You can see complete coverage of the Seafair 2023 kickoff from Northwest Newsradio’s Ryan Harris in the video below:
This year’s Seafair got a jump start with word that three different championships could be won at this year’s hydroplane meet.
When the turbines fire up in Stan Sayres Pits and the rooster tails kick up on Lake Washington, there will be at least two big winners among the hydro drivers as the H-1 Unlimited league’s chair, Tim Austin tells Northwest Newsradio. “Homestreet, as the title sponsor, awards the Homestreet Bank Cup,” Austin says, “the winner is also getting the ABPA (American Power Boat Association) Gold Cup, and the national high point championship will, in all likelihood, at the end of the day on Sunday in Seattle.” Austin says Sayres first brought the Gold Cup here in 1951, back in the days when the winner got to decide where next year’s race would be held, and he says Chip Hanauer won the last Seattle Gold Cup in 1985.
Seafair president, Eric Corning, says after a few years and some pandemic slowdowns, this year really feels like they’re back to full strength, “The amount of people and organizations coming together to be able to make Seafair fantastic is incredible. It really feels like what we were doing in the pre-pandemic levels.”
This year’s Miss Seafair is Savannah Parker, a Seattle native who’s been doing Seafair with her family since childhood. She’s about to be a senior at DePaul University, where she studies communications, media and music – and she writes poetry – which is how Savannah got involved with domestic violence advocacy, doing a spoken word event with her writing about the violence women and girls experience.
The Seafair Pirates were also there for the kickoff as were the Seafair Clowns, including 30-year member, Paulie Shamrock (imagine his costume, and you’d be right). Paulie says it’s all about the kids, who he says always want to give hugs even if they didn’t get a button or a sticker.
The Seafair Pirates landing at Alki Beach happens at about 1:30 the afternoon of July 8th; the pirates and the clowns will be in the Torchlight Parade with a new and 3:00 PM start on July 29th, a decision Corning says they made so more families could attend. Seafair weekend runs from August 4th to 6th. Click any of the hyper links to get to the Seafair website.
