As July winds down, residents near the Genesee Dog Park prepare for the culmination of Seafair festivities during the first week of August: the hydroplane races and the aerial stylings of the United States Navy's Blue Angels.For the perspective of a Rainier Valley canine, the Dog Denizens of Genesee Park (DDGP) solicited the opinions of Weather Prognosticator/Labor Spokesdog O'Doul the Collie. Mount Baker resident Tony, O'Doul's official translator, reports seeing trucks loaded with fencing headed down to the Stan Sayres pits. "It looked like an invading Army," Tony observed.
According to Tony, O'Doul is not a fan of the Blue Angels, whom the collie likens as "the Hell's Angels. "He hates the fact that they are a threat to the hearing of dogs and their well being," Tony explained. "Why don't they have gliders?"
O'Doul, Tony explains, dislikes the civic celebration because "it's undemocratic. No dogs have been involved in the planning or decision making." The weather-prognosticating canine will spend Seafair weekend "cursing and holding his ears to his paws," Tony said.
Some boosters ridicule residents of Mount Baker and Lakewood, who complain about the noise, traffic and garbage that accompanies the weekend of Seafair activities. The hydroplane races date back to the 1950s and the Blue Angels have performed at Seafair since 1972 -- long before most of the Mount Baker and Lakewood residents moved into their neighborhoods. Seafair was "here before you" (translation: "Deal with it").
Tony derided the comment as "static thinking like the earth was flat. Modern thinking -- scientific and otherwise -- accepts the process of change. It's part and parcel along the lines of thinking that voting is a privilege and not a right: accept circumstances as they won't change." He shook his head in disgust.
The battle cry has begun.
