Even though the weather seems to be trying to trick Seattleites into thinking summer might never come, families are ready to celebrate the Fourth of July in true summer fashion. For most, this means spending time with friends and family, lighting up the grill to barbecue American favorites or heading out of town for a short vacation.
Jennifer Kakutani and her 3-year-old daughter, Alita, spent Sunday afternoon at East Queen Anne Playground, enjoying a day of respite from an otherwise gloomy June. Alita helped her mom make paper kites for the parent-child outdoor program at Discovery Park that Kakutani runs. The Kakutani family has lived in Queen Anne for five years and has always enjoyed watching the Lake Union fireworks from their rooftop deck with all their neighbors.
The city of Seattle almost experienced a fireworks drought when an announcement came at the end of March that the Lake Union firework show was canceled because of a lack of a title sponsor.
However, in a period of less than 24 hours, a series of donations totaling $500,000 from local business and members of the community brought the event back to life.
The 2010 Family 4th event at Lake Union runs from noon-11 p.m. at Gas Works Park, and the fireworks show begins around 10 p.m.
Michelle and T.J. Wylie and their 28-month-old daughter Sadie are excited to celebrate their first Fourth of July in Queen Anne.
"We are just doing a laid back kind of thing," Michelle said.
"If it's nice we'll grill out, and we usually try to watch firework somewhere," T.J. added. The Wylie family lived on the East Coast before moving to Queen Anne and is thinking about hitting up Kerry Park for a great view of the fireworks.
For some families, the fireworks aren't the only part of the celebration. Beatrice and Julia Cappio, 8- and 5-years-old respectively, love to show their American spirit by eating festively colored foods.
"They like to make everything red, white and blue, like berry pie," their mother Gretchen said. "They also like to dress in red, white and blue."
The Cappio's are going to watch the fireworks from their new house.
Not everyone is sticking around Seattle for the holiday. The Johnson family is taking off for Sun Valley Idaho to meet up with family.
"It has become somewhat of a tradition," Sherri Johnson said. Her sons, Henry, 6, and Jack, 4-and-a-half, like to swim, go to the parade and hang out with their family while in Idaho. Henry and Jack even have matching American flag swimsuits to celebrate the day.
AAA projects that 17.1 percent more Americans will travel over the Fourth of July this year than in 2009. However, the projected 34.9 million people who will travel between July 1-5 are still below the 37.8 million who traveled for the Fourth in 2008, according to AAA.
While some people have their favorite firework-watching spot staked out, Lea and Jamie Stralka and their 19-month-old son Will have a different strategy.
"Last year we just walked around until we found a crowd of people," Jamie said. The Stralkas are hoping to score some tickets to the Sounders game as their way of celebrating the holiday.
Because of its rolling hills, Seattle houses many ideal firework viewing places, but most are popular and parking is generally hard to come back. Kakutani says that she knows it's the Fourth of July by all the traffic the holiday brings with it. For views of the Lake Union fireworks display, Kerry Park and Bhy Kracke Park are two local favorites.[[In-content Ad]]
