LOCAL NEWS
Seattle Seafair announces full force return after two-year pandemic hiatus
Jun 17, 2022, 5:18 PM
Actors Chris Pratt and Anna Faris ride in the Seafair Torchlight Parade Grand Marshal vehicle on July 30, 2016 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Suzi Pratt/WireImage)
(Photo by Suzi Pratt/WireImage)
After two years of COVID disruptions, western Washington’s annual Seafair Festival is back “in full” this summer, including a Fourth of July celebration, Seattle Torchlight Parade, hydroplane racing, and the Blue Angels Air show. Festivities begin June 25.
“We have dragon dancers, precision drill teams, marching bands, car plugs, floats, and even Seafair pirates,” Eric Corning, President and CEO of Seafair, said.
After two-year hiatus, Seafair to return with full slate of events in 2022
The Seattle Seafair Pirates have been delighting the Puget Sound area since forming in 1949. That year, the younger members of the Washington State Press Club’s action committee, the Ale & Quail Society, founded the Seattle Seafair Pirates. The members of the society then joined together with other community leaders to create Seattle’s first Seafair Festival in 1950.
The Seafair Festival has been known to attract more than 2 million people and countless boats.
“It’s going to be a challenge for vendors to have enough staffers to support the events, and a challenge to raise (the funds) Seafair relies on to be able to pay for these events,” Corning said. “But at the end of the day it’s about celebration, and these are the high points of summer that everyone is counting on. We are excited to bring them back.”
Tickets range from free to $70, which will get you a seat near the water in Gasworks Park for the Fourth of July fireworks, or a prime seat at the Torchlight Parade, or Seafair Weekend, which includes the hydroplane races and airshow.
