(July 4, 2012, photo by Jamie Kinney – Lake Union fireworks as seen from Admiral Way Bridge)
10:29 AM: Just announced at City Hall – 4th of July fireworks are definitely ‘a go’ – and they’re staying on Lake Union. So says the Metropolitan Seattle Chamber of Commerce, making the announcement in conjunction with Mayor McGinn, Seafair, and others, including contributions from Microsoft and Amazon. You can watch live here. The show will change fireworks providers (Western Display is the new one) and TV-broadcast partners (now it’s KIRO 7), and those speaking at the briefing say this is a multi-year commitment, so you won’t hear “we might not have fireworks” again next year.

ADDED 10:45 AM: Of note, since West Seattle hosts its share of citywide-draw events (Seafair Pirates Landing, for example) – in response to a question, the mayor says they’re expecting stepped-up security at “probably all our events” this summer, not just the fireworks, in the wake of Boston. So you might see explosives-detecting dogs (which are already fixtures at ferry docks), for example. Also – the briefing (linked in the first part of the update) is over now.

(July 4, 2008 photo by Susan Grossman of Singing Pixel Photography)
We’ve already talked about today’s one big announcement regarding this summer – the cancellation of the Blue Angels‘ season, including their Seattle shows. And now we have reason to talk about the other one: Not only are Seafair and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce saying they’re working together with Mayor McGinn on 4th of July fireworks – for which the longtime Family 4th producer couldn’t raise the money – but the show might move away from Lake Union. Maybe even Elliott Bay, reports Emily Heffter from The Seattle Times (WSB partner). Her story also mentions Seattle Center as a possible location, though, having produced TV coverage of the Bellevue Square-launched fireworks for a few years, we can tell you that a landlocked urban location like that would mean smaller shells and a less-spectacular show. There hasn’t been an Elliott Bay fireworks show since July 4, 2008; that show’s longtime sponsor Ivar’s announced its cancellation in April 2009.

Every year, somebody gets Peeped – last year, a home near Lowman Beach; this year, it’s the Lorentz home in North Admiral! They shared the photo of what the Easter Bunny did after he came in through the chimney …no, wait. 1900 block of 41st SW, if you won’t believe it till you see it firsthand.

On Alki, the Easter Bunny seems to have an engine along with the bunny ears and bunny nose:

Thanks to Lisa Ruiz for sharing that photo. Whatever form the Easter Bunny took, s/he was busy at C & P Coffee (WSB sponsor):

The annual C & P Easter-morning egg hunt drew dozens — little kids went first. Over at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market, the egg hunt was ongoing, but we did drop by the info booth as participants recycled the plastic eggs:

Steps away, the crew from Blue Geisha Tattoo painted faces, and arms:

And then there’s the Easter Weasel – featured on the WSB Facebook page.

(Photo by Nick Adams for WSB)
This Easter Sunday began clear and cool, with early services including the traditional joint sunrise service on the sands of Alki Beach, organized by West Seattle’s three UCC churches – Admiral, Alki, and Fauntleroy.

(Photo we tweeted Saturday from the corner of Delridge and Dakota)
Happy Sunday! Today is Easter; tonight is the seventh night of Passover. Calendar highlights:

SERVICES
Easter begins with two 6:30 am outdoor sunrise services, and continues at churches all around the peninsula. Here’s the list we’ve put together.

EGG HUNTS
Many churches precede or follow today’s services with Easter-egg hunts, and our list includes three others:

West Seattle Farmers’ Market – 10 am-1 pm, with more eggs hidden hourly
C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) – 11 am
Village Green Perennial Nursery – 1 pm

ALSO HAPPENING

LIBRARIES ARE OPEN: Regular Sunday hours, at your friendly neighborhood Seattle Public Library branch.

LIVE MUSIC AT C & P – Kaley Marie, a Denny International Middle School 8th grader, will sing country songs at the coffeehouse 3-5 pm – her own as well as others. Her proud grandma Polly says this is Kaley Marie’s first big public performance.

LIVE MUSIC @ SKYLARK – Multiple bands @ 3 pm, Holly Figueroa at 8 pm. Both shows are all ages; schedule and cover/no cover info here.

During our first 2013 round of egg-hunt coverage this morning, we also checked out the scene at Hiawatha Community Center – photographing the youngest hunters as they swarmed the tennis court. This egg-hunt site featured royalty:

From this year’s West Seattle Hi-Yu Junior Court, that’s Princess Olivia, Queen Madison, and Princess Emily – by the way, Hi-Yu still could use more volunteer help with this year’s float and events, and would love to see you at their meeting this Monday night (April 1st; details here). Ahead – four more scenes from Hiawatha’s hunt:

The excitement started in the gym, before moving outside:

And while nobody suggests you need a costume for Easter, we noted bunny ears in abundance:

Even Katy Walum from the Admiral Neighborhood Association had ears:

ANA helped out with this year’s Hiawatha hunt, just one week after escorting Mayor McGinn around Admiral (WSB coverage here).

