Mercer Island staffs prepare for Seafair Weekend festival

It’s that time of the year again: U.S. Navy Blue Angels will soon be blazing through the sky and heaps of spectators will be flocking to Mercer Island parks and landings to view the dazzling sights during the Boeing Seafair Airshow.

The normally jam-packed Groveland Beach Park, one of the prime locations to watch the jets in their lofty environs and gather with friends and family throughout the day, will instead have a 500-patron per-day capacity to ensure visitors’ safety during the Seafair Weekend festival that is slated for Aug. 4-6.

“Over the past couple years, the crowds at Groveland have really been overwhelming in the park area and it’s just grown every year,” said Ryan Daly, the city’s recreation manager. “What we want to maintain is the access for emergency vehicles.”

Spectators can begin entering the park at its usual opening time of 6 a.m., but can’t leave items overnight or unattended, according to Daly, who added that staff from the city’s recreation, parks and police departments will be on site over the weekend to keep an eye on the proceedings and maintain the capacity.

Signage in the area will inform people when the park hits its limit of patrons, and staffers will then shutter the access gate. There will also be copious no-parking signage in the neighborhood to stave off large crowds.

Over at the more expansive Aubrey Davis and Luther Burbank parks where people also congregate during Seafair weekend, Daly said that parks and recreation staff will be on hand primarily to change out garbage cans and maintain the areas. Park staff and police will also roll through Calkins Landing, Miller Landing and other popular viewing spots to survey the scene. The Washington State Department of Transportation will be responsible for keeping watch on the crowds that observe the airshow from the Interstate 90 bridge trail.

On the police side of operations, public information officer Lindsey Tusing said the department’s Marine Patrol units are focusing on educating the public regarding boating under the influence (BUI).

“Boating under the influence is just like driving under the influence and comes with severe penalties,” said Tusing, adding that the national initiative Operation Dry Water — a BUI awareness and enforcement campaign — revved up at the start of boating season.

Seafair weekend is all hands on deck for the police force, with its entire staff on the clock and working with its vast amount of partnering agencies to keep people safe, Tusing said.

Marine Patrol Sgt. Chad Schumacher said they’ve been preparing for the mammoth Seafair weekend — which also features unlimited hydroplane races and much more — since April with its partners: Mercer Island Fire Department, Washington State Patrol, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, King County Sheriff’s Marine Unit, Seattle police and fire departments, United States Coast Guard, American Medical Response and Seafair volunteers and workers.

The police department will utilize Proctor Landing as its BUI station and it will be closed to the public from set-up day on Aug. 2 and throughout the weekend. There are long, hot days ahead for the officers, Schumacher said.

During last year’s Seafair weekend, there were 24 BUI arrests and zero drownings, zero major injuries, zero major boat accidents, zero officer injuries and zero damaged Marine Patrol boats.

On the zeroes, Schumacher noted, “That’s where we as law enforcement, those are the numbers that we want to highlight and we want to see. If we can lower the BUI stats, that also drives down those injuries and drowning stats because people are being more responsible, they’re being safer and they’re still having the good time out there on the water and they’re still enjoying the Seafair event.”

In order to stay safe on the water, Schumacher said that people should have a designated sober operator on their vessel all weekend if drinking alcohol is involved; have properly fitted lifejackets for each occupant; have all the mandatory safety equipment on board (fire extinguisher, sound-producing device, vessel registration and more); and drink plenty of water and wear sunscreen amid the hot weather.

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