Basically Seafair -- From Hydros To Hi-Yu, A Look At The Origins Of Seattle's Signature Summertime Festival

"Seafair is Seattle." So declared former Mayor Wes Uhlman back in 1976 in the official Seafair souvenir magazine, and, in an odd way that transcends the hype and hyperbole of mayoral proclamations, it's true. To most Seattleites, Seafair is synonymous with summer in Seattle. While Folklife ushers in summer on Memorial Day weekend, and Bumbershoot brings it to a close on Labor Day weekend, Seafair - which started on Friday and continues through Aug. 6 - embraces the heart of the season. Now in its 46th year, the festival has been around long enough for various components - from the air shows to the hydroplane races to the Seafair Pirates and Princesses - to make the transition from mere events to traditions. Long enough, even, for it to become an something Seattleites both love and love to hate. Seafair is most obviously Seattle in that it's a celebration of watery life in the Northwest, put together by hordes of volunteers and the city's civic and corporate leaders. But from its earliest days, Seafair has also reflected Seattle in other ways. When it started in 1950, Seafair coincided with the debut of the International Carnival, a showcase for the Chinese-American, Japanese-American and African-American communities. Organizers of that event also participated in Seafair, and subsequent events organized by the various groups became part of Seafair. Long before multiculturalism came into vogue, Seafair reflected the city's diversity, and showcased other ethnic groups through events like the Indian Days Pow-wow, the Hispanic Festival Days and the Filipino-American community's Pista Sa Nayon. But for all its efforts to keep up with the times, Seafair still reflects an earlier Seattle. With hydro races that harken back to the glory days of the sport and parades that feature people looking for people they know from the neighborhood, the festival remains endearingly stuck in a time warp. Seafair also reflects Seattle in one more way: Only in Seattle, could such an incongruous mix of history and cultures co-exist and be celebrated. Thunder on water: What would Seafair be without the hydros? Probably a lot quieter. And not much of a Seafair, either. To many, the running of the thunderboats still is Seafair. Despite the decline in hydroplane racing here, as other professional sports have taken center stage, it remains a roostertail-flying exclamation mark at the end of the two-week summer festival. It's been that way since 1951, when the first unlimited hydroplane race was held on Lake Washington. In the early years, Seattle embraced the Gold Cup-winning drivers as the city's first major-league heroes. It was a dangerous sport, with 14 drivers dying between 1951 and 1982. The worst day in hydro history was Father's Day 1966 when three drivers, including Seattle's Ron Musson and Rex Manchester, died while racing on the Potomac River. Redesigned boats and other safety measures have helped make the sport seemingly deathproof in recent years. And today's turbine-powered craft are quieter than the boats powered by World War II surplus bomber engines. A few of those old thunderboats have been restored, and they ran last summer in a demonstration race. (They won't run this year, but will be on display.) Listening to them, you could hear the sound of Seafair history. - Bill Kossen Avast, ye maties! Hard to know if the Seafair Pirates were ever politically correct, but early photos of this group showed smiles on the faces of the ladies they were plundering. The Pirates, who show up at Seafair functions, started before Seafair in 1948 as part of the men's sensitivity movement. No, wait. That can't be right. It was the now-defunct Seattle Press Club. These swashbuckling specimens, a tribute to greasepaint mustaches, were almost defunct themselves. After years of landing on Alki, overpowering docile mayors to take over the city and then hoisting a few to a chorus or two, in 1967 the Pirates were sent down the plank of no more funding by Greater Seattle Inc., the promotional group that held the pursestrings. Could it be the Pirates overstepped their bounds when they were "reliably reputed" to have duked it out with the Seafair Clowns in the lobby of the dignified Olympic Hotel? Was it the backlash from kidnapping an airline flight attendant, whom the Pirates reportedly left shackled to a bed so long she missed her flight? An apologetic Captain Kidd speculated that his mates may have "got to thinking they really were pirates." After setting them adrift for three years, Seattle