Seattle’s 1952 Seafair celebrated the Centennial of the city’s founding. The many events included five parades in different parts of the city. The International Parade, on August 5, took place downtown, on Fourth Avenue and headed south into the Chinatown - International District.

Starting that same year, Seattle’s Black community held a Mardi Gras festival that participated in Seafair. This photo shows the first East Union/East Madison Mardi Gras float in the International Parade. It carries the Mardi Gras Queen, Clara Carpenter, and her four princesses.

The photographer, Albert Joseph "Al" Smith, Sr. (1916-2008), was able to get a high-level view of the parade from his perch above Fourth Avenue near Virginia St. From a hobby begun as a preteen, Smith began his "weekend job" and photography business, On the Spot, in the 1940s, capturing life in the city’s Black community, the Central Area neighborhood, and the local jazz scene during the mid- to late- 20th century.

Caption information source: “Centennial Seafair will feature five land, sea parades.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 20, 1952, pages 1, 4
Caption information source: "East Madison/East Union Mardi Gras Festival debuts in Seattle on August 4, 1952" by Peter Blecha, HistoryLink.org Essay 20908, https://www.historylink.org/File/20908