattle’s plethora of marine activities as the boating capital of the world. Events, including parades, boat races, athletic competitions, and numerous community festivals, bring out the distinct features of the city of Seattle. After the success of the first Seafair, the festival continued to grow each year.

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Today, Seafair can be likened to a holiday in Seattle. The festival itself has greatly expanded. It now runs for a total of six weeks. This year’s Seafair started on June 18 and continues through August 7. While boat racing still remains a classic component of Seafair, marine activities have expanded to include hydroplane racing as well as wakeboard competitions, among many others. And of course, the festival would not be complete without the famous displays put on each year by the Blue Angels during the Boeing Air Show at the end of the festival. Other notable events include the Seafair Pirates Landing, the Torchlight Parade, and the Milk Carton Derby in which teams can win up to $10,000 in prizes. With all of these fantastic exhibitions and activities, we can all look forward to another phenomenal Seafair this year!

Michael Qian writes for Youth Connection, a publication of Youth Link.

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