(Today’s first report is here; Friday coverage is here and here)

4:09 PM: The biggest day of West Seattle Summer Fest has REALLY been big. Lots and lots of people. And dogs! We couldn’t resist snapping the ones above, who were just outside the fence at the temporary outdoor seating at Talarico’s, one of many Junction venues that have outdoor seating – temp AND permanent – during the festival. If you’re just getting here, the basics, again:

FESTIVAL HOURS
Until 6 pm for vendors (some might choose to stay open longer, especially food)
Until 8 pm for kids’ rides (ticket purchase required; free kids’ activities end earlier)
9:30 pm, last band (The Cave Singers) – full schedule here
Until 9 pm, events on the GreenLife stage

TRANSPORTATION REMINDERS
Bus-reroute info here
Road closures – California from Oregon to Edmunds, plus south half of the block between Genesee and Oregon (which remains open west-east); Alaska between 44th and 42nd
Parking – Look for The Junction’s three free lots, plus the Seattle Lutheran lot at 41st/Genesee
More info on the festival website’s “Getting Here” page

4:58 PM: The Gray Sky Farms critters are still at GreenLife – don’t miss it at the south end of the festival zone:

Sheep too:

GreenLife is presented by Sustainable West Seattle; the people you’ll meet there include Stu Hennessey of Alki Bike and Board, who’ll be talking at 4 pm Sunday about “The Future of Cycling in Seattle.”

Also tomorrow at GreenLife, visit The Whale Trail, which will have an exhibit there. Donna Sandstrom of TWT says, “At 3 (Sunday) I’ll be talking about orcas on the GreenLife stage, followed by a game of Orca Bingo. Everyone is welcome to play! This is a special edition of a game we invented, customized especially for West Seattle Summer Fest.”

As we’ve been mentioning, the festival is a great chance to check out the always-here merchants as well as visiting vendors. Brian Presser runs Touch Tech Systems, inside the breezeway between Oregon and Alaska on the west side of California, but he’s on the sidewalk for Summer Fest:

The team from Emerald Water Anglers, usually found in their 42nd/Oregon shop, are in booth #156 for Summer Fest:

Outside CAPERS, you’ll find the famous “As Worn by Eddie Vedder” West Seattle T-shirts:

You can get mugs with the logo, too. Also keeping it mega-local: Maps of Puget Sound are are the Mountain to Sound Outfitters booth, along with kayaks and gear:

And back on the T-shirt front, Summer Fest tees are still on sale in the Info Booth – about another half-hour tonight, then during the festival’s final day (already?) 11 am-5 pm tomorrow.

5:49 PM: Up at the stage, Black Whales are wrapping up their set.

Next up at 6 pm, it’s S. The music schedule is this hour’s top topic at the Information Booth – we have it taped to the tablecloth, so you can just walk up and take a peek. It’s right next to our schedule cards for West Seattle Outdoor Movies – now a week away – one guy who just stopped by was stoked to see that “Zoolander” is kicking off this year’s slate.

Back to the booths – another of the upcoming events you can learn about here is the Alki Beach 5K, a fundraiser on August 23rd to help breast-cancer patients via Northwest Hope and Healing, whose Shari Sewell was at the booth when we stopped by:

More candidates today – we’re still catching up on photos. Just saw Port Commissioner candidate Norman Sigler walk by – remember, candidates who stop by the booth and say hi will get a picture – School Board candidate Nick Esparza just did:

Another School Board candidate, Leslie Harris, has stopped by too:

And earlier, we photographed City Council District 1 candidate Phil Tavel and family:

6:43 PM: Some vendors are still open – not a bad strategy, since lots of people are still roaming, all ages. Music ahead – Fame Riot at 7 pm, Kithkin at 8 pm, Voxmod at 9 pm, and the much-awaited The Cave Singers at 9:30 pm. Some are looking ahead to tomorrow already, and again asking the question: What happens to the Farmers’ Market tomorrow? 10 am-2 pm, usual hours, in its old location, the lot at 44th/Alaska, and then next Sunday (July 19th) and beyond, it’s back here on California SW between Alaska and Oregon.

7:06 PM: We’re wrapping up the info booth – back tomorrow by 11 (remember the festival opens an hour later on Sunday morning) – but first, a few more scenes:

The sidewalk drumming team got props from a fan. And minutes ago – another round of bubbling:

The youngest festivalgoers are still out in full force, strollers to teens.

