With a pencil tucked away under an earpiece on his glasses, the engineer bobbed a wooden seagull up and down.

Plans for a biplane were scratched on a science notepad, and sheets of Styrofoam and plywood leaned against the unfinished garage wall.

With Renton River Days less than a week away, Norm Abrahamson, a retired Boeing engineer, was busy at work building his parade float, a Snoopy-style airplane.

“I thought it was a kick to do it,” he said.

With this year’s theme the same as last year’s, Discover the Heart of Renton, Abrahamson decided to fly with the idea of discovering Renton from the sky.

“If they think it’s hard to think of a new theme every year, try thinking of a new float,” he said with a chuckle.

There are about 200 entrants in the July 25 event, with roughly 6-8 floats, said Tammy Kaiser, the parade chair.

Participants range from dancers and singers to politicians and businesses.

“The parade flows right into the downtown park, which is where the actual Renton Rivers Days festival is going on.”

Organizers expect about 8-10 thousand spectators at the event that runs along Third Street.

Renton River Days starts with Kid’s Day July 22, and the main events are June 24-26 at Liberty Park.

This year the Seahawk’s mascot is planning on being the parade grand marshal, Kaiser said.

The floats are an opportunity to be both creative and to have to solve little engineering puzzles, Abrahamson said.

He started entering floats about 15 years ago. However, for about five years he’s been entering them for the Renton First United Methodist Church.

One year he made a replica of the clock tower downtown, and his sons wore costumes the shape of metro buses.

Another year he made an orange, worm-shaped train with built-in seats for kids.

This year’s biplane “will be essentially big enough that I’ll have my pastor…riding in it,” he said.

The wooden seagulls, which will dance around his biplane, are held up by metal strips once used for bundling wood.

“You just have to prowl around the second-hand stores and look for stuff,” he said, holding up an old green tupperware bowl to demonstrate the tip of the plane.

Abrahamson has also given much of his time building sets for Carco Theatre productions.

“Set building is a lot like building floats. It just has to hold together for the parade,” he said. “You can cover up a lot of sins with paint.”

He enjoys building projects of all types, he said. “I don’t know if you can explain it. It’s certainly not on my blood.”

Renton Reporter staff writer Celeste Gracey can be reached at cgracey@rentonreporter.com or 425-255-3484, ext. 5052.