Let’s be clear: The Seafair community summer party is awesome.
The Torchlight Parade, Alki Beach pirate landing, triathlon, Lake Union fireworks, Fleet Week. All good things.
But can we talk about the Seafair Weekend Festival?
Most folks around here know it as the annual appearance of the Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration team and the Lake Washington hydroplane races.
The editorial board would like, perhaps — without stirring up undue civic angst — to suggest it’s time to think of something different.
One day, thunder boats won’t tear around the waters off Seward Park and the blue summer skies will be quiet. After all, nothing lasts forever — though inertia is a powerful force.
Now, 54 years after the airshow joined Seafair, it seems like a good time to think of possibilities for the future.
For starters, there’s some question about the level of civilian oversight of the beloved Blue Angels. The U.S. Navy conducted a safety review after videos began circulating online of a Blue Angels F/A-18 Super Hornet flying dangerously close to civilians on a Florida beach on July 15, according to Navy Times.
The service acknowledged that one of the planes flew “lower than standard profiles,” creating a disturbance that blew over onlookers’ chairs and umbrellas.
The Trump administration appeared to not only downplay the incident but embrace it. “The flyovers will continue until morale improves,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a social media post. The White House posted an animated picture of the event with the word “freedom” emblazoned across it and a caption that read, “It’s okay to love America.”
“Flight debrief complete,” Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said in a post. “No reprimands. No firings. No problem.”
There’s no indication the airshow taking place Friday-Sunday will be any less safe than any other year, but the incident put a little more juice into the effort to end Seafair’s relationship with the Blue Angels.
Still, tradition is strong for sure. So the Blue Angels got a little bad press, you say; so what? They are a once-a-year institution around here, you party pooper! And hydros are synonymous with an earsplitting good time! Bring on the Miss Bud!
The editorial board is big on tradition and institutions. It just seems like the folks who put these events together ought to think about what a Seafair Weekend Festival might look like with something new.
Consider the Palio di Siena in Italy. Known primarily for its no-holds-barred horse race, the festival pits 17 of the city’s neighborhoods against each other in impassioned competition. We could do that here! How about Lake City vs. Capitol Hill, Magnolia vs. Rainier Beach and others in some kind of organized rivalry on the lake? Rowing? Rafts? Massive water balloon fight?
For those who want something more spirited, how about the Battle of the Oranges in the Italian town of Ivrea? Participants pelt each other with nearly 500 tons of fruit over a three-day period.
The point is: Seattle can do better. That’s all the editorial board is saying. Traditions change. It’s time to consider what else the city could be doing on the first weekend of August.
