City Discontinues Celebrate Shoreline Parade, Moves Festival

Declining participation has prompted the city of Shoreline to discontinue its annual parade, part of the Celebrate Shoreline festival over the last 17 years.

Celebrate Shoreline -- which includes the North City Jazz Walk, a dogfest and skateboard competition -- will also be moving from Ridgecrest Elementary to Cromwell Park, the city announced in a press release.

Participation in the parade has dropped 38 percent over the last six years, according to the city, which added that the City Council supported city staff in the decision. Discontinuing the parade will allow resources to be focused on revitalizing the rest of the festival.

The annual festival is in August, last year Aug. 17-19.

What do you think of the decision to drop the parade? Tell us in the comments below.

 Here is the city’s press release announcing the changes:

Celebrate Shoreline is the City’s week-long signature event held each August. Over the past 17 years Celebrate Shoreline has grown to include a dogfest at Hamlin Park, the North City Jazz Walk, a skateboard competition at Paramount Park and the sandcastle building competition at Richmond Beach, in addition to the original parade and festival. These events have provided residents an opportunity to come together as a community and celebrate what it means to live in Shoreline.

While many of the events are very well attended and even growing in popularity, like the North City Jazz Walk, parade participation has dropped by 38% over the last 6 years. This drop, combined with other factors such as Cromwell Park’s redesign completion, has led City Council to support staff in transitioning to a new event format for 2013.

The most visible changes to the event will be the discontinuation of the parade and the relocation of the festival from Ridgecrest Elementary to Cromwell Park. Releasing the parade to the annals of history will allow financial resources to be redirected to a revitalized festival. Council and staff are excited to move the festival to a central location in the City while having the opportunity to show off one of Shoreline’s newest parks.