After the 1962 World's Fair put Seattle on the map, celebrities doing shows here often took part in Seafair. In 1963, Bob Hope was bussed by Seafair Queen Arlene Hinderlie and served as Honorary Grand Marshal for the Torchlight Parade.P-I File
A Seafair pirate dives from the rigging of the three-masted schooner Wawona in Elliott Bay, July 1953.P-I File
Seafair Pirates burn King Neptune's ship in Andrews Bay off Seward Park tp mark the end of Seafair 1956.P-I File
Seafair parade, 1957.P-I File
A Seafair Pirate scene from August 1950.P-I File
Ted Beck tries to comfort his daughter, Nichole, and held his daughter, Khristina, as a Seafair Pirate greeted them in a 1974 parade. (Grant M. Haller/Seattlepi.com file)P-I File
Seaman Yonsen Stodghill and Seaman Apprentice Joe Hantke were part of a docking detail in August 1988 that welcomed the USS Belleau during Seafair. (Mike Urban/Seattlepi.com file)P-I File
Janet Davis is captured by the Seafair Pirates on Pier 54, August 1951. Capt. Adam W. Lyskoski, then chief of King County detectives, is on the far right.P-I File
Ft. Lewis troops on Fourth Avenue during the 1964 Seafair parade.P-I File
The 1966 Seafair princesses at the Seattle Center.P-I File
Clarence Rushton, superintendent of the Aqua Theater construction project listens to Walter A. Van Camp, managing director of Greater Seattle, Inc., after the two put the sign in place in June 1950. Rushton's crew needed the 5,000-seat Aqua Theater completed in time for the gala opening of Aqua Follies on Aug. 11, 1950 for the first Seafair.P-I File
The Navy Cadet Choir sings between diving towers at the Green Lake Aqua Theater in August 1954. The theater was built in 1950 for the first Seafair. The Small Craft center now has the Green Lake site.P-I File
Miss Bardahl U-40 hydoplane in action, 1966 -- photo courtesy of the Hydroplane and Raceboat MuseumP-I File
King Neptune, Cecil H. McKinstry, and Seafair Queen Patricia Reid, pose with members of the 1962 Seafair royalty. From left is Curt Tenzler, captain of the king's guard, Donald B. Craft, prime minister, and ladies in waiting Sheryl Coburn and Terry Jean Anderson.P-I File
Betty Skally walks the plank after Davy Jones and his pirates captured the schooner Fantome in Lake Union. In this 1951 photo, she pleads with Captain Kidd, Bob McCurdy.P-I File
The Barclay Girls do a traditional can-can routine for a Naval armada in Elliott Bay, summer 1954.P-I File
Seafair Pirates burn two of King Neptune's boats, a 136 former Navy ship and a 100-foot fishing tug to mark the end of the 1953 festival.P-I File
Four young women on the Standard Oil Co.'s float in the 1955 Torchlight Parade.P-I File
Seafair Pirates destroy an 1870s sailing ship, Gedney, in Elliott Bay to mark the end of Seafair, 1955.P-I File
The Royal Canadian Band marches on Fourth Avenue at Pike Street during the 1956 parade.P-I File
The Grande Parade on Fourth Avenue during the second day of Seafair, 1956.P-I File
Seafair Clowns in front of the old downtown Seattle library, August 1956. (Phil H. Webber/Seattlepi.com file)P-I File
Seafair Pirates watch an old 153-foot Navy boat burn in Elliott Bay, 1953.P-I File
A Navy parade in Elliott Bay, Seafair 1953.P-I File
King Neptune, Vice. Adm. Albert M. Bledsoe with four Seafair queens in August 1964. They are, from left, Linda Juel, Sandra Teslow, Midge Erickson and Gail Reid.P-I File
Adam Lyskoski (Davy Jones), Betty Skelly and Bob McCurdy (Captain Kidd), Seafair 1951.P-I File
Seafair parade through downtown Seattle, 1955.P-I File
King Neptune IX, W. Price Sullivan, during the 1958 Seafair. He's being served by John Dowell of the Olympic Hotel.P-I File
A Seafair dance in downtown Seattle, 1959.P-I File
Seafair parade in downtown Seattle, 1960.P-I File
Seafair pirates before their 1961 Alki Beach landing.P-I File
The Seafair pirates burn a boat in Elliott Bay, August 1954.P-I File
The Vancouver, B.C., Junior Band at the 1966 Seafair Grande Parade.P-I File
Visiting Seafair royalty at the Olympic Hotel, 1969.P-I File
King Neptune X, Joseph E. Gandy, right, rises after the crown is placed on his head by outgoing King Neptune IX, W. Price Sullivan. Seafair Queen Judy Paulson is handing the scepter. The July 1959 ceremony was done at the Green Lake Aqua Theater, which is now the site of the Small Craft Center.P-I File
Seafair Pirates watch as King Neptune IX's drydock burns, August 1958.P-I File
Janice Bowman keeps her crown with a little help from an off-camera friend after being crowned Miss Seafair, 1981.P-I File
Former Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman, shown here in July 1971, was eventually freed on command of the Seafair Pirate Captain, Robert Smyth.P-I File
Seafair Pirates storm Alki Beach, July 1981. (Tom Brownell/Seattlepi.com file)P-I File
A Coast Guard helicopter warned hydroplane spectators they were too close to the boat races in August 1980. Races were delayed an hour while crowds were moved back. (Grant M. Haller/Seattlepi.com file)P-I File
Runners go past spectators on Fourth Avenue and Battery Street during the 1987 Torchlight Run.P-I File
Boaters on Lake Washington for the hydroplane races, August 1989. (Mike Urban/Seattlepi.com file)P-I File
Sailors aboard the USS New Jersey at Pier 66, Seafair 1989.P-I File
Bob Dorsey, left, falls to the ground after losing a battle against Bob Smyth and 9-year-old Eric Schuler during the invasion of the Seafair Pirates at Waterfront Park, July 19, 1984. (Mike Bainter/Seattlepi.com file)P-I File
