Amazon Seafair Summer Fourth at Gas Works

As they did last year, Amazon will sponsor this year’s Seafair Summer Fourth activities at Gas Works Park as well as at South Lake Union. This is your chance to party like it’s 2022. Why do I say that? Well, in scrutinizing their website for this year, the plans seem very similar to last year. But don’t let that discourage you from going; I’m sure the music and the fireworks will be fresh and different!

I posted last year at this time about the July Fourth festivities. With so much staying the same, I’ll just allow myself to plagiarize some of my content from last year. Which isn’t plagiarism at all, actually. Here are the details.

What’s Up Beside Fireworks?

While festivities culminate with the fireworks display after dark, events and entertainment begin mid-afternoon and stretch through day. Beer gardens will be available to slake your thirst, and of course, there will be food. Live music will be performed throughout the day on a stage immediately north of the gas works. And there are also family activities. (The website shows family members engaged in a rope tug-o-war.) Reserved, pay seating is available ($50 or $75 depending on where you sit) while the majority of the park, including the entire kite hill area, is free, open seating. (Remember that the fireworks will be launched from a barge in the middle of the lake, so if you sit on the north side of the hill, you may have an obstructed view.)

Permitted/ Prohibited Items

As is typical of public events these days, all persons entering Gas Works should expect to have their bag(s) searched. There are some obvious “nos”: weapons, alcohol (never allowed in city parks except by permit), drugs. There are also some less-obvious nos: drones, pets, helium balloons, noise makers. Specifically permitted are things such as coolers, computers and non-alcoholic drinks (in sealed bottles). Folks bringing in bikes, skate boards, etc. will be expected to leave those items at the event’s secure Bike Compound. A complete list of permitted and prohibited items is here.

Getting There and Street Closures

This is our neighborhood’s largest event attracting tens of thousands of people, and many will come from afar by car to witness it. Be prepared for car-megeddon. I could not find any specific information on parking or traffic flow for this event on the Seattle Police website, but I can tell you from experience what to expect. Early arrivals will be fortunate enough to snag street-side parking. Eventually, this will give way to lots of useless orbiting as cars search for spaces that no longer exist. Sometime around five or so, when it’s clear that all parking in the area is gone, police stationed along 40^th St. will close down all the north-south streets to southbound traffic. If you live south of 40^th, you will still be able to get in by telling the police you live in the area. Once the fireworks go off, though, forget about that. All traffic will move only outbound from Gas Works for about an hour until the area is cleared.

Note from my 2022 experience: It seemed as if the police never closed down any streets as cars were creeping along them all day long and into the night. That’s not because there was a lot of curbside parking going a-begging, though. After four or five o’clock, there was none. So plan accordingly.

Pro-tip: walk or take a bike. Secure bike parking is available at Gas Works in the Bike Corral. If you must drive, I suggest parking north of 40^th and walking down. That way, you won’t get trapped in the outbound traffic after the show.

Schedule of Events

I couldn’t actually find a proper schedule on the Seafair website, but here is how things went down last year:

• 3:00 PM Gates Open
• 9:00 PM Live Coverage begins on KONG TV
• 10:15 PM Opening Ceremony
• 10:20 PM Fireworks Show
• 11:00 PM Park Closes