Tanya Hull, left, and Kazie Lee whoop it up aboard a spinning pirate ship Friday night, May 11. The carnival was in town to mark the second weekend of Sequim’s Irrigation Festival, Washington’s longest-running festival.

 

Sequim Gazette photos by
Mark Couhig, Michael Dashiell, Matthew Nash and Amanda Winters

The Irrigation Festival went all blue for its theme “117 & Still Growin’ Green.”

Near perfect weather graced the event over the weekend for some of Sequim’s biggest events like the Grand Parade and Logging Show.

Deon Kapetan, chairman of the festival, said the weekend’s events went “fantastic.”

“To have the weather be so great really added to everything,” she said.

Some events saw their biggest attendance and participation ever, such as the High Octane Car Cruzz before the parade and the High Octane Car Show ‘n Shine at Walmart. About 190 vehicles were at the show.

Dave Bekkevar and his son Ole, co-coordinators of the Logging Show, said their events went great with more than 30 participants.

“From what I heard, there’s more people than years before,” Ole said.

For next year’s events, they plan to look into adding more relay races by recruiting more local agencies to compete.

Kapetan said the Logging Show had never seen the overflow parking at QFC used to such an extent before this year.

Alice Roragen, chairman of the Grand Parade, said she spoke with three Sequim police officers at the end of the parade and they reported the parade went the smoothest it has ever gone.

She tried sending each of the 140 entries a little bit closer to each other, which she said helped, along with the parade marshals keeping things going.

Next year’s 118th festival is already underway with the logo design contest with the theme, “Dancing through the Valley.”

One feature Kapetan said festival organizers may add in 2013 is a professional photo opportunity with the royalty and their float during the Merchants Fair.

“We really got a kick out of watching the many adults and children light up as they practiced their ‘princess wave’ while posing for their photo on the float,” Kapetan said.

Volunteer opportunities are open to the community by contacting Deon Kapetan at 461-6511 or info@irrigationfestival.com