Fourth festivities: Carnation’s traditional celebration a scorcher, and still successful

Published 6:29 pm Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Carnation resident Owen Kilfoyle

Carnation came out in numbers Saturday, to celebrate Independence Day in the annual Great Carnation Fourth of July event. Despite the warm temperatures — a heat advisory was issued for western Washington last week — crowds filled Tolt Avenue, first for the 5K run at 8:30 a.m. and a few hours later, for the kiddie and grand parades.

“It was a hot day and the crowd dissipated pretty quickly because of the heat,” said Carnation Fourth chairperson Kim Lisk, “but I think we had over 600 runners, which was great.”

Runners got an early start, 8:30 a.m. in Carnation’s 5K, to beat the heat. Zach Kirwan of Redmond was the first finisher in the Run for the Pies, with a time of 16:54.9, and an average pace of 5:26 per mile. He is 19. The first woman to finish was 19-year-old Drew Bortfeld of Sammamish, with a time of 18:24.7.

Kids and pets, including a colorful pig, put on their red, white and blue for the kiddie parade, down Tolt Avenue to the Tolt Commons, where Carnation Mayor Jim Berger gave the welcome address. Then it was time for the grand parade, back up Tolt Avenue, and, for the classic cars, to Tolt-MacDonald Park for the new car show.

Winners of the parade judging were: Musical, West Coast County Heat; Float, Carnation Farmers Market; Horses, Ixtapa; Vehicles, Freedom Fairlady; Fire Truck, Eastside Fire & Rescue; Vintage Vehicle, Northwest Vintage Iron; Commercial, Duvall Tae Kwon Do; Speciality: Jet Gymnastics; Cheer: Cedarcrest High School Cheer team; and Politicial, Kathy Lambert.

Grand Marshal Al Rush, after riding in the parade with many of his family members, chose Washington’s Fallen Heroes to receive the Grand Marshal Award.

“That Washington Fallen Heroes Project is amazing to me, and there’s not a dry eye in the crowd when they go past,” said Lisk, adding high praise for Barb Ballard, who coordinated the parade entry again this year.

Although the runners and parade watchers had about the same numbers as in previous years, Lisk said that after the parade, “I think people just went home.”

Those who stayed probably had a better time shopping at the vendor village — “It wasn’t that same crowd, you could actually see space in between people,” said Lisk — and getting a better look at the classic cars on display at Tolt-MacDonald Park. As always, the day ended with a spectacular fireworks show.

Kate Mosely of Fall City pours on the syrup at the Tolt Congregational Church pancake breakfast that starts the Fourth of July festivites in Carnation. William Shaw/Staff Photo