in 1970 forgave the Pirates, who are now described - yawn - as a "community-service minded group of scalawags." Anachronistic no more. - Sherry Stripling What is a Hi-Yu? Consider this your Chinook tribal language lesson for the day: Hi-Yu means "big time or celebration." It was the winning name in a 1934 competition for the West Seattle community festival. (Now everybody use it in a sentence.) "It's a great name, but we have to explain it to everybody," said Dianne Schutt, Hi-Yu president. "Here it is, folks. Here is what it means. There was a very large Indian influence in West Seattle back then." The 10-day festival predates Seafair by more than a dozen years. It is one of the few Seafair community celebrations not run by the local chamber of commerce. Instead, it is organized by the all-volunteer Hi-Yu members and five-person board of directors: "Nobody in this organization gets paid," Schutt said. When pirates invade Alki Beach on Saturday, the community festivities will begin. Included will be a big band concert at the Hiawatha Community Center on July 26, a parade down California Avenue Southwest on July 29 and the Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu scholarship pageant July 30. The pageant, incidentally, is how Schutt first got involved in the festival. Her daughter, Teresa Koback (now married), competed for the Miss West Seattle crown in 1989. She made second princess. "She should have been queen," Schutt said, laughing. "All of us mothers of second princesses think our daughters should have been queen." During her stints as Hi-Yu president three of the past five years, Schutt brought corporate sponsorship to the festival. Disney is the most recent. It has agreed to sponsor a free showing of its latest movie, "Operation Dumbo Drop" starring Danny Glover, at 7 p.m. July 25 at the Admiral Theatre, 2347 California Ave. S.W. It took Schutt three years of phone calls, but she finally found somebody at Disney willing to make a deal. Hi-Yu! - Mary Elizabeth Cronin Dancing in the streets: The Japanese Buddhist festival Bon Odori, which started yesterday and runs through today, welcomes the soul of the deceased for two days of celebration. It has been observed by Seattle's Japanese-American community "for as long as I can remember, and I'm 80 years old," says Kiki Hagimori. About 20 years ago, Bon Odori was asked to become part of Seafair, recalls Hagimori, who for a good 35 years has taught the dances done in the street outside the Seattle Buddhist Church on South Main during the festival. Each year she teaches about 11 dances, dropping two dances from the year before, and adding two. She selects the music (relatives send her folk-music selections from Japan each year) and choreographs the dances herself, using the eight traditional Bon Odori steps, and adding other classical Japanese steps. A big change in recent years: "When we first started, the music was slow. With all these young people, they're not satisfied with the slow music. When I have fast music they're really happy. It gets faster and faster." - Carey Quan Gelernter Dairy products: What do a merry-go-round, a jet plane, a Metro bus, a Trident submarine and an 18-wheel truck have in common? Each will get you places, but in the context of Seafair there's a twist. Over the years, each has been crafted from milk cartons for the annual Milk Carton Derby, Seafair's first major event each year. The derby - this year's event occurred yesterday - annually attracts more than 20,000 people along Green Lake's shores. Contestants compete for $5,000 in prizes for their boat's speed or beauty. The rule is simple: build a boat with milk cartons as its primary means of floatation. Every 100 pounds of weight requires 25 half-gallon milk cartons. The event is consistent with Seafair's goal of providing cheap family fare, and has been an event for 17 years. "It's a kick, it's Seattle's biggest boat race," Bob Senior, a board member of Seafair Boat Club, which helps organize the Milk Carton Derby, said tongue-in-cheek. "They always get 100 entries, whereas hydroplanes only get 12." Some colorful names of winning boats from a year ago were: Instant Milk, Milk Machine, Moos Brothers, S.S. Sunken Cheese and We Otter Row Faster. - Daryl Strickland Her highnesses: Seafair royalty who went on to fame or at least semi-celebrityhood: -- Dyan Cannon, actress, didn't actually get the queen title, but she was a princess in 1954. Then named Diane Friesen, she represented the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival. -- Karen Brown, queen in 1968, now is an associate professor for the School of