On May 23, 1997, legendary folk singer Pete Seeger (1919-2014) begins a four-day appearance at the Northwest Folklife Festival at Seattle Center. He has been lured to the annual free festival upon lea...
On May 27, 1997, the Port of Seattle adopts Resolution 3245, approving the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the Port and Federal Aviation Administration. The Resolution also aut...
On June 17, 1997, a narrow 50.8 percent majority of state voters participating in a special election approve a $300 million funding package for a new Seahawks Stadium to replace the Kingdome. Microsof...
On July 1, 1997, after battling Spokane County and the City of Spokane for 11 years, the Marks family – leaders of the city's small Romani community – is awarded a sett...
In August 1997, the Ithna-Asheri Muslim Association of the Northwest forms to serve the needs of a small congregation of 50 to 150 members of the Iman sect. The members live mostly on the Eastside. Th...
On August 1, 1997, the Boeing Company officially combines with the McDonnell Douglas Corporation to create the world's largest aerospace enterprise with 220,000 employees.
On August 14, 1997, King County residents from India or of Indian descent celebrate the 50th anniversary of the independence of India at the Seattle Center. There are some 18,000 persons of Indian des...
On August 31, 1997, Covington, in south King County, is officially incorporated as a city. While a large majority of residents had voted in November 1996 to incorporate, Covington was still considered...
On September 23, 1997, the Seattle Mariners win the American League West Championship with a record of 90 wins against 72 losses. They go on to meet the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Divisi...
On September 27, 1997, some 1,200 students converge for the first time on the permanent campus for the University of Washington Tacoma, which opened seven years earlier in a temporary location. Leavin...
On September 29, 1997, members of the Makah Nation join a delegation of nearly 100 citizens from the town of Mihama, Japan, in ceremonies commemorating the lives of three young Japanese sailors who ra...
On October 1, 1997, a theater troupe from Nagoya, Japan, and members of the Makah Nation of Neah Bay present The Tale of Otokichi, a musical based loosely on the life of one of three young Japanese sa...
On November 4, 1997, Seattle voters approve Initiative 41, which calls for development of an expanded Monorail system, by a 53-percent majority. The initiative is the brainchild of Dick Falkenbury, a ...
On November 4, 1997, voters elect Paul Schell (1937-2014) as mayor of the city of Seattle.
On November 18, 1997, the restaurant commonly known as The Blob is torn down in Seattle. Located on lower Queen Anne Hill at the corner of 1st Avenue N and Roy Street, the structure -- which resembles...
On December 12, 1997, the U.S. Navy ends years of wrangling among Seattle-area jurisdictions by issuing a formal "Record of Decision" that conveys remaining property at the former Sand Point Naval Air...
On January 21, 1998, Tacoma attorney Ralph L. Seeley (1948-1998) succumbs to a cancer that has tormented him for more than a decade. Diagnosed in 1986 with chordoma, a rare bone cancer that starts in ...
On February 5, 1998, Washington's Supreme Court ends a six-year effort by dissatisfied rural residents to create a new Cedar County out of 1,585 square miles of eastern King County. Cedar County propo...
On February 17, 1998, State and Seattle City Government officials create a 12-member citizens board for the Elevated Transportation Company (ETC), a public development authority company created by Ini...
On February 28, 1998, Marie Svoboda (1920-2012), Seattle's pioneering grande dame of yoga, closes her Queen Anne yoga studio after teaching roughly 15 classes per week there for 30 years. The narrow, ...
On April 6, 1998, Hollywood arrives in Washington as filming for the movie Practical Magic begins on Whidbey Island. The Warner Bros. production calls for shooting on both Whidbey Island and San Juan ...
On April 19, 1998, the first Taste Washington, a celebration of Washington state wine and food organized by the Washington Wine Commission, is held at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle. The inaugural f...
On Sunday, May 3, 1998, some 200 people -- most of them Washington State University (WSU) students -- riot during the early morning hours in an area known as College Hill, just west of the WSU campus....
On May 18, 1998, after a three-year investigation, the Department of Justice and the attorneys general of 20 states (later dropped to 19) sue the Microsoft Corporation for violating the Sherman Antitr...