The Burien 4th of July Parade

[elfs]

Omaha at the Parade

Today was the Burien 4th of July Festival, when our whole little city gets together and celebrates, well, being a city and surviving yet another year not succumbing either to the forces of chaos that is South King County, nor being swallowed whole by the behemoth that sits across the northern border, Seattle. Omaha, being cat herderchairwoman for the 33rd District Democrats, was obliged to go stand out in the hot sun with a sign and wave to crowds that, surprisingly, waved and cheered back.

Kouryou-chan at the parade

Of course, Kouryou-chan was there. And it's traditional at the Burien parade to throw candy at the crowd, which sometimes squirts back with water guns (a welcome blessing, believe me!), so that was her incentive to walk-- one for the crowd and one for her. She had fun until we ran out of candy, but she toughed it out and walked the entire two-mile parade route.

Dow Constantine

The real candidate this year is Dow Constantine. He's currently a county-level board member, and he wants to be chairman. This is actually a Big Deal around here; King County is a huge, sprawling protomegalopolis, with a populous city at its center and rural edges so wild you can drink straight out of the rivers as long as there are no meth labs upstream. Transportation and law enforcement are the biggest issues, and being the executive you get a lot of heat, but it's the perfect training ground for future governors.

His cohort chanted "Dow Now!" and struggled hard to come up with anything cleverer. They never did, although Dow himself wanted them to.

My Senator, Karen Keiser

My legislator, Tina Orwall

Tina is in her first session ever as a state legislator, and says that she's successfully staying on top of everything despite there being so much to learn. Apparently, being a freshman congresswoman is a lot like being high school student: if you want any authority, you join every committee you're pointed at, at which point the senior legislators on those committees proceed to run you ragged.

South King County Democrats

A group photo of everyone from the 33rd and 34th District Democrats that showed up for the parade. Sadly, there were very few visible Republicans in the crowd.

Elegant Costume

The hand-letterd sign she's carrying reads "No More Bare Coverage." I suppose, after some age, this qualifies as wearing purple. And yes, that is my senator posing with her.

Aiming Cameras at Each Other

This pretty girl was photographing the parade as it went by, so naturally I had to return the favor.

UnRonald

At the start of the parade, I spotted this guy talking to the driver of a car with McDonalds logos all over it. He was going to be in the parade, on a Segway (everyone, even Ronald McDonald, looks dorkier on a Segway), followed by the car and it's driver, but at this moment he looked much more like a harried actor getting ready to play at being Ronald.

Belly Dancers

I never did discover why these women were dressed up as belly dancers. They jingled and jangled for the whole parade, and I assume they're with some sexed-up workout program or something, but without a sign or banner they were something of an eye-candy mystery.

Boy Scouts

The boy scouts, all spangled out with flags and fascist attitudes. Oh, I'm sure these boys don't think that, but until they stop discriminating against Hindus, Buddhists, atheists and gays, they're not going to get much support from the overwhelmingly liberal Greater Seattle region.

Brave Bagpipers

I didn't wear my kilt to the parade. It would have distracted from the actual purpose of Omaha's group, getting Dow Constantine elected, but these people did, caterwauling all the way. That's not fair of me: they were pretty good.

Draft Horses, Not for Beer

Oh come on, self-storage? Draft horses are for advertising beer, everyone knows that. And these poor guys looked seriously overheated in the hot summer sun.

Hydroracer

For some bizarre reason, Seattle has a hydroboat racing tradition on the big lake in the middle of the region. Seattlites go to the races often out of a sense of duty-- this is what Seattlites do. And apparently, building a boat isn't that expensive, because it seems like every medium-sized business has one.

Masons

Okay, for those of you who think the Masons run the world, can you explain to me why these Masons couldn't even keep their silly truck from stalling out and belching unburned gasoline into the atmosphere?

Mini-Coopers

A long row of Mini-Coopers. Ironic because (a) we don't have a Mini-Cooper dealership in Burien, and (b) Given how many auto dealerships failed in the past four months, we're not likely to.

Parade Route

Roly Poly Fishheads

This costume looks hot and humiliating.

Skunk Fursuit

If the fish-head looked hot, the skunk looked miserable. I hope this guy has proper fursuit handling down, because it's two miles in a black outfit (that, honestly, looked more like a bear with a tail added than a real skunk) in high-80's weather.

"Skunkworks" is a local high-school club dedicated to high-end robotics, and they do a pretty good job every year. I find it ironic that they called themselves "Skunkworks" when they're sponsored by Boeing, because The Skunkworks was traditionally the name of the secret military projects development group over at Boeing's competitor, Lockheed-Martin.

Shaolin Kung Fu

Two Seafair Pirates, a Sherrif, and a Politician

These were the only two Seafair pirates that I saw at the parade route, but we definitely heard them. The pirates have an amphibious DKUW WWII vehicle draped with a stylized pirate float and a very loud pneumatic cannon. Every year the stage mock "landings" and put on charity events, pulling in sponsors and generally having fun. As we were walking along the end of the parade route, we heard the cannon clearly somewhere near the beginning. Apparently, they come at the end to encourage people to stay.