Seattle Summer Sizzle: Seafair Parade, Housing Market Shift, and Puppy Rescue

Good morning, this is Seattle Local Pulse for Saturday, July 26. We wake up to a perfect mix of summer sunshine and cool marine air drifting in over the Sound. After a mild morning with a little leftover cloud cover and some mist, we are set for a beautiful Saturday with highs around 75. It will get even warmer tomorrow, reaching the upper seventies, so outdoor plans are in luck, but remember we are still experiencing a severe drought, even if we got just enough drizzle yesterday to keep this July from becoming our driest ever. Water usage remains a concern, and local officials urge us to keep up those conservation habits. Today’s a big day for downtown Seattle, as the Seafair Torchlight Run and Parade will light up the waterfront this evening. Expect significant delays along Alaskan Way and near Colman Dock from four to eleven thirty tonight. Metro buses are operating on normal schedules, but expect reroutes and extra crowds with so many headed to the parade. The water taxi is running its summer schedule with extra late runs after the event, and extended service supports big events as well, including the Morgan Wallen concert at Lumen Field tonight. The city’s got its sights set on keeping things moving despite the festivities. SDOT continues repaving projects this weekend, most notably on Olson Place Southwest near Arrowhead Gardens. There are also traffic restrictions at the Avalon and Yancy intersection for utility work. Watch for flaggers and narrowed lanes. West Seattle drivers will want to check their route before heading out. Turning to real estate, local agencies say the Seattle housing market just hit its highest inventory level since 2015. With more than two thousand homes now listed, buyers are starting to see rare deals and less bidding competition. Sellers are feeling the effect with average time on market stretching to nearly a month, which means a shift from the hot sellers’ market we’ve seen in recent years. On the jobs front, there is positive momentum. Tech hiring has picked up, with openings at several South Lake Union startups and giants like Amazon, who just announced plans to add more than five hundred seasonal warehouse roles before the holidays. That is helping to balance out slowdowns in retail and hospitality seen earlier this summer. There’s fresh energy along the waterfront with the official opening of the new Pier 58 park space. Locals and visitors alike are already filling its lawns and play structures, and city hall believes this is a sign Seattle’s downtown is truly bouncing back. In business news, the much-anticipated reopening of Elliott Bay Book Company happens today, now under new ownership and with a renovated cafe space—expect lines out the door. If you are looking for local flavor, Bite of Seattle continues today at Seattle Center. There’s also the Bellevue Arts Fair, Renton River Days, and free concerts in numerous neighborhood parks all weekend. On the sports scene, the Mariners host the Angels at This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.