Thousands watching Olympic torch spectacle find themselves caught up in the moment
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The torch relay was running 50 minutes late, delaying the program that marked the first time a Winter Games torch had passed through Seattle.
"I'm happy to see such a large crowd," Quann said to more than 2,000 people who lined a corridor across a parking lot near the Center.
Neither the delay nor near-freezing wind blowing off Elliott Bay discouraged the crowds along the route.
Hundreds of people, many waving flags, lined the streets to watch the flame's final leg through the Seattle area. By the time the torch is used in Salt Lake City on Feb. 8, the flame will have traveled 13,500 miles through 46 states.
The flame was lighted in Olympia, Greece, on Nov. 19 and carried in a lantern to Atlanta, the last U.S. Olympic site. The torch relay started there Dec. 4. Today, the flame will be flown to Juneau, then back to Spokane and elsewhere in Eastern Washington.
The Seattle leg got a late start at Safeco Field. The several hundred spectators were so enthused they cheered the police motorcade that arrived about two minutes before the support trucks and relay van from Des Moines.
Heart patient Lynn Thompson of Issaquah, a 22-year-old senior at Western Washington University, was the first relay member in Seattle. Family, friends and neighbors — several dozen in all — gathered to cheer her on.
Kitty Mabbatt of Seattle and her son and daughter, Joe, 9, and Grace, 12, were pacing the sidewalk trying to get warm.
"We wanted to be part of this historic event," Kitty Mabbatt said.
Joe was more concerned about getting into position to see the second relay runner, Seattle Mariner Jeff Nelson.
Yesterday was the second time Barbara Karoly of West Seattle had seen the torch relay. While visiting a daughter in Philadelphia last month, they accidentally wandered into a crowd waiting for the torch runners.
"I wanted to see it again," she said. "It was a thrill, a wonderful moment."
Sixty-one torch bearers each ran a fifth of a mile in Washington. They had been nominated for the honor by friends and family, many of them selected for the inspiration they have provided others.
It came from the south
The state relay began in Vancouver at 7 a.m. yesterday. A convoy, including a truck designed to carry the flame from city to city, went to Longview, Kelso and Tumwater, Thurston County, where runners carried it to Olympia. There, hundreds of people lined Capitol Way to watch the relay.
The run stopped briefly at the Capitol, where tourists and state workers cheered as runner Sean Pugh of Lacey, Thurston County, carried the torch to Gov. Gary Locke.
Pam Jacobsen had driven from Arlington with her three children to see the torch. She's seen it before but wanted her kids to "see a piece of history."
Jennifer Baga, who works for a state senator, joined the crowd despite the cold and drizzle.
"We see a lot of unusual things here," Baga said, "but this is extraordinary."
Baga said the ceremony in Olympia carried more significance for her after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "I think we're all more patriotic," she said.
Locke gave a brief speech as a new torch was lighted to start the next leg of its journey.
"This flame will be carried to the Olympic ceremonies," he said. "May it be a symbol of a nation and a world that has come together in pursuit of all that's good."
From the Capitol, the torch was carried to the Olympia Farmers Market, where more than a thousand people had gathered. Several torch carriers who had completed their runs mingled with the crowd.
Rob Cline fought back tears when the flame was passed off to him. A 39-year-old Army Reserve officer from Olympia, Cline said he hadn't been so nervous since his last college football game, 15 years ago at Oregon State University.
From Olympia, the relay moved to Lacey. The flame was convoyed to Tacoma for another run and then went to Des Moines by tugboat.
In Des Moines, folks at the Wesley Homes retirement community were giddy hours before the torch went through their 45-acre campus.
"I told them: 'No pushing and shoving. There's room for everybody here,' " said 77-year old Ron Johnson. "It's wild around here. Geez. With the talks of the torch going by, I've never seen such energy in quite some time.
"I never dreamed that the torch would be going right through my front yard," said Johnson, as the caravan went by his cottage. "That was spectacular. That will never happen again in my lifetime. You read about it. You see pictures about it. And here it is in front of your face."
Residents at this retirement home might have been the most popular folks in town yesterday, with visits from grandkids, relatives and old friends who stopped by for a peek at the torch relay.
Some senior citizens viewed the Olympic festivities from their balconies draped with U.S. flags, as folks in their 90s cheered between sips of hot cider.
Caught up in the spirit
In Seattle, some observers seemed to have just stopped out of curiosity as they left work, while others made specific trips to see the flame pass.
"My husband mentioned it when he heard about it a couple of weeks ago, and the kids thought that would be fun," said Jeri Cress, who had gone to the corner of Fourth Avenue and Pine Street with her husband, Roy, and their children, Cami and Cory, both students at Issaquah High School.
"They both felt like it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Jeri Cress.
Other viewers expressed similar feelings, that the chance to see an Olympic torch pass would not likely come again soon.
"It's an international thing," said James Bals, who was planning to have dinner after the procession with a friend. "It's an international spirit. We're not likely to see this again."
Others weren't so sure, particularly Mike Broda of Southampton, Mass., who works for an airline and found himself on a layover in Seattle with a friend, Jeff Davis, of Yardley, Pa., also an airline employee.
Broda was chuckling about the last time he was in Seattle, which was in 1996, and he recalled that he also saw an Summer Olympic Games procession then.
"What are the odds?" he asked. "We end up here for a layover, and here comes the torch again. It'll be a tradition. We'll be back in 2004."
Seattle Times staff reporters Ralph Thomas, Andrew Garber, Tan Vinh and Peyton Whitely contributed to this report. Sherry Grindeland can be reached at 206-515-5633.