Seafair Weekend 2019: What You Need To Know

SEATTLE, WA — Seafair week kicked off on Saturday with the Torchlight Parade in downtown Seattle, but this weekend is the apex of Seafair season with hydroplane races, the Blue Angels, and other skyward sights over Lake Washington.

Here's what you need to know for Seafair weekend, from weather forecasts to show times and admission prices.

Festival

The Seafair Weekend Festival begins Friday morning at Genesee Park in Seattle. General admission is FREE on Friday, but entry costs $30 per person on Saturday and Sunday. Access to other amenities, like VIP viewing, also costs extra. Seats in the grandstand are $30 on Friday, and $60 per-person on Saturday and Sunday. Parking at the festival costs $40. Gates are open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Show times

If you're near Lake Washington, you can catch wake boarding and hydroplane races pretty much all day Friday through Sunday. The Boeing Seafair Air Show is broken up into different parts throughout each day. But the Blue Angels show happens at 3 p.m. each day.

Viewing spots

Not going to Genesee Park? No problem, there are plenty of good (and free) viewing points around the lake.

Your best bet is Seward Park, which is situated on a peninsula. Parking is pretty limited at the park, but there's on-street parking in the neighborhood around the park. It's about a mile walk from the park entrance to the tip of the peninsula.

There are also a few trails in Seattle that offer good viewing points. You get a sweeping view of Lake Washington and the Cascades from the portion of the Chief Sealth Trail near South Fletcher Street. There's also a 1-1/2 mile pathway from Genesee Park north to Colman Beach along the lake with plenty of spots to watch.

Chism Beach Park in Bellevue and Luther Burbank Park in Mercer Island also offer good viewing points, but parking is limited.

I-90 might seem like a great spot to watch the shows, but WSDOT is warning drivers and pedestrians/cyclists not to stop while crossing the bridge.

You can also watch most of Seafair Weekend live on KONG TV, channel 16.

Weather

For the first time in years, there's rain in the Seafair forecast. But it's only a 50 percent chance, and it should be done by noon on Friday. Here's more from the National Weather Service:

• Friday: A 50 percent chance of showers, mainly before noon. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 75. South wind 9 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.
• Friday Night: A 10 percent chance of showers before midnight. Partly cloudy, with a low around 59. Northeast wind around 7 mph.
• Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. North wind 8 to 10 mph.
• Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 59.
• Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 81.

Seafair Fleet Week

Don't forget to head to Piers 66 and 69 along the downtown Seattle waterfront, where you can tour Navy ships — and see what the area looks like with the Alaskan Way Viaduct now mostly demolished.

Other events

There will be other events going on around the area this weekend that might make travel a little slower.

The Seattle Art Fair is happening all weekend at CenturyLink, and the annual Dead Baby Downhill bike race (with 4,000 expected to attend) will culminate in Georgetown on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, the Sounders face Sporting Kansas City at CenturyLink at 7 p.m. with 35,000 expected to attend.

More information

• Seafair Weekend Full Schedule
• Hydroplane Race Schedule
• Boeing Seafair Air Show Schedule
• Seafair Fleet Week Schedule