Photo courtesy of Pixabay user moshehlmn
(SEATTLE) Summer around the Pacific Northwest is going to feel a lot more “normal” this year, now that the pandemic is easing significantly.
But now that virus concerns have eased, there is likely another question for organizers to wrestle with: Public safety.
Organizers of two of the Northwest’s biggest summer events want you to know they’re back.
“We’re coming back from a two year hiatus, and we’re coming back strong,” says Sydace Jackson, director of Marketing and Communications for SeaFair.
“United State Navy Blue Angels are coming back,” Jackson told us. “The U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team is coming back, so we’re going to have a pretty full slate of activities.”
Also back this summer, the SeaFair Torchlight Parade. It’s not the only big parade returning to the region.
“It feels amazing to be able to bring parades back,” Marylin Clint, COO of Portland Rose Festival, tells KATU.com.
But things down south will look a little different.
For the first time in its 60-plus year history, the Grand Floral Parade will not wind its way through downtown Portland, but remain mostly east of I-5. Clint says the change is temporary, and that the reason is that they’re short-handed when it comes to staff.
“The special events industry is no different than any other business,” Clint tells KATU. “We rely on both human resources and economic resources.”
Portlanders are likely not buying that personnel issues are the sole reason for moving the parade, after all, Downtown Portland remains very vacant, and there are still boards on windows after a couple of years of riots. Rose Festival organizers insist safety had nothing to do with their decision, but Jackson told Northwest Newsradio that YES, the black eye in parts of downtown Seattle is definitely on their radar when it comes to the SeaFair Torchlight Parade.
“We’re definitely looking into all the safety issues, as well as potential protocol for COVID-19,” Jackson says. “We’re working closely with the mayor’s office as well as the police department.”
For the record, while Portland’s Grand Floral Parade is moving out of downtown, it’s Starlight Parade is not. SeaFair’s Torchlight Parade isn’t changing routes either, but most would likely agree addressing safety concerns in both major downtown areas…especially when you’re bringing THOUSANDS of people downtown…should be a fairly high priority.
Some might even say Blue Angels high.
