2009 Seattle Macy's Holiday Parade

Once again, the GF and I trudged down the hill, bellys sloshing with last night's dinner, to the Seattle Macy's Holiday Parade.  Ours is the day after Thanksgiving, which I guess fits in well with the whole Black Friday - Shop Downtown thing.  The parade is mostly the same each year, but it's still fun.

Last year, I shot pictures with my Sigma 70mm - 300 mm lens on my Pentax K10d, but I wasn't satisfied with the result.  Too many images were either underexposed from the more limited aperture or blurry from the long shutter speed. This year, I used my Pentax 50mm f1.4.  I figured I could get the exposure right, I could always crop images to make up for the lack of focal length.  I last wrote about this lens here. The focus wasn't always ideal due to the shallow depth of field, but I'm satisfied with most of my results.

Of course each parade has its share of cheerleaders and school bands.

I'm not sure if this piece of candy has a cold ear or an important cell phone call.

Not everyone appeared thrilled to be marching.

The Connect All Stars put together a pretty impressive demo of tossing women.

 

 

 

 

 

Several of Seattle's professional sports teams were out on this chilly morning.

The Seagals rode on the front of a giant football helmet like the statues on the front of old ships.  But happier.

They led the Seahawk mascot Blitz and the Seahawk band through the streets of Seattle.

The Sounders, our professional soccer team also had a substantial presence, led my mascot Dopler, who was followed by their marching band.

The Mariners, befitting their current stature in Seattle, brought the Moose and a van.

Seattle is know for having more dogs than children, so even though the dog clubs may not yet out number the marching bands and drill teams, there were still plenty of dog clubs marching, celebrating St. Bernards, Scottish Terriers, Old English Sheep Dogs, and Dalmations.

 

 

People stuck in the snack world may be a metaphor for modern American culture, but they also make neat parade attractions.

 

The unicycle riders were impressive.

 

This rider is jumping rope on her cycle.

I'm not sure what's more interesting here.  The fact that these two riders trust their friend's skills so much, or the shocked and appalled looks on faces of those in the crowd.

We had dancers dressed as Poinsettias.

 

The fire department brought out the big ladder truck.  I lucked out with this shot.

Of course what parade would be complete without a snow globe prisoner.  I like how the downtown skyline reflects in her glass cell.

And lest there be any doubt, Santa Clause is, "Innovative. Real. Groundbreaking."

We followed up the parade with some piroshkies.  I'd call it a successful morning.

You can see more of my parade pictures here.