The Torchlight Parade is the longest of a series of parades around the greater Seattle area in the U.S. state of Washington . It is under the auspices of Seafair , a Seattle summertime celebration. The parade is one of the original Seafair events dating to the 1950 centennial celebration; the first parade was held on August 12, 1950, in the afternoon, as the Seafair Grande Parade.
4-521: The Torchlight Parade is usually held on either the last Saturday in July or the first Saturday in August. Traditionally, the parade started in the evening, close to dusk , which gave it the name. Because of the dark, participants are encouraged to include creative uses of light and luminescent devices in their display. The parade draws an estimated crowd of up to 300,000 people each year. Some of those wanting
8-470: A prime viewing location arrive the night before with couches, rugs, and portable refrigerators. The parade has had several route changes in its history. The first year it was held in a loop on 2nd and 3rd Avenues. It was later changed to start at 4th and Madison and make its way to Memorial Stadium . The current, 2-mile (3.2 km) parade route begins by Seattle Center , follows 4th Avenue through Downtown Seattle and ends at Seneca Street. The start time
12-457: The sky under clear conditions may occur to read outdoors without artificial illumination ; however, at the end of civil twilight (when Earth rotates to a point at which the center of the Sun 's disk is 6° below the local horizon ), such lighting is required to read outside. The term dusk usually refers to astronomical dusk , or the darkest part of twilight before night begins. The time of dusk
16-508: Was originally 7:30 p.m. until it was moved up to 3 p.m. in 2023 to provide a "more family-friendly experience". Participants include, among other things: This article related to an American festival is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Dusk Dusk occurs at the darkest stage of twilight , or at the very end of astronomical twilight after sunset and just before nightfall. At predusk , during early to intermediate stages of twilight, enough light in
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