Heading to Saturday’s big Torchlight Parade in downtown Seattle?
The Seattle Police Department has a message for you: Text instead of call, and limit your social media tendencies.
In a blog post, the police department noted that the “region’s privately-owned cellular networks may become taxed by throngs of cell-phone wielding revelers.”
Because of that, they urge parade-goers to text friends and family instead of calling. And, if cell networks are clogged because of the calls, Tweets and Facebook posts, the police urge another old-fashioned method to find emergency assistance.
“Simply locate one the many uniformed police officers or other public safety personnel working along the parade route and ask for assistance,” they write.
The parade will start at Seattle Center at 7:30 p.m. and move through downtown Seattle along Fourth Avenue to Pioneer Square. Now in its 65th year, The Torchlight Parade is one of the highlights of the annual Seafair celebration.
During the huge Super Bowl parade earlier this year — which followed a similar route and drew hundreds of thousands to downtown Seattle — cell networks were seriously strained.
