Seafair

DO NOT waste your $ at the Yakisoba noodles booth near the entrance… Horrible food. After the first couple bites tried to get my money back. It was inedible… no quality for high price.

Call me an unpatriotic party pooper but the Blue Angels just make me sad and disappointed. In so many parts of the world, fighter jets flying low and fast over a city are a symptom of violence and chaos, and cause terrified people to run for cover.
To each their own. For me, no thanks.
Boooooo!

Hate the Torchlight Parade, worst organization ever, completely paralyzes city traffic.
Spent 1h 30 min in traffic trying to get home, which normally takes 15 min. Road closures everywhere, NO DETOUR SIGNS. Everyone has the route memorized, right? Who needs detour signs, especially when roads are already closed 2h before the actual parade is supposed to start. Everyone knows to get from say Queen Anne to First Hill, you need to drive through Waterfront, International District and Capitol Hill. Obvious! Minus all the confused people driving in circles just trying to find a detour. Minus 20-​min delays at each intersection.
All of it, the whole city sacrificing, for a bunch of dudes parading dressed up as pirates. Fun NOT.

I am not usually a parade person. In fact, I really dislike parades mostly because it is crowded, rowdy, and just not my scene. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this parade. This was mostly due to the fact that so many people are so into this parade. It is absolutely ridiculous how enthusiastic people are. I’ve only lived in Seattle for about a year but I actually felt proud because the locals ban together this one day to celebrate and get together. We saw people unload their U-​Hauls with multiple sofas. One area had sofas and a living room set up. People put so much work into this. I still have no idea what they are celebrating though. lol.
The floats are okay and the street performers seem like they are having fun. I wouldn’t say this is the Rose Parade but still they put a good effort. My highlight was the pirates because their canons make a loud boom sound that makes the little kids squeal really loud. It was all very fun and a great experience.

This is regarding the Seafair 4^th Fireworks show from Lake Union Park. While we TOTALLY loved meeting Commodores Moe, Bruce and Christy (? Sorry if we got her name wrong…), Landmark Security was a joke and a complete waste of Seafair funds. We had reserved seating, many people tried to snipe seats that didn’t buy tickets. This might not have been an issue had more barriers been in place. The «security» never once helped the commodores with helping people find their seats. One weasely little piss-​ant that was «security» continually was rude and vulgar to people, used crass language and thought he was tough when he couldn’t control a single situation. Once the fireworks started, people flooded the marina in front of us, past the «secured» area and was blocking the view of the people that did pay to see the show from a reserved seat. Again, «security» did nothing save for one lovely young female guard we complained to. The volunteer commodores were doing the security company’s job! Probably won’t bother with paying to do this again :(

Boats are cool; blue angels too. The rest of this air show stuff is bor-​ing. More hydros. Current Seafair mgmt doing best job to kill it.

I LOVE Seafair! I look forward to the first weekend of August like a child looks forward to Christmas.
We have lived in Washington State for 32 years. Seafair is an annual event that my whole family looks forward to.
From the minute we hear the Blues flying to seeing them flying in the skies we are giddy! We have picnics on Fridays practice day down at Mt. Baker Park on the West shore of Lake Washington.
Today we went to tour the USS Bunker Hill on the waterfront.
It’s an amazing time to live in Seattle & experience the best event of Summer.
Sorry if you & your dog don’t like the noise. It’s only a few hours a day for 4 days. I hope you can find a quiet place to get away too.

BAN THE BLUE ANGELS! (At least over city limits air space).
That aside, as a born and bred W. Seatte-​ite — thumbs up for the SEAFAIR PIRATES! Thumbs up for the MILK CARTON float competition. Thumbs up for the hydroplane races! But please, PLEASE, PLEASE! stop letting the Blue Angels fly over the city. Make people travel to an air field to see-​em. Let em fly over the water to scare the fish. But I really don’t want to have one crash into my house. I used to live on Capitol Hill and the jets would fly so low car alarms would go off, dogs would start barking and freaking out, and windows would rattle in the panes. It could give people heart-​attacks and provoke stress in people with PTSD. The jets spray airplane pollution all over us. The planes are not supposed to emit sonic booms but they always do anyway. In 2012 they will be flying Aug 4^th and 5^th over Seattle. Let’s hope one doesn’t crash into residents as one just did in W. VA today (April 7, 2012).

During Seafair, Seattle is the happiest place on earth. No disrespect to Disney.

The Pirates are the best about Seafair next to the Blue ANgels!

Almost every year we go out on the bridge to watch the Blue Angels, which is always a delight, even if they basically do the same show every year. One year we attended the official festivities at Genesse Park, watched the air show (non-​Blue-​Angels daredevil act, etc.) from the VIP grandstand, and walked through the hydro pits.
Five stars for the free Blue Angels show on I-​90 (assuming you arrive early enough to find street parking or pay a nearby resident to park in their driveway). It can take awhile to get off the island, but it’s totally worth it. Bring lawn chairs and some water.
Three stars for the Seafair festival at Genessee Park (air show, hydro pits, food booths, etc.). It’s crowded and usually hot, there’s a charge for admission, parking and traffic are nightmares, and the county fair atmosphere I found really underwhelming.
If you want a county fair experience, go to the state fair in Monroe. If you want to have a cool racing experience, go to pacific raceways. If you want to watch an air show, go to Paine Field on Saturdays. I guess this is the only place where you can get all three in one place.

This review is based on the practice for the Blue Angels. Amazing! I can’t speak to the rest of the Seafair experience, but this was great.
I definitely recommend taking a day/​afternoon off to go during the practice time instead of the regular performances. Much less crowded and you still get to see everything. Be prepared for 1 – 2 passes directly overhead. SO loud and cool.
The audience was pleasant and easygoing. Make sure you get to the eastbound I-​90 bridge. They allow you on it, and you get the best view (other than the lucky ducks sitting on their decks along the shore).

I love to find and rate things which I love with 4 and 5 stars! This gets a 3! Why? OK let’s begin with arising at 4 to begin a long drive to return to Seattle from away. I do well and then at 1030 am … the dreaded news on the freeway «I-​90 closed» The backup this created was horrible. For 20 minutes we stopped, crawled, many sneaked back and forth from lane to lane in attempts to get ahead. some did a bit I surmise as I saw their backs. Go NOWHERE traffic. How can this be avoided? I am not a city planner, however the fuel wasted and the potential for car accidents does NOT justify their use of I-​90.
Too many events; too much noise;. plain OLD too much. Coupled with I hate pirates.
I better quit with 3.
This event STOPS the city; uses too uch paper; resources and is NOT environmentally friendly. It’s a huge testimonial to excess for what purpose???

The only time I’ve done Seafair (sadly) is this year– we just went to go see the Blue Angels. We hiked down to the I-​90 bridge, got great spots and it was so incredible to see this up close. It was loud, they were fast, with surprising turns and maneuvers. Got some great camera shots as well. Even though you have to deal with parking, it’s really worth it. We actually got out of there in no time flat. You have to do this at least once in your life, it’s really incredible.

While the hydroplane races on Lake Washington are one of the main attractions of Seafair, and the Blue Angels can stop a city as they roar overhead, there are LOTS of other festive things going on all over the city during Seafair. I recommend out of town friends and family come to Seattle during Seafair. I think we put a good face on the city during this time even if the traffic is horrendous. The Torchlight Parade downtown is great, but I like the smaller nieghborhood parades even better. After all, the Seafair Pirates make it to the Greenwood parade as well. From West Seattle to Wallingford there are festivals, parades, community celebrations and fun runs to name just a few of the events. And really, even the most jaded people I know get excited about the Blue Angels.