Seattle's Potlatch of Progress opened July 28, 1938. During its four sunny days of events, Seattleites and visitors enjoyed several parades, a Native American canoe race, a swim carnival, horseracing, fishing contests, fireworks at Green Lake and the dedication of Alaskan Way.

This photo shows a group from Seattle's Chinese community marching in a parade on Second Avenue. Note the streetcar tracks in the street. Seattle's first streetcar system was removed in 1941.

The name “Potlatch” appropriates a Chinook Jargon word describing a Native ceremony of celebration and gift giving. Seattle's Golden Potlatch Festival ran from 1911 to 1914 and was revived as the Potlatch Festival from 1934 to 1941. Many organizers and participants in the Potlatch dressed in stereotyped imitations of traditional Native attire, as part of a created Potlatch myth. The appropriation of Native culture in order to market products or events was one common example of discrimination and marginalization faced by Native peoples in the United States.

Banner reads: Chinese Community Seattle Wn.
Signs on buildings read: [Second] Ave Garage. Thompson Display. DeChereny Co. Inc., Importers Exporters. M. Seller Co. - Importers - Wholesale Distributors. Markoff Upholstering Co. - Custom Built All[?] Style Furniture - Re-covering, Repairing, Slip Covers. Admiral Electrics[?]. Waffle King Minute Lunch. Commodore Hotel.
Written on negative: Potlatch
Written on original envelope: Potlatch Seattle 1938, parade
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): August 2, 1938.