To honor Seattle's Seafair Torchlight Parade, which entertained the city last night, here is some background on the annual festival.  |
Seattle Seafair Verso date July 1959. L-R: Kathi Ferguson and Diane Gadotti with Bill Durfee, (who became Capt. Kidd in 1959) Weaver Dial (who became Capt. Kidd in 1962) and Fred Lanouette. Click to enlarge. Photographer unknown. Original photo from the archives of the S.P.H.S.© |
"How many people realize that the name "Seafair" was coined by an 11-year-old kid named Mike? The real truth is, no single individual or organization can really lay claim to starting the Seafair Festival. True, the Seafair Pirates often claim to have invented the whole thing, but that's too simple. An obvious case of "victors" writing history.
As far back as 1909, when the great Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition whetted Seattle's appetite for festivals and fairs in general, there had been plans and attempts at creating an annual summer festival. In 1911, there was the first Golden Potlatch. The "gold" came from the gold rush that steamed down from Alaska, straight into Elliott Bay. And the Potlatch was a Northwest Indian tradition involving a prodigious party where the host gives away pretty much everything but the shirt on his back. The Potlatches were a great success, featuring the election of the King d'Oro, (King of Gold) a fleet of Navy ships, and an Indian encampment on 4th and Lenora. Believe it or not, they even had a Hydroplane that year, and two more turned up in 1912. Everything was a rousing success until 1914, when riots, looting, and politics halted the whole thing.
Not that Seattle didn't know a good thing when they saw it, but the great depression and World War II caused every attempt to revive the Potlatch to fail.
Seattle still needed some kind of Summer Festival, but what was it going to be?
In 1947, then-Mayor William Devin began pushing for a new festival to celebrate Seattle's Centennial. A lot of groups answered his call In 1949, the WA Federation of Garden Clubs created the City of Flowers Festival. The festival chairman, Ralph Grossman, wasn't sure that flowers struck the right note. While clearly the festival was a good idea, he and his group wanted Seattle's event to celebrate the SEA. (Click "read more" below, leading to another historical photo and more history from an unidentified, authentic Seafair Pirate.)
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