One hour into Day 2, and West Seattle Summer Fest is abuzz! Until 2 pm, visit the Community Tent along the south wall oF Easy Street Records, and you’ll find members of the West Seattle Community Orchestras:

Also in the Community Tent right now – the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network. Throughout the festival, you’ll find reps of cool community groups there, to tell you more about what they do and how you can get involved. The Community Tent schedule for the rest of the festival:

Saturday 10 am – 2 pm
West Seattle Block Watch Captains’ Network
West Seattle Community Orchestras

Saturday 2 pm – 6 pm
West Seattle Be Prepared
Southside Revolution

Sunday 11 am – 2 pm
South Seattle College Parent Cooperative Preschool
See Dogs

Sunday 2 pm – 5 pm
Seal Sitters
Empower Mentoring Program

You’ll find some other local nonprofits interspersed with the vendor booths. Among them, the West Seattle Food Bank – west side of California between Oregon and Alaska – where you can buy a $5 raffle ticket for some great prizes.

And since lunch time is approaching, we thought we’d offer a quick video tour of the food zone today – the first :15 Instagram clip is the east half (east of the alley between the two new Junction 47 buildings), the second one is the west half.

Note the traditional fair food – deep-fried PBJs, elephant ears, curly fries – as well as heartier fare (including local restaurants Bang Bar and Matador). And if you haven’t been to The Junction since last Summer Fest, note some additions – Pagliacci Pizza is now open for slices, Coastline is open across the street from there (burgers), among others. Outside the food zone, you’ll find a few other spots, such as the QFC booth north of us, selling fruit kabobs ($3 or $4 with chocolate), coconuts ($4), water ($1), soda pop ($1), peanuts in the shell ($1).

Speaking of water, bring your own bottle and get it refilled at the GreenLife area toward the south end of the festival zone. GreenLife also has ongoing demonstrations, talks, and performances – the schedule is here.

12:24 PM: Compared to the heat wave we went through in recent weeks, today feels almost a little chilly. But nice. We’ve also noticed a few light droplets from the sky … major rain is NOT in the forecast so far but be ready for anything. Music’s under way up at the stage – right now, it’s Pig Snout, which is a family group, playing family music.

Concertgoing is a family adventure too:

The stage, if you haven’t been here yet, is at the far north end of the festival, as is the beer garden, and that’s just north of Pet Junction (bet you can guess what that’s about). Electronic duo Navvi is up at 1 pm.

Back here in the heart of the festival zone, if you saw our item last night about applying here for an ORCA LIFT card – you can do that at the green-tent Metro booth just west of us:

Be sure to bring along the verification info they need. Metro’s not the only transportation agency here – if you have questions about the Highway 99 tunnel project, WSDOT is on the east side of the block between Alaska and Edmunds:

1:26 PM: Had our first missing-child situation a little while ago – hope it’s not information you need while here at the festival, but if you do, come to the Info Booth, and we’ll summon help – festival staff, police, etc. Speaking of the latter, we’ve just checked in with Southwest Precinct Lt. Ron Smith, who supervises the officers assigned to the festival, and he says it’s been pretty quiet.

1:35 PM: We mentioned the WS Food Bank raffle earlier – another benefit raffle you’ll find here at Summer Fest is at the Orca Network booth (#26, on the east side of California between Alaska and Edmunds) – $1, you don’t have to be present to win; winner will be drawn Sunday night and you’ll be contacted if it’s you. Here’s the flyer listing all the prizes, donated by local businesses.

2 PM: Timbre Barons are on stage now. When you head up that way, duck into the beer garden photo zone!

Susan Melrose of the Junction Association shared the photo of Josh Sutton and Susan Sutton. And speaking of tropical … the sun is finally starting to make a cameo appearance; the temperature’s been perfect, but it’s been cloudy all day – now, a sunbreak off to the west. Another contributed festival photo – this one from Ryan:

The mound o’fries is a popular choice in the food zone on Alaska east of California; on the west, it’s shift change at the Community Tent, with West Seattle Be Prepared and Southside Revolution there now, until 6 pm. Just talked to WSBP reps – be sure to get the new postcard showing where the Emergency Communication Hubs are – 13 in West Seattle now!