Alki Beach Pride’s Stacy Bass-Walden’s ‘exhilarating’ Pride Parade ride

A West Seattle couple rode near the front of today’s big Pride Parade through downtown Seattle.

We reported earlier about the Seattle Pride organization honoring Stacy Bass-Walden as this year’s recipient of the Ackerman Award for Service. Stacy and wife Jolie founded Alki Beach Pride – an annual late-summer celebration, unique to West Seattle and its beloved beach. As this year’s honoree, Stacy rode in a convertible in the parade, with Jolie at her side.

She invited community members including us to walk alongside, and in true WSB “we always show up” style, we did. Before the parade began, we watched some of the staging, including the rollout of the huge Pride flag that has made a guest appearance at Alki Beach Pride the past few years:

(This year you’ll see it on August 1st.) Once the parade got rolling, the hundreds of entries headed north on 4th Avenue from south of Westlake Park:

Thousands of people lined the street – and some watched from above:

About two-thirds of the way down the route, a reporter from KIRO, which had broadcast and streaming rights, stopped Stacy and Jolie for an interview:

After that, their driver had to step it up a bit to close a big gap with the entries ahead, and we were walking alone for a while, carrying our sign congratulating Stacy. We caught up just as the parade made the turn onto Denny Way:

Minutes later, at the end of the route – an hour after the lead cars started rolling – we talked briefly to Stacy and Jolie about the parade-riding experience:

We hit the “stop” button a bit too soon – what they went on to say at the end was an invitation to join them for this year’s Alki Beach Pride, on August 15.

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