Business at Seattle University. (Who said beauty queens are empty-headed?) -- Galen Goff, as Galen Motin, became Seafair's first black queen in 1974. She was a well-known model for national publications and did broadcasting for KIRO. Now she does public relations for the Seattle Aquarium. -- Alexandra Quade, queen in 1990, is now writer and associate producer for WGNX, the CBS affiliate in Atlanta. She's on temporary leave now, having just gone to Sarajevo to help get out her husband, a CNN news photographer, who was seriously injured in the collapse of a building. (WGNX just got a letter from her, saying she had successfully hustled him out to London.) - Carey Quan Gelernter Little feet: You could be a grandpa and remember dressing up in a cowboy hat and chaps and taking your trusty ol' stick-horse to the Wallingford Kiddie Parade. Or you could be a 4-year-old and remember last year when cowboys were still pretty much the rage. Wallingford may not have an elementary school anymore, but it does have one of Seafair's oldest and most popular children's parades. It was 47 years ago that Wallingford business owners first invited kids from all over the city to celebrate with a costumed march through the neighborhood. "We had 300 or 400 kids from the beginning," says Trudy Weckworth of Seattle Press. The Wallingford Chamber of Commerce, which had the idea and still sponsors the event, asked Weckworth to help find judges for that first parade. She's missed only a few since then. "At first they were pretty much walkers, but sometimes they made floats. Or their parents helped them make floats," Weckworth says. "We had a lot of Mae Wests and Tom Mixes in the early days, whatever was topical. And because it was Seafair, a lot of the kids decorated their bicycles and tricycles and wagons like boats." A few years after the parade began, the bigger Seafair floats, drill teams and bands began joining the kids to make a bigger parade. Other than that, the kiddie parade hasn't changed much over the years, says Ann Espo, director of the Wallingford Boys and Girls Club, which works with the chamber and another sponsor, the Wallingford Community Council. This year's parade was yesterday. The Boys and Girls Club had a carnival afterward. - Sally Macdonald Where eagles soar: It is known as the Seafair Indian Days Pow-wow, but native tribal members call it "Land of the Eagles Pow-wow." The ceremonial music and dance festival is perhaps the largest west of the Cascades. Last year, more than 15,000 people watched dancers wearing native garb and drummers beating instruments representing tribes from across the U.S. and Canada. The primary purpose of this ancient ritual is to share native culture with natives and non-natives, said Bernie Whitebear, executive director of United Indians of All Tribes Foundation. "A lot of friendships are made," he said. The dances were held at the Seattle Center Arena until the mid-1970s, but after a 10-year break, resumed in 1986 as part of Seafair. The first one drew few watchers or participants, but now it has grown into a major event. Whitebear credits the turnaround partly to the authentic showmanship and a wide array of native food and crafts sold from more than 70 booths at the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center at Discovery Park, where the pow-wow is held. But what sticks in everyone's mind are the eagles, which in recent years have soared overhead during the ceremony, leaving an aura of mysticism. Nesting nearby the pow-wow grounds are two young eagles, and Whitebear expects to see them testing their wings July 28 to 30. "They haven't flown yet, but my guess is that they will be there," Whitebear said. "I'm sure they will be." - Daryl Strickland Beware the jailkeeper: Now understand this: Those Lake City Vigilante dudes won't kidnap you like those crude, rude Seafair Pirates. But pssst! If you've got a friend (or a boss) you'd like to see thrown in jail, check with Chief of the Vigilantes Ron Palin. They'll issue a warrant for just about any old thing and someone will have to pay bail to release your (former) friend. It's all for a good cause: Since the Vigilantes began in 1946, they have raised about $350,000 for youth groups' activities and scholarships, bouncing around around in their striped red-and-yellow paddy wagon. They used to throw people in jail if they didn't have beards. But that came to a screeching halt in the '60s when hippies sported beards and employers outlawed them. Beards, that is. You can check out the Vigilantes personally at Lake City Pioneer Days events Aug. 4 and 5 in the North Seattle community. The