That’s WSB video of the West Seattle Hi-Yu float going by during tonight’s Seafair Torchlight Parade, from our vantage point across from the Rainier Club about two-thirds of the way down the parade route. The Hi-Yu folks had extra reasons for those big bright smiles — the Luna Park-themed float won the Smile Award during judging for tonight’s parade. (Full list of winners here.) We’ll add a few more West Seattle moments and parade observations later, but wanted to get this news up first (in case you missed our post to Twitter during the parade). ADDED VERY EARLY SUNDAY: Those assorted extras, including a clip of parade grand marshal Sig Hansen from “Deadliest Catch” (no West Seattle link that I know of, but having had some family ties to the fishing industry, it was interesting to see a fisherman treated like a rock star!):Read More
MEET THE NEW BRANCH MANAGER: Julie Enevoldsen from Friends of Southwest Branch Library writes to invite everybody to the branch on Monday night, 6:30-7:45, to meet the new branch manager, Theresa Mayer. Light refreshments will be provided at the event in the upstairs meeting room; the Southwest branch is on the southeast corner of 35th/Henderson (here’s a map).
READING RECOMMENDATIONS: Librarians from Southwest and West Seattle (Admiral) branches recently provided the official Seattle Public Library systemwide blog, Shelf Talk, with some reading suggestions, based on what local readers are enjoying this summer; read the list here.
The bus WestSide Baby hopes you’ll help stuff with diapers is now in place on 44th south of Alaska, where you’ll find it tomorrow, 10 am-2 pm, right alongside the West Seattle Farmers’ Market. Three things we’ve mentioned before that are worth mentioning again: First, Costco is matching donations diaper-for-diaper, up to the first 14,000, so your donation’s likely to count double. Second, during “Stuff the Bus,” WestSide Baby is offering free carseat checks at the Junction Wells Fargo parking lot across the street. Third, if you can’t make it to the Farmers’ Market, there are a few other dropoff locations during the “Stuff the Bus” drive — five of them, all listed here. This year they’re expecting to supply needy local families with THREE-HUNDRED-THOUSAND diapers – and hoping to bring in at least 20,000 tomorrow. See you there!
That’s the view Team WSB’s resident parade nut currently has – staked out on the Seafair Torchlight Parade route, across from the stately old Rainier Club at 4th and Columbia, which is about three blocks farther down the route than where we found curbside room at the same arrival time last year. Pet peeve: People who block off sections of sidewalk with ropes or tape, put their chairs out, and leave. Our code of parade stakeouts: Once you stake your spot, at least one person stays there (rotate out if you have to). The Rainier Club, by the way, has quite a party going – there’s a kid bouncy zone way off to the right side of the photo, and on the lawn at left, its entire lawn is planted with plastic pirate flags. (And they have blocked off what looks like 100 seats along the sidewalk.) Stakeout’s fun – you get to see the participants go by ahead of time – so far, a huge posse of bicycling Seattle Police officers, and a school bus with the Chinese Community Girls’ Drill Team. Anyway, we’ll be watching out for West Seattle parade moments – you can count on the Hi-Yu Festival float and West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician, plus Denny Middle School music director Marcus Pimpleton leading the All-City Band; other parade highlights will include the grand marshal, “Deadliest Catch” captain Sig Hansen, and the crowning of Miss Seafair at the start of the parade (contenders include 2006-2007 Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu Tricia Thompson). The parade starts at the Seattle Center end of 4th Avenue around 7:30 pm, but downtown will be tough to get through starting about an hour from now, since the Torchlight Run precedes the parade (and will close the northbound side of The Viaduct for a while). No worries, we’re still in position to cover West Seattle news tonight too, but here’s hoping for a quiet fun night on both sides of the bay.
That’s Eddie Sherman, from the second generation of family ownership at Pacific Plumbing Supply, a regional business headquartered next to the West Marginal/Highland Park Way site that’s one of two potential West Seattle locations on the “final four” list for a public jail. Those two sites were the focus of a three-hour city-organized public forum at South Seattle Community College today. One major revelation from the city officials and consultants who were on hand: The process is slowing a bit now that Seattle is looking at teaming with north- and east-county cities on one semi-regional jail; that means the next round of hearings, on environmental impacts, won’t be till fall (there was originally talk of those hearings happening next month). The concerns expressed by jail opponents, meantime, continue to expand. Hear more of those concerns, and see what happens next, ahead:Read More
Earlier this month, we linked to a short newspaper report about a West Seattle entrepreneur’s big victory in court. His business is one of a kind: Making plastic wishbones so everyone gets one on Thanksgiving (or Christmas, or whenever else you serve turkey – or, so you can have one even if you DON’T serve turkey; face it, no wishbones in Tofurky or Field Roast). Having never met Lucky Break Wishbone Corp. president Ken Ahroni, we envisioned perhaps a slightly wild-eyed eccentric, oh, say, toiling out of an artsy spot at a facility like ActivSpace. But when he agreed to chat with us for a followup on the court case and what’s next, we discovered we were way wrong:Read More
First thing this morning, vendors were getting ready for the Alki Beach Art Fair, today and tomorrow 10 am-5 pm, rain or shine, and the Statue of Liberty Plaza construction isn’t getting in the way – as the photo above shows, there are booths to the west, and also lots of booths to the right, on both sides of the bathhouse. Let’s hope things stay dry because tonight is parade night:
That’s the West Seattle Hi-Yu float, royalty, and volunteers in last Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade – towed because of ongoing trouble. They have received a “very special exemption” from Seafair to be towed the entire length of tonight’s Torchlight Parade route downtown. (If you’re not going to the parade, remember many downtown streets will be completely or partly blocked off – the main parade route goes down 4th, from Seattle Center to the International District, and it’s preceded by the Torchlight Run, which puts the northbound Alaskan Way Viaduct out of commission approximately 5:30-8 pm.)Meantime, back on our side of the bay, it’s Movies on the Wall night again next to Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor):
That’s the trailer from the ’80s classic “The Goonies,” tonight’s movie, starting at dusk (9 pm-ish); free admission, but bring a nonperishable food donation for the West Seattle Food Bank, which also is the beneficiary of concession sales presented by West Seattle Christian Church (WSB sponsor). One more outdoor movie note: There’s an outdoor showing of “An Inconvenient Truth” in Fremont tonight – $5 donation suggested – and the proceeds will be split by Sustainable West Seattle and Sustainable Ballard. (North 35th/Phinney Ave. North, map; “doors” open 7:30 pm.) And on the indoor-activities front, Fauntleroy Church(WSB sponsor) continues its centennial celebration:
That’s the crowd that turned out for last night’s Bean Feed and Talent Show, paying tribute to a long-ago church tradition; this afternoon, Fauntleroy Church has an open house, 1-4 pm — if you’ve never been there, it’s worth checking out the steepled sanctuary in its beautiful wooded sanctuary across the street from the old schoolhouse (9140 California SW; map). What else is up, you ask? Check the West Seattle Weekend Lineup.
Earlier this month, we linked to 
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