P.S. More egg hunts in West Seattle tomorrow – see our list here.

(Photos by Nick Adams for WSB)
It’s West Seattle Thriftway‘s (WSB sponsor) silver-anniversary year – but the annual Easter-egg hunt was pure gold once again – from the smiles to the prizes, and beyond:

The many young egg hunters included 4-year-old Aiden Sol:

Ten more photos from WSB contributing photojournalist Nick Adams, ahead:

It all started outside, with the Easter Bunny greeting kids, including a high-five for 2-year-old Rosie Luxem:

3-year-old Micael Burris waited with building egg-scitement till the hunt began:

Once inside, kids learned it takes creativity to hide thousands of eggs – 8-year-old Muriel found (at least) one in the freezer case:

Shopping doesn’t shut down during the search, as the shopper near 6-year-old Katie Hulscher surely knew:

You do have to pause to sample the candy you found, as did 2-year-old Kya Ostroff:

She wasn’t the youngest egg hunter – little Nicolas Gruner got a lift from his grandpa Wess Goss:

Many eggs were hidden in plain (yet festive) sight, as 2-year-old Joe Charette seemed to be pointing out:

When the instructions for baking mixes mention “add eggs,” this may not be exactly what the manufacturer was envisioning:

But wherever the eggs were found, checking out their contents became the order of the day:

Those three are brothers – Aidan, Evan, and Ryan Loiselle, 1, 3, and 5, respectively. Meantime, West Seattle Thriftway has more than 40 additional egg-hunt photos on its Facebook page – see them here!

After West Seattle’s city-run community centers tried one big regional egg-hunt and spring-festival event last year, it was back to individual egg hunts for 2013, and this morning at 10, they happened simultaneously at four centers. We visited two, and this is our first report – two and a half continuous minutes during the egg-hunting festivities at Delridge Community Center. The littlest kids were sent out first, onto the tennis court; then three subsequent groups got their chance to search specific areas of the big grassy park as well as the wading pool.

(WSB photo from past West Seattle Thriftway egg hunt)
In addition to our list of Holy Week/Easter church services, we have had a variety of egg hunts listed on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar. Now, for your convenience, we’ve put them all in one list (which will be linked all weekend atop the sidebar TOP STORIES list in case you need to find it again):

****SATURDAY EGG HUNTS****

WEST SEATTLE THRIFTWAY (WSB sponsor): 9 am Saturday, Fauntleroy/California/Morgan, ages 1-10 – indoor hunt but the line forms outdoors.

SEATTLE PARKS AND REC COMMUNITY CENTERS (WSB sponsor): 10 am Saturday at Alki, Delridge, Hiawatha, High Point, South Park Community Centers (addresses in calendar listing), ages 3-11

EGG HUNT @ LINCOLN PARK: 10 am Saturday; this is presented by Eastridge Church but it’s open to the entire community.

(added) BARNES & NOBLE EGG HUNT: 11 am Saturday, first-ever egg hunt in the Kids’ Department, in conjunction with the regular weekly storytime. “Little ones are encouraged to bring Easter baskets to hold their goodies,” says Melissa from B&N. (Westwood Village Shopping Center)

****SUNDAY EGG HUNTS****

SALVATION ARMY: 9:45 am in the gymnasium (9050 16th SW)

WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-1 pm, eggs will be hidden hourly throughout the market. (44th/Alaska)

VILLAGE GREEN PERENNIAL NURSERY: 1 pm – info on the Facebook event page (10223 26th SW)

C & P COFFEE COMPANY (WSB sponsor): 11 am (5612 California SW)

COMMUNITY EASTER FESTIVAL: At noon, Admiral Congregational Church plans an egg hunt as part of its community festival (California/Hill)

OTHER CHURCHES: Check our list of services for listings and links mentioning egg hunts adjacent to churches’ Easter Sunday services

A Terrible Beauty and The Celtic Swell were on the Seattle Firefighters Pipes and Drums schedule for St. Patrick’s Day; as you can see in our video, we caught up with them arriving at ATB, where they were the center of attention:

The corps includes retired firefighters as well as current members of the SFD ranks:

In addition to the two scheduled stops, we’ve learned they also had a third performance in West Seattle today, at the hours-to-go Alki Tavern (thanks to Bruce for that tip on that; separate report on the tavern’s final night, coming up).

