For the estimated 33,000 people who plan on attending the city’s Fourth of July celebration in downtown, the festivities will include a 150-person marching band, a tank, the Seafair Pirates, a flyover by a World II B-25 Mitchell bomber – and of course fireworks.
It will also mark the 16th anniversary of the community parade, according to Kirkland City Councilmember and organizer Penny Sweet. The parade will begin at noon at Market and Central Way. The Children’s Parade will start earlier, at 11:30 a.m. at Marina Park, where it will also finish.
For Sweet, who has been involved in planning the volunteer-run parade since its inception, the city’s celebration has managed to maintain the same atmosphere they had in mind at the beginning.
“When I first came up with the idea of a parade I worked with the old city manager, Dave Ramsey, and he said, ‘You know it would be perfect if this was a funky old fashioned neighborhood parade,’” she said.
A follow-up meeting at the senior center, now the North Kirkland Community Center, yielded more than 100 people, according to Sweet. They not only provided volunteers necessary for the parade to take place, but also the ideas as to what kind of parade they wanted.
“People didn’t want it to be much more, they didn’t want a Seattle style Seafair parade,” she said. “They wanted it to be something funky and real.”
In 2005, the celebration was incorporated in the city planning as part of the city’s centennial, which allowed the planners additional money.
“I was able to hire some more music and it was a pretty special year,” she said. “Music really makes the event and it’s really difficult and expensive to get bands.”
The preparation starts around April, where a committee of six, including Sweet, begin the logistical work, such as arranging for the closure of the streets in downtown, as well as working to get the vendors for the day’s festivities.
“We meet weekly and put it all together and fundraise like crazy,” she said. “And then we have it happen.”
And, of course, there’s the requisite fireworks.
“I got my fireworks people on speed dial and call them every year with how much money we’re willing to spend,” she said.
Although the fundraising has posed a problem over the years, Penny said it’s improved thanks to donations from local business such as the Lee Johnson family, which runs the Lee Johnson Auto Group on 85th Street. According to Sweet, Lee Johnson was a long-time supporter of the parade.
“Basically the parade is theirs,” Sweet said. “They make a large donation every year.”
The parade this year will include a 150-member marching band from a high school in Waconia, Minn. Leading it will be Kirkland Police Chief Eric Olson, who graduated from the same school.
The celebration will have a B-25 Mitchell – the plane used in Doolittle’s raid over Tokyo during World War II – fly over downtown at noon coming in from Redmond. The parade will also include antique military vehicles, and a reception is planned for veterans at Heritage Hall.
“We are the biggest military presence,” said Sweet, who will ride along with other councilmembers in the parade. She said it helps celebrate Kirkland’s culture and tradition.
“There is nothing like driving through that crowd,” she said. “It’s just the most amazing feeling. It’s like your entire family is there and there is such a feeling of family. We’re just talking to people through the entire parade route. It’s friendly, it’s warm, it’s just Americana and it feels so right in Kirkland.”
Other Fourth of July activities include childrens’ bike decorations and face painting at 10 a.m. at Marina Park Pavilion. Food vendors will be available from 1-10:30 p.m., with live music starting at 5 p.m. The fireworks display will start at 10:15 p.m. Fireworks are prohibited in the city limits unless it is a properly permitted display.
The Lake Street Parking Lot will be closed from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Lakeshore Plaza Parking Lot will be closed to vehicles throughout the day.
More information can be found at celebratekirkland.org.
Fourth of July events in Kirkland
10 a.m. Kids events at Marina Park
11:30 p.m. Kids parade
Noon Fourth of July parade through downtown
10:15 p.m. Public fireworks display at Marina Park