Western-theme event began 53 years ago, evolving from the area's annual harvest festival of more than 70 years ago. Now it includes a vintage auto show, a salmon bake and two parades. The salmon bake ain't no small-time barbecue. No siree. Last year Virgil Flaim and the gang cooked up 900 pounds of salmon and used 20 gallons of potato salad, 20 gallons of coleslaw, 48 gallons of baked beans, 200 loaves of bread and 8 gallons of butter. And that doesn't count orange juice, coffee and ice cream. - Shelby Gilje Fly bye bye: The Blue Angels can't come, and the Snowbirds won't come. So it's up to some daredevil frogs to provide the airborne thrills and chills between heats at this year's Seafair hydroplane races. The air show that accompanies the races will feature the U.S. Navy Leap Frogs parachute team as well as jet, bomber and helicopter fly-bys. The question is whether the hydro fans will boo the jumpers out of town. This is a tough audience. The Navy's Blue Angels precision jets were a part of Seafair for 21 years, screaming across Seattle just above the rooftops at mach speed while the hydros were in the pits, revving up for the next race. The fans loved intermission almost as much as they loved the main attraction. But last year the Federal Aviation Administration said the Blue Angels' routine wasn't safe and they couldn't come back until they promised to tone down their act. When Canada's Snowbirds came in to pinch hit for the Angels with a slower-paced routine, the fans were less than cordial. So Canada says they won't be back this year. That means it's up to the Leap Frogs to add aerial diversion to the races. - Sally Macdonald Love a parade: Maybe it's our sun-sensitive eyes, maybe it's the natural reserve of Northwesterners, but thousands of spectators were attracted to the Torchlight Parade, one of Seafair's centerpiece events, in its very first year. It outdrew the previous year's Grand Parade, which was held in broad daylight. That was in 1951, when the parade was dubbed the "first nighttime parade in Seattle since before World War II." By 1975, the Saturday Grand Parade was no more, drummed out of business by the more popular Torchlight. By 1990, the Torchlight Parade itself threatened to become a Saturday daylight parade, only because it ran on so long. The parade started a half-hour late when a participant suffered a heart attack in the fun run held before the parade. Then the parade, which runs through the heart of downtown, ran three hours long because it had so many participants. Vows were made to trim the number of parade entrants by one-third, but commercial entrants were said to be the only floats vulnerable since the ethnic and neighborhood participants had become such traditions. In all there are 23 official Seafair parades but only the Grand Parade and Torchlight have had such luminaries for grand marshal as Andy Devine, Bing Crosby and Lenny Wilkens, still hot in 1979 from coaching the Seattle SuperSonics to their first National Basketball Association championship. The first parade was marshaled by 100 military volunteers, who were considered worthy opponents to unruly crowds. But the crowds really weren't unruly until recently. Police reported 100 altercations in 1990. Now the parade, to be held this year on Aug. 4 starting at 7:30 p.m., is marshaled by 50 volunteers on scooters and another division waiting in trucks in case a float breaks an axle. - Sherry Stripling Here is a calendar of Seafair events: Today Kent Cornucopia Days: 10 a.m.-6 p.m., downtown Kent; free; 852-5466. Redmond Derby Days: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., downtown Redmond; free; 885-4014. Bon Odori: Japanese festival, 4-9 p.m. Sunday, Seattle Buddhist Temple, 1427 S. Main St.; free; 329-0800. Friday through July 23 Kla Ha Ya Days: Carnival, 5 -10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday; Snohomish; 568-3483 Saturday Seafair Beach Party and Pirates' Landing: Pirates storm the beach at 2:30; pirate costume contest for kids 12 and under, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Golden Gardens Park beach in Ballard; 728-0123, Ext. 143. Saturday through July 30 West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival: Indian Salmon Bake Saturday; West Seattle; call for locations and times, 932-3345, or pick up a brochure at West Seattle stores. Saturday White Center Jubilee: 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; 15th Avenue, Southwest 102nd and Southwest 98th streets; free; 763-4196. July 26-31 Des Moines Waterland Festival: Des Moines; free; call for times, 878-7000. July 27 and Aug. 1 Seafair Foundation Scholarship Program for Women: Creative Expression Competition at Bellevue Community College, 7-9 p.m. July 27, $7 in advance, $8 at door; finals at Bagley Wright Theater, 7-9 p.m. Aug. 1, $12 in advance, $15 at door. Joint admission for both competitions is $15 in advance. 