A busload of sailors from the USS Enterprise gets ready to hit the town after landing at Terminal 30. The carrier led the 1987 Seafair fleet into port. (Jennifer Werner/Seattlepi.com file)P-I File
A Seafair clown gestures at Torchlight Parade crowds on Fourth Avenue, August 1981.P-I File
Chip Hanauer, left, and Bill Muncey at Seafair.P-I File
The July 13, 2964 P-I caption read: Seafair Pirates get the "Heave Ho" from the Skipper Pin Girls.P-I File
A 1956 Seattle Seafair Hydroplane pin from Market Coins at the Pike Place Market in Seattle. (Mike Urban/Seattlepi.com file)P-I File
Seafair Pirates, Aug. 1957.P-I File
The original P-I photo info read: The 1964 Greenwood Queen with Seabees.P-I File
Seafair princesses and visiting queens wave greetings to USS Bennington which arrived with the U. S. Seafair Flotilla, Aug. 9, 1963.P-I File
The 1950 P-I caption read: Stan Sayres' Slo Mo Shun IV was put in to water Monday after a thorough going-over. In this photo, Anchor Jensen sits at the controls while Sayres looks on during motor tuneups at Jensen plant, Portage Bay.P-I File
The Gale IV hydroplane crashed into the front yard of Dr. F. A. Black, 1500 Lakeside Ave. S., after a mishap during the second heat of the 1954 Gold Cup race on Lake Washington. Note people on the lawn at right who were startled to have the fast-moving boat come roaring ashore so close to where they sat watching the Seafair race.P-I File
The August 1950 P-I caption read: A Seafair Pirate, with Cutlass in hand, prepares to jump to the pier from the harbor patrol boat which brought in Davy Jones and his no-good crew to bedevil the beautiful women on the dock at the foot of Washington Street.P-I File
Bill Muncey being congratulated after winning the 1957 Gold Cup in Seattle.P-I File
The Gale IV at rest in Dr. F. A. Black's rose garden on the shores of Lake Washington, 1954. "Wild" Bill Cantrell was piloting when the boat lost its rudder and headed for the shore.P-I File
Crowds welcome hydroplane racer Bill Muncey at SeaTac International Airport after he won the 1956 Gold Cup in a controversial Detroit race.P-I File
Shirley Givin Seafair Queen of the Seas, presented Ed Sullivan with the first copy of the new Seafair poster in 1954. Sullivan was a well-known newspaper man and TV personality.P-I File
Miss Bardahl, driven by Jim McGuire, was a top contender in 1960.P-I File
Seafair royalty driving into the entrance at the Olympic Hotel in Seattle, August 1957.P-I File
Seattle's Seafair festival – with boat races, community parades, royalty and stage shows – has been a part of the city's cultural fabric for six decades.
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It started in the post-World War II boom years, when the region was riding high on a strong economy and high hopes for the future. The first Seafair took place in 1950, with help from Walter Van Camp, who Seattle civic leaders had lured away from a successful winter festival in Minnesota.
One of the main attractions of the first 10-day Seafair festival was the Green Lake Aqua Theater, which was constructed in a rush during the summer of 1950.
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Aqua Theater stage shows were a Seafair attraction for nearly two decades, and the venue played host to a diverse range of 20th century performers. Bob Hope entertained an overflow crowd there in 1962; Led Zeppelin opened for Three Dog Night in 1969; and the Grateful Dead played the Aqua Theater less than a week after Woodstock.
During Seafair, the theater was used most by the Aqua Follies, a group of women who performed synchronized stage and swimming shows. The Aqua Follies remained a part of Seafair until 1965.
The theater diving towers were removed in 1970, and most of the rest of the theater was demolished in 1979. But, a portion of the distinctive concrete grandstands remains, and the site is now part of the Green Lake Small Craft Center.
It's been said that the hydroplane racing boat called Slo Mo Shun IV invented summer in Seattle. In 1950, Sayres and the Slo Mo captured the Gold Cup at Detroit — the hydroplane equivalent of winning the Super Bowl. That brought the race out West for the first time since 1904, and started the tradition of hydroplane races in Seattle.
A Seafair Queen was crowned from 1950 to 1971 before the title was changed to Miss Seafair, and this tradition continues today.
During the early years, Seafair organizers created a story in which King Neptune and his Royal Court battled pirates for control of the city and the festival. A local business leader would be chosen each year to play the role of King Neptune, and for years, pirates in Elliott Bay would burn boats said to belong to the king.
Countering the scary Seafair Pirates are the Seafair Clowns. The clowns originated with the Seattle University Graduates Club and have been a part of Seafair for more than five decades.
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The Milk Carton Derby continues on Green Lake, and the Blue Angels – a popular Navy Flight Demonstration Squad – have wowed crowds for most years since 1972.
Seafair has struggled over the years as the city matured and professional sports teams competed for the public's time and attention. Paid admission for seating at the hydros deterred crowds in the 1990s, and financial troubles at recent sponsor General Motors threatened the 2010 edition of the races.
When the hydro races were in jeopardy in 2010, Duke Moscrip of Duke's Chowder House donated $40,000 to save them.