(Photos by Nick Adams for WSB)
A brand-new West Seattle St. Patrick’s Day event debuted this weekend – the first-ever pets/people costume contest at The Celtic Swell on Alki. WSB contributing photojournalist Nick Adams was there to catch some of the contenders on camera. Above, that’s Zoey; next, the Lynns and their boxer:

Pub owners Gareth and Joleen Hughes‘ Siberian Huskies Finnegan, left, and Foley were of course on hand and wearing some green:

Eleven more scenes of green, after the jump:

Murphy the Great Dane was greeted by Clara Hills (center):

On the other end of the size spectrum, here’s Lulu the Chihuahua, who won “Leprechaun Lookalike”:

Mini-Longhaired Dachshund Charlotte waited patiently in her ride:

Let’s not ignore the humans: Sean Shane-Kumler, below right, with wife Kathryn and their dog Knoah, won “Not Dog Not Dog”:

Midway through the contest, at 3 pm Saturday, there was a toast to the official start of St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland (nine hours ahead of Seattle):

Then back to the pets-and-people photobooth, with Annie Allison of Studio A. That’s Mo Simon below with Shasta, left, and Walter, right:

Ready for a closeup, anyone? Ollie the French Bulldog was:

Group shot! From left, Clara Hills, Esther Hills, and Emily Knighton, posing with Lucy the Corgi:

Meantime, Watson waited quite patiently:

As did Francis the St. Bernard:

Another human of note, though not a competitor – a familiar face from The Junction at the microphone – Lora Swift from Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor):

The Celtic Swell’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities continue on into tonight – listed here on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar.

As festive as Seattle’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade (WSB coverage here) was, just imagine being part of a parade *in* Ireland – as were West Seattleite Brad Burzynski and family: Jules, Bella, and Sophia. Brad shared photos from this morning, and a report

Started our day with a traditional Irish breakfast of bacon, sausage, fried mushrooms, blood sausage, egg, toast and (since it’s a special day) Bailey’s Irish Cream in our coffee. We marched in the People’s Parade representing West Seattle. Before we came we all got sweatshirts from our local Irish pub – A Terrible Beauty. Although the day started out snowing and raining, by the time the parade started, the weather dried up a bit and we had an awesome time. We heard people speaking Italian, German, Russian, and many other languages like Canadian. We saw flags from all over the world. This has been a great week and we are glad we could send a little bit of Dublin back home to our dear West Seattle.

The People’s Parade is explained here – a first-time offering in Dublin, as part of the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade and a weeklong celebration reaching out to visitors from around the world as well as locals.

(Photo by Nick Adams for WSB: Kathryn Shane-Kumler, looking through shamrock-colored glasses at Celtic Swell costume contest – gallery later)
Five highlights among your many options for today/tonight (St. Patrick’s Day-themed AND otherwise) on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:

GO GREEN AT WORK PARTIES: 9 am (but you can show up late – get directions from the Fauntleroy/Rose kiosk) with the Friends of Lincoln Park (listing here); 10 am, mulching trees along 34th SW with the Tree Ambassadors (listing here); Seattle Chinese Garden on Puget Ridge, 10 am (details here).

WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: Greenery galore EVERY Sunday at 44th/Alaska in The Junction, 10 am-2 pm – check out the vendors’ list on the market’s website.

SEATTLE FIREFIGHTERS PIPES AND DRUMS: The corps splits into two “clans” for simultaneous 2 pm performances at West Seattle’s Irish restaurant/pubs, The Celtic Swell on Alki and A Terrible Beauty in The Junction.

CHOIR CONCERT X 2: The South Seattle Community College Choir invites you to their free concert today – with two performances this afternoon/evening to make sure everyone gets a chance to hear/see them, 3 and 5 pm, at Olympic Hall on the south end of campus (6000 16th SW).

KARAOKE FUNDRAISER TO FIGHT BREAST CANCER: At Skylark Café and Club, St. Patrick’s Day karaoke with West Seattle’s breast-cancer warriors Team Tracy, 4 pm – details here.

Despite 22 years in Seattle, a lifelong love of parade, and a bit of Irish blood in the household, we’d never managed to make it downtown for the Seattle St. Patrick’s Day Parade until today. But when we heard two local bands would be marching, as well as other West Seattle participants, we couldn’t resist. Above, the West Seattle High School Marching Band – which was near the end of the parade lineup and right in front of the Seafair Pirates‘ cannon-detonating Moby Duck, so the students’ ears might be ringing a bit this afternoon. Next, the Denny International Middle School Marching Band:

Other West Seattleite sightings – the Seattle Police horses, who are based at Westcrest Park in Highland Park:

They were with a large SPD delegation – which also included the summertime-favorite Motorcycle Drill Team at the start of the parade, and, later, two SWAT vehicles:

Along with parade marchers, vehicles of all types were in the parade – even the West Coast Entertainment touring Segways from The Admiral District:

Other West Seattle sightings – County Councilmember Joe McDermott (waving) walked with the dignitaries toward the start of the parade:

Seafair Pirate Rusty Harper:

And the Comerford School of Irish Dance, which has classes at the VFW Hall in The Triangle, was there:

Who’d we miss? We did record the entire parade on video but at least where we were, a couple blocks north of the start, it was so stop-and-go that the video would require a lot of editing for continuous motion, but we can find other West Seattleites for a shout-out! We’ll probably add a few more photos later anyway. The parade, by the way, is sponsored by the Irish Heritage Club of Seattle.