728-0123, Ext. 6162. July 28 Seafair Clown Arrival: Noon, Seattle Center Mural Amphitheater; free; 728-0123. July 28-30 Seafair Indian Days Pow-Wow: 7-11 p.m. Friday, noon-11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; Daybreak Star Art Center in Discovery Park; $4 Adults, children under 10 free; 285-4425. July 28-30 Silverdale Whaling Days: 3:30-10 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday; Silverdale; free; (360) 692-1107. July 28-30 Tour de Terrace: Community festival; 9 a.m.-11 p.m. daily; 224th and 56th streets, Mountlake Terrace; free; 776-7331. July 29-30 Ballard Seafoodfest: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday; Northwest Market Street and 22nd Avenue Northwest; free; 784-9705. July 29 Seafair Koala Table Tennis Tournament: 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; Seattle University; $2.50.; 622-9215. July 29 The ARC-Seafair Swim: 6 a.m. start for competitive swimmers at 61st Avenue Northeast and Northeast 175th Street, Kenmore; 8 a.m. start for noncompetitive at Coulon Park, Garden Avenue North and North Park Drive, Renton; 364-9028. July 30 Hispanic Seafair Festival: Noon to 6 p.m.; Seward Park Amphitheater; free; 528-4998. July 31 College Inn Stampede: Four-mile community fun run; 6:15 p.m.; Northeast 40th Street and University Way Northeast; free; 522-7788. Aug. 2 Seafair Navy/Coast Guard Fleet Arrival: Public tours, cruises, and host-a-sailor; mid-day; Elliott Bay; free; 728-0123. Aug. 4-5 Lake City Pioneer Days: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. both days; salmon bake noon-8 p.m. Saturday; Lake City Way and Northeast 125th Street; free; 363-3287. Aug. 4-5 Seafair Magnolia Summer Festival: Noon-8 p.m. both days; Magnolia Playfield; free; 284-5836. Aug. 4-6 Pacific Northwest Black Community Festival: All Day; Judkins Park; free; 723-9245. Aug. 4 Seafair Torchlight Run: 6:40 p.m. (before parade); begins and ends at Occidental and King streets; $16 registration before July 29, $20 afterward, on-site registration begins at 5 p.m. in north Kingdome parking lot; 728-0123 Ext. 6002. Aug. 4 Seafair Torchlight Parade: 7:30 p.m.; along Fourth Avenue through downtown; grandstand seating is $14 and VIP seating $18, tickets are available through TicketMaster, 628-0888; general information, 728-0123, Ext. 6003. Aug. 4-6 Texaco Cup Testing and Qualifying: Begins 9 a.m. Friday, heat times and admissions vary; one-, two- and three-day packages; pit tours Thursday through Saturday; $5; parking and shuttle from the Kingdome Saturday and Sunday; 728-0123, Ext. 6001, or TicketMaster, 628-0888. Aug. 5-6 Seafair Air Show: In between hydro heats, noon-3 p.m. Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday; over Lake Washington, south of I-90 floating bridge; for viewing information, call 728-0123, Ext. 6001. Aug. 5 Capitol Hill "Book Blast," Culture and Book Fair: Used book sale, noted authors; 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Seattle Central Community College Plaza at East Broadway and East Pine; free; 323-8035. Aug. 5 Pista Sa Nayon Filipino-American Community Festival: 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; amphitheater, Seward Park; free; 296-0339. Aug. 5 Seafair Commodores King Neptune Ball: Black tie; 6 p.m.-midnight; Washington Convention Center atrium lobby; $135 per couple; 236-0766. Aug. 5 Grand Balloon Parade: Parade begins at 9 a.m. in downtown Bellevue; balloons on display in Bellevue park after parade; free; 728-0123 Ext. 6005. Aug. 6 Texaco Cup Unlimited Hydroplane Race: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Lake Washington; tickets and ticket packages vary, $12-$24; 728-0123, ext. 6001, or TicketMaster, 628-0888. Aug. 11-13 Greater Bothell Arts Fair: Dance/concert 8-11 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday; Anderson School, 18603 Bothell Way N.E.; free; 821-1127. Aug. 14-20 Auburn Good Ol' Days Festival: Grand Parade noon Saturday, other activities various times; downtown Auburn; both free and fee events; 833-0700. Aug. 26-27 Central Area Bite and Jazz Festival: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday, 1-8 p.m. Sunday; Lavizzo Park, 20th Avenue and Yesler Way; free. 323-0534. Oct. 7-8 Issaquah Salmon Days Festival: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. both day; downtown Issaquah; free; 270-2532.