The Space Needle, July 4 image courtesy Seattle Center

Every year on the Fourth of July, the Seattle Center hosts a naturalization ceremony in which hundreds of immigrants are sworn in en masse.

After years of meaning to get down to watch it in person “one of these years”, I finally made it in 2002. By the end of the day I was very, very sorry it took me so long to go. While it’s true that I cry over just about everything (there’s an AT&T commercial from my youth I still can’t talk about without tearing up), when I looked around me it was evident that I was far from the only person visibly moved by sharing in the joy of hundreds of people celebrating what is for them a very, very special day.

I was born right here in Washington; even when I lived in Europe as a girl I never had to think much about my citizenship, taking it entirely for granted. Watching people from all over the world celebrate becoming Americans was an excellent reality check. It’s easy to have a de facto patriotism but seeing all these people who didn’t have citzenship just handed to them but had to work for it instead–well, it’s inspiring, to say the least.

There are as many different stories as there are people taking the oath of alllegiance: why not go hear a few of them and welcome your new fellow citizens?

Where:Seattle Center’s Fisher Pavillion
When: July 4th, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm