Green Lake Crew

GLC was created through the joint effort of community leaders from the Boys' Club of Seattle, the Seattle Times, and the University of Washington, working with professional staff of the Seattle Parks Department. Their collaboration culminated in the creation of both GLC and the Seattle Junior Rowing Commission. The latter body had as its mission organizing the efforts of program participants and other volunteers to support growth of "junior rowing" in the area. Originally a program for high school-age boys, it became open to girls and boys in 1963. With junior crew growing in popularity throughout the region, the Parks Department in 1984 created the Rowing Advisory Council (RAC) as the focal point of volunteer efforts to support GLC. Adult crew, i.e., "masters rowing," was initiated at Green Lake that same year.

Green Lake is a hub of rowing in the Pacific Northwest, as it hosts three regular regattas annually. The Spring Regatta is traditionally the year's first major rowing event in the region, with as many as 1,200 junior and masters athletes of all ages competing. GLC's Summer Extravaganza is a more relaxed event, traditionally the last major regatta of the summer. The event is the first major rowing competition for many of the novice and beginning rowers who are introduced to the sport during GLSCC summer classes. The Frostbite Regatta, a forty-year-old tradition, is the third major event hosted annually by GLC. It shares the last weekend of fall racing in the Northwest with the Lake Washington Rowing Club's^[1] annual Head of the Lake regatta. For many participants, this is an intense weekend where they race the 1000-meter course on Saturday at Green Lake, and then the three-mile head-race on Lake Washington the next day.