Madison Park Days are coming!

Madison Park Days are virtually upon us. The annual event, which culminates each year with the Children's Parade and the Picnic in the Park, is scheduled for July 8-10. The fun begins with the Sidewalk Sale, which runs for the three days beginning next Thursday. It ends with the parade and picnic on Saturday the 10th. Hopefully the weather will be decent by then, since this is the Park's premier annual event--and one that a lot of Madison Park families really look forward to.

The parade will start down E. Madison Street fairly promptly at 12:00 noon, with staging to begin in front of the Madison Park Wells Fargo branch at 11:45 am. If you want to be in this parade you better get there on time, since the short parade route down to the Park means the procession takes only five minutes to complete. The picnic follows. Come one, come all--and bring your goat!

Madison Park Days are sponsored, as always, by the Madison Park Business Association, which for some unaccountable reason fails to mention the fact on its website. (Thanks to those who wrote in to the blog asking about when it's all going to be happening this year).

We love a parade!

This was the scene at noon today as the annual Children's Parade got underway for the ten-minute march down E. Madison Street to the Park.

Perhaps because of the fantastic weather, the turnout this year was a lot higher than last, according to Terry Short, Madison Park Business Association (MPBA) President (and parade marshal).

The Seattle Police and Fire Departments were active participants, as usual, with a firetruck leading the parade and the police providing traffic control and security. Police Sgt. Jay Shin agreed that the parade drew more participants than in past years. He estimated the total crowd at about 300 people.

There were a lot of kids riding bikes or being pulled in wagons:

A few of us really dressed for the occasion:

And in addition to the numerous dogs who promenaded, there was a gentle pony and a very well behaved billy goat:

And of course, at the end of the route everyone got the opportunity to chow down. All in all, it was a picture-perfect day in the Park.

Thanks to the MPBA for its sponsorship of this excellent event. It is one of the things that helps differentiate Madison Park from many other Seattle neighborhoods, where public spiritedness and community connection have become little more than ideals of the past.