(SCROLL DOWN for updates; see our midday coverage here)

Day 1 of West Seattle’s biggest celebration of the year! Our coverage continues:

KID ACTIVITIES INFO: Top question of the day here in the West Seattle Summer Fest Info Booth – which is also WSB headquarters during the festival – has to do with the kids’ activities and features. This year, SW Alaska west of California is the kids’ area, since the “food court” has moved to the east side of Alaska. You’ll also find activities like face-painting (thanks to Pathfinder K-8 School volunteers led by Lashanna, in our top photo) and art projects (thanks to Young at Art) in the Wells Fargo lot as usual. We were asked about the hours and prices; the rides are open until 8 pm tonight, with a one-day unlimited pass $20, $45 for all three days, or $1.25 per ride ticket, with ride prices varying from one to five tickets. And a reminder – there are two “parents’ rest stops” for a quiet spot to feed your baby, etc. – at City Mouse Studio (4218 SW Alaska) and at the Nurturing Expressions (WSB sponsor) booth:

Nurturing Expressions is on the west side of California between Edmunds and Alaska:

FOOD HIGHLIGHTS: Joining your WSB co-publishers (Tracy and Patrick) here at the info booth are other members of the team, including Katie and Callan, who are not only helping answer festivalgoers’ questions, but are also helping rustle up information. We sent Callan on a mission to check out the food situation. First, here are the Junction venues with outdoor seating during Summer Fest:

*La Romanza Bistro (WSB sponsor)
*West 5
*Elliott Bay
*Bang Bar
*JaK’s
*Beer Junction
*Matador
*Terrible Beauty
*Pizzeria Credo
*Maharaja
*Shadowland
*Pagliacci Pizza
*Ma’ono – which is offering $5 shave ice, $3 fried-chicken drumsticks, $6 kalua pork lettuce wraps
*Seattle Fish Co.
*Shoofly Pie
*Talarico’s

Highlights from the food stands include deep-fried PB&J for $, deep-fried Twinkies for $4, coconuts for $4 at the QFC stand (across from us!), $6 brats, kosher dogs, or jalapeno cheese dogs at Husky Deli (proprietor Jack Miller‘s in our photo above), $4 fried banana with coconut milk at Pho Cyclo’s stand.

ADDED 3:08 PM: Stop by for your free West Seattle – We Have That ! sticker (explained here):

Other ways to show your West Seattle pride include West Seattle-branded T-shirts and other swag you can find at some vendors’ booths, including The Junction’s own Seattle Logo Pros, and another West Seattle business’s booth, Shockwave Tees, which shared this photo of their “Alki Seagull” shirts:

If you have any trouble finding a particular vendor’s booth, stop by the Info Booth, where we and community volunteers (currently, the new president of the Rotary Club of West Seattle, Len Burton-Hardin, is here) will do our best to help.
ADDED 3:42 PM: We’ve been rolling video on some of today’s performances. Music to come – but for starters, the performance troupe Illuminatio was at GreenLife earlier and will be back there at 4 pm – here’s an excerpt:

The performance will be repeated at 4 pm Sunday, if you missed both today. Meantime, here’s a snippet of Blackheart Honeymoon, first band of the day on the stage, which is on California SW north of SW Oregon:

ADDED 6:08 PM: It’s been a great crowd all day. The police in charge of festival patrol tell us it’s been quiet for them too. Continuous music is revving up now at the stage north of SW Oregon; the most-awaited act of the night is Young Fresh Fellows, coming up at 10 pm. Not all music is on the stage, though – check out the didgiredoo:

That’s one big reason to come on down – what’s on the official schedule is only a small part of what’s going on! P.S. Thanks to Rotarians Gary Potter and Josh Sutton for being part of the team here in the Info Booth these past few hours.

6:45 PM: And thanks to the many awesome people – those we had never before met, as well as those we had – who have stopped by today, to share information and/or to just say hi. It’s our favorite part of Summer Fest – and we have heard many others appreciate it for the same reason – getting to catch up with friends and neighbors from all over West Seattle that you don’t always see in person otherwise. Tonight’s closing time for booths is listed as 8 pm, by the way, but you may see some closing sooner. Tomorrow, things rev up at 10 am. We’ll have more coverage later tonight – including a look ahead to tomorrow.

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ONGOING: Quick links (which will keep floating down to the end of each Summer Fest report):

HOURS TODAY: Until 8 pm, but the music runs later

METRO BUS ROUTE CHANGES: Direct links to all route revisions are in the WSB transit/traffic report

MUSIC LINEUP: See it here

VENDORS/EXHIBITORS: Here’s the directory (use the column titles to sort alphabetically or numerically)

MAP TO BOOTHS: Vendors/exhibitors map is here (PDF; we’re not listed because you’ll find WSB in the Information Booth for the 6th consecutive year)

KID ZONE: It’s on Alaska WEST of California, where the food used to be – see more info above

FOOD ZONE: It’s on Alaska EAST of California (sort the vendor list by “location” and click ahead to the pages starting 151 and 176 for the “F” as in “food” entries – earlier in the list, note a few “Sidewalk Cafes” too)

GREENLIFE DEMO SCHEDULE: Find GreenLife on the south side of the festival zone; see the demonstration/event schedule here

ART DIVE: North side of the zone, on California just north of Oregon.