Leaving Belltown early in the afternoon, heading for CHBP, Seattlest was surprised to find that Fourth Avenue had been transformed into a sort of military corridor, complete with traffic cones, bleachers and hundreds of those canvas armchairs with cup-holders. Right, the Torchlight Parade! That's tonight, isn't it? But what were all those poor shlubs doing, sitting in those chairs, soft drink in hand, waiting, with the infinite patience of the out-of-towner, for the first float, the first drill team and the first convertible (topped by an oversize princess), not to materialize for five, six, seven hours?

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In many years of living here I've only ever attended the parade once, back in 1990 when Ted Turner and Jane Fonda were the grand marshals. A friend suggested we should take a bucket of black paint and a bucket of white paint and douse Ted with them as he went by in order to decolorize him, which made sense at the time....
In many years of living here I've only ever attended the parade once, back in 1990 when Ted Turner and Jane Fonda were the grand marshals. A friend suggested we should take a bucket of black paint and a bucket of white paint and douse Ted with them as he went by in order to decolorize him, which made sense at the time....