Seafair's over — now it's time for SeaScare
Blink twice and you've driven through Brier, a 2.1-square-mile town of more than 6,500 residents.
But size doesn't stop the town from having an alternative to Seafair, Seattle's big nautical festival.
Called SeaScare, Brier's festival — tonight only — will have a five-block-long Porch Light Parade, a pint-size royal court, a salmon-derby raffle, a book sale, a pie-eating contest, music and a showing of the 1933 version of "King Kong." Residents light up lawns and porches for the Porch Light Parade, a play off of Seafair's Torchlight Parade.
Last year, there were nearly 100 entrants in the parade, including floats, cars, boats on trailers and such Seafair staples as the Lake City Vigilantes, a charitable group in Old West get-ups.
Entrants pass a narrated reviewing stand as they compete for prizes. The event is firmly kid-centered; this year, look for a bunch of pirates and princesses, and royalty from age 5 on up.
A small portion of Brier Road will be closed for the festival.
Congregating in Brier's small business core, most participants in the parade are "Brierites," said Ken Overstreet, the chairman of the town's volunteer Park Board.
"It brings the community together for a fun festival," he said. "It's quirky, hokey, small-town, but we're a small town. ... We're not competing against Mountlake Terrace or Lynnwood — we just have our own little festival."
This year's commodore and grand marshal is Megan Resler, a 14-year-old Brier girl who was a semifinalist in a national art contest. She created a 246-pound cow and painted a scene of the Great Chicago Fire on its side (a cow was thought to have started the famous 1871 fire). The cow will be towed on a flatbed trailer behind Resler.
Begun as a replacement to Brierfest about five years ago, the festival, sponsored by local businesses, has taken off.
In keeping with the allusions to Seafair, the festival includes a nautical mascot in this landlocked town: Barnacle Billy, the seaweed monster of "Brier Bay."
Overstreet claimed: "We had a shark attack last year. And we have pictures."
Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com
When: Brier's one-night community festival will start at 7 tonight with the Porch Light Parade and continue through dusk with a carnival, a book sale, a pie-eating contest, music by the Three Generations (bluegrass and Western swing) and the Kenmore & District Pipe Band, and, at 9:15 p.m., an outdoor showing of the 1933 movie "King Kong."
Where: The parade will start north of the Brier Library, 23303 Brier Road, and head south on Brier Road to Brier Realty, 23711 Brier Road. Other events are scheduled in the parking lots of Brier Realty and adjacent businesses: Brier Grocery, Jason's Java and Brier Pizza & Family Restaurant. Vaudeville entertainer the Rev. Chumleigh will screen "King Kong" behind the pizza restaurant.
Admission: free.
Information and schedule: 206-498-7426 or www.seascare.com.