Friday, May 17, 2013

Syttende Mai Parade Today

Syttende Mai Parade by Seattle Daily Photo
Photo & Text © 2013 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved.
Every year the Ballard neighborhood gears up for the biggest Syttende Mai parade outside of Norway. This Seattle neighborhood that has deep Nordic roots pulls out all the stops for this fun community event, much enjoyed by young and old alike. The parade route is always crowded with thousands of onlookers who come out to celebrate. Today many City Daily Photo Blogs are also honoring Norwegian Constitution Day, so visit around and check out a celebration gone global :-).


Nordic Heritage Museum Beautiful Embroidery Norwegian Buhunds

13 comments:

Kate said...

These are wonderful photos, Kim! I have a good friend who hails from Norway and Seattle with family still in both places. I needed a reminder to greet her today! Almost wept when I saw the Elkhounds, my favorite breed; they remind me of my long ago Loki, whom I loved with all my heart. When an allergist told me I had to get rid of Loki after he tested my highly allergic 8-yr-old son, I told him, "I'd get rid of this child before I'd get rid of the dog." He never mentioned it again, and my son Karl has grown up a healthy and happy dog owner.

Stefan Jansson said...

No sign of any celebrations in Haninge, but I did see one Norwegian flag. Love the second photo here.

Kim said...

@Kate, I'm so glad the photo of the dogs reminded you of your dear Loki! What a great story, Kate.

@Steffe, well, I guess Sweden must feel a bit toward Norway like England feels about the USA on July 4th :-). Swedish Seattlites (and there are thousands of them!) turn out in big numbers for this celebration, as do lots of folks with roots in Iceland, Finland, and Denmark. There are not one but TWO bronze statues of Lief Erikson in the Ballard neighborhood, and several Scandinavian delis and bakeries (although I STILL have not tasted as good a Princess Cake as the Swedish bakeries in Tiburon and San Francisco make). I often hear older folks speaking Norwegian on the street, and have had a couple bi-lingual Swedish speakers in my classes. It's a big part of the Pacific Northwest's culture.
-Kim

LONDONLULU said...

These are fabulous captures (all of them:) and especially those sweet dogs! I love how everyone's wearing rich touches of red with blue and white. (Also, I thought I was the only one with a "Scream" face on Mondays, thanks for the chuckle!)

Peter said...

Wow, a parade. Lovely series.

Marleen said...

I had no idea Seattle had nordic roots, the parade looks very festive!
Thanks for following my blog Daily Photo Stadskanaal.

Hull and Hereabouts said...

Great set of images. Nice to see people having a good time.

Dina said...

I've not heard of buhund dogs so it's nice to see them, especially in your festive parade.

LOLfromPasa said...

Lovely photos! Especially the top one :). PS Ref 4th July - there is one celebration in England - at our house :).

Tania said...

Wonderful post!
Great to see they also celebrates abroad.

Thanks for you visit:-)

Tania said...

I also love the picture of your watery world!!

Julie said...

I had no idea, Kim, that all things Nordic were such a big slice of the culture of the Pacific-Northwest. The parade looks tremendous with all those colourful costumes.

Thank you for your contribution to the City Daily Photo Norwegian Constitution Day.

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