PORT ANGELES — On the 229th anniversary of the day the nation’s forefathers declared independence from England, there may be no better way to celebrate than to dunk the mayor.
And residents of Port Angeles did that and more at the Wave Broadband Fourth of July Celebrations at City Pier on Monday afternoon.
The event featured craft and food vendors, musical acts, a climbing wall and a respite at 6 p.m. for the Grand Parade, which featured about 70 entries in procession down Lincoln and First streets downtown.
The entries included floats, llamas, riding lawnmowers, a septic tank pump truck and a roaring fly-over by a Coast Guard Dolphin helicopter.
The evening was capped off by a fireworks display over Port Angeles Harbor.
Norwegian visitors
Visiting from Oslo, Norway, Jostein and Berit Maeland — plus their four children — watched as Mayor Richard Headrick took his turn on the plank at the Port Angeles Senior Center’s dunk tank, which was raising money for the Port Angeles Senior Games slated for September.
Although Norwegians celebrate their independence from Sweden, Berit Maeland noted with a smile it isn’t common to see public officials dunked in public back home.
She said the family had been vacationing in Victoria and experienced Canada Day there on Friday. They decided to take the ferry to Port Angeles to see how Americans celebrate their independence.
“It’s very much bigger here,” said Eivind, the Maelands’ son.
Headrick didn’t go under water with the first ball, or the second — or even the third.
But Ken Hansen of Port Angeles, the third thrower, got Headrick on his third toss.
“That’s for the PUD,” Hansen said after seeing Headrick submerged.
The wastewater treatment plant operator for Clallam County Public Utility District got a cheer from the crowd.
“I knew I’d get him in three,” Hansen said.
