Make Seafair Sustainable and Safe for All - It’s Time for Change 

Since it started as a water festival in 1950, the month-long Seafair celebration has been a big event for many in Seattle during the summer. The event has evolved over time, and we believe it can change again.   

It’s time for Seafair to change with the times - and be an event that is sustainable, clean, a safe and forward-looking carbon free even that is inclusive to all in the community.  We ask the Seafair organization and our local leaders (city, county, state) to act to create a community-centered, sustainable and safe Seafair - it’s time to move on from the Blue Angels and build something else. 

We can reimagine Seafair as a sustainable event that is diverse, inclusive, non-polluting, non-threatening, and absolutely delightful. We can replace the loud gas-fueled and carbon emitting boats and planes with clean and quiet electric ones. We can introduce new events to expand the definition of the water festival. We can take the best of Seattle and modernize this event to be relevant in a new era of growing pollution impacts, and do no harm to our fellow neighbors and welcome all.

Our perspectives include:

--residents who breathe in a lot of pollution – we live near the highways, flight paths, an airport and a port in a major metropolis and a legislative district with some of the worst air pollution in the state;

--people alarmed about and suffering from local climate impacts, including heat waves, flooding, and more frequent smoke and forest fires;

--those who have survived violent events and threats of war, including veterans with PTSD, immigrants and refugees; and

–concerned caretakers of young ones and pets and others who don’t understand the scary noises and need to be comforted.  

We will deliver this petition with local and state leaders, the board of Seafair, Seafair sponsors with the call to transform Seafair.  

We can all feel safer and have fun times with loved ones.  We ask for a timeline for a transition away from a fossil-fuel to fossil free Seafair. It is time to end the tradition of the military air show – and move towards new traditions that truly celebrate our rich cultural and community heritages.