(adding frequent updates, including photos, at the bottom of this post – scroll down!)

(that whimsical chair’s on sale at the Art Dive tent, just north of Oregon, artist is Alicia Hopkins, mnahopkins (at) aol.com)
Our third and final day of frequent updates from the WSB Summer Fest HQ in the official Information Booth (come say hi, right in the Walk All Ways intersection at California/Alaska) starts shortly. Our team member who’s first on the scene reports things are getting busy already. The booths are scheduled to be open till 7 pm tonight (fixed typo from earlier – it is SEVEN, and the music continues till then too). More to come – you can find all the official info (including the music lineup) here. 11:58 AM UPDATE:

The first session of kids’ karaoke is about to start – later than the original time we were given – should be fun. 12:45 PM UPDATE: OK, kids’ karaoke is still delayed – waiting for the stage to arrive. Meantime, the traditional Sunday anti-war protest by West Seattle Neighbors for Peace and Justice is happening as usual – the demonstrators are marching up and down the booth lines, rather than back and forth across the Walk All Ways intersection as usual. We’ve just spotted the Highland Park Action Committee with “NO JAIL” signs too:

That’s Dina and Blair Johnson from HPAC. Meantime, we’re checking out even more of the vendor booths — here’s some of what you’ll see at the Smersh Design booth (Frances and John Smersh, same folks behind Click! Design That Fits [WSB sponsor] in Admiral) – which is on the west side of California between Alaska and Edmunds:

Reusable shopping bags, too. And that’s far from the only environmentally oriented merchandise you’ll find: there’s an intriguing booth called “Worm Mama” (composting components, and worm castings you can use for fertilizer if you don’t want to “grow” it yourself) on the east side of the block between Alaska and Oregon:

1:35 PM UPDATE: The Information Booth is centerstage for a lot of short-term drama – yet another missing child just reunited with parents, thanks to everyone from the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce folks manning the booth, festival staff, and Seattle Police springing to fast action – cute little toddler whose folks got separated from him just yards away. (And in an away-from-the-festival happy ending, we just got word via e-mail that the latest lost dog posted on the WSB Pets page has been reunited with its owner/s – yay!) We’ve also been talking to even more folks who we’ve known online via WSB but never met in person – including “Ellenater,” who we first met when she posted to the WSB Forum (and then we quickly reposted it to the home page) that she and her family wanted to move here and needed help finding a rental – lots of great folks came through with advice – the whole family just stopped by the Info Booth, and they’ve been here a week now, and feel like they’re “in heaven.” (Us too.) 1:56 PM UPDATE: Dropped by the special pet area behind Next to Nature – found a couple of pups eyeing the wading pool, even though it’s not that hot so far today (nice breeze right now):

P.S. now looks like Kids’ Karaoke might be on indefinite hold due to some technical trouble. 2:58 PM UPDATE: Just back from another tour of the southern half of the vendor rows – Teri at Furry Faces Foundation (booth by Petco, where you can buy pet toys, bumper stickers, etc.) has now announced a fun fundraiser coming up in the fall, “Catsino” at Beveridge Place Pub, 2-6 pm November 1st – games, prizes, food – more details to come. We also chatted with Rosemary Parris of Forest Lawn, who wants to get the word out about something you might be able to help with – They’re putting together a history of the sprawling cemetery (east of High Point) and they’re looking for photographs; if you have any Forest Lawn photos from recent history or long-ago history, please let Rosemary know – you can e-mail her a copy, or even contact her and she’ll arrange to scan them. You can call her at 206-932-0050, or e-mail her at rosemary.parris (at) sci-us.com … FREEBIE ALERT: Last night we mentioned a recommendation for the iced coffee at Frog Hollow Coffee (not far from Furry Faces) – walked by to grab a photo, and they’re offering free samples.

In other consumable news, seven-word food review for Elephant Ears, which Junior Member of the Firm decided to try ($5, in the food-court area, photo at left shows one, partially eaten before we thought to whip out the camera) – he says “kind of like a giant flat churro.” 3:23 PM UPDATE: Just talked to Pete Spalding, who’s here today in the West Seattle Food Bank booth – he says raffle-ticket sales are going well; somebody came by and bought a sizable stack with money from their “economic-stimulus payment” (you may recall, a group of West Seattle churches urged earlier this year that people consider donating some of the “stimulus” money to those in need). Pete’s also on the Stakeholders’ Advisory Council that’s working on the future of the Central Waterfront section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, so we also talked about that for a minute – the committee’s getting a briefing this week (media’s invited too and WSB will be there) with further analysis on why the option of “retrofitting” The Viaduct is no longer