A City Celebrating Itself
Seafair began in 1950 as a 10-day water festival organized by Greater Seattle Inc. to mark Seattle's 100th anniversary. It was designed to attract tourists while celebrating the city's maritime heritage.
The Aqua Follies, Seafair 1950
The Festival
The festival grew to include neighborhood parades, cultural festivals, the Seafair Pirates, royal court ceremonies, the Torchlight Parade, Fleet Week, and the Seafair Weekend finale featuring the Blue Angels and hydroplane races on Lake Washington.
"Seattle needed a celebration as bold and irreverent as its own frontier spirit — so it built one from scratch."
The Burning Ship
Among Seafair's most dramatic early traditions was the ceremonial burning of a ship in Elliott Bay, symbolizing the Seafair Pirates' confrontation with King Neptune. This spectacle drew massive crowds to the waterfront and lasted into the 1960s.
Neptune's flagship burning, August 1954