Throughout the Northwest, Dennis Bounds is known as one of the popular evening anchors on KING 5.
And while this title follows him to Redmond, two more can be added: resident and 2011 Derby Days Summer Festival Grand Marshal.
Having lived in south Redmond since March 1991, Bounds and his family have established themselves in the local community. They go to church in Redmond and Bounds’ three adult children grew up here and went through the Lake Washington School District, attending John James Audubon Elementary, Redmond Junior High and Redmond High schools.
“If we don’t need to go into Seattle, we don’t go into Seattle,” Bounds said. “We can stay close to home.”
Lisa Rhodes, City of Redmond‘s event and marketing administrator and one of the organizers of Derby Days, said it is a great honor to have Bounds as this year’s grand marshal because of his commitment to the local community.
“We are so pleased that Dennis Bounds, KING-5 television anchor and longtime Redmond resident is this year’s Derby Days Parade Grand Marshal,” said Rhodes. “While his demanding career keeps him on the go, his heart has always been in our community, supporting Redmond schools and lending his time and talents to numerous causes including the Special Olympics of Washington. We are thrilled to honor him for his generous contributions to our community.”
As grand marshal of the Derby Days, Bounds will lead Saturday’s Grand Parade after the honor guard. The parade will follow the Kids Parade, which starts at 10 a.m. The parade route begins at the corner of Northeast 83rd Street and 161st Avenue Northeast, heads north before hanging west at Northeast 85th Street and ends at 158th Avenue Northeast by Redmond City Hall at 15670 NE 85th St.
“I’ve never been a grand marshal of a parade. I can’t wait,” Bounds said. “It’s a really nice honor to have…I’m always humbled and flattered when people ask me to do these kinds of things. I could not say no.”
He added with a laugh that he needs to get his wave down between now and Saturday morning.
Bounds attended Derby Days one time before about 10 years ago. He marched in the parade with the Special Olympics group. One of the things that stuck out in Bounds’ mind from that experience was how many people lined the streets to enjoy and celebrate that day.
As at 20-year resident of Redmond, Bounds has seen many changes in the city. He said Microsoft Corp. has about tripled in size, downtown has become more developed and Redmond Town Center used to be a field.
“The growth has been amazing,” he said.
Bounds and his family moved to Redmond when he was hired at KING as a morning anchor and they have stayed ever since. Western Washington was meant to just be a stopping point as Bounds wanted to work up to an evening anchor position, but he ended up staying as the opportunity presented itself at KING in December 1994.
Before coming to the Northwest, Bounds worked at various news stations around the country including Shreveport, La., Orlando, Fla. and Fargo, N.D. He graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. In September, Bounds will celebrate his 35th year in broadcast journalism.
He said one of his favorite things about his job is meeting interesting people during his various assignments. Throughout his career, Bounds’ experiences have ranged from flying with the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels to traveling to Bosnia after the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accord, to report on western Washingtonians’ involvement in that part of the world.
And while his job has allowed him to participate in so many different things, Bounds is very appreciative of where he lives and is excited to celebrate the City of Redmond this weekend.
He said he is most looking forward to the parade and seeing the downtown Redmond transformed for the event.
“It’s a good time to get the community together,” he said about Derby Days.
Previous Derby Days Grand Marshals
2004: Terry Lavender and Ruth Norwood, longtime volunteers organizing the Kids Parade
2005: Bev Galpin, CEO of former Redmond Bank and longtime grand parade organizer
2006: Scott MacCartney, Olympian in 2006 Salt Lake Winter Games and Redmond native
2007: Rosemarie Ives, former mayor of Redmond
2008: Chip Kimball, superintendent of the Lake Washington School District
2009: Heather Tarr, coach of the University of Washington national-champion women’s softball team
2010: Bob and Shirley Ferguson, Ben Franklin Crafts and Frames, longtime community volunteers
2011: Dennis Bounds, Redmond resident and KING 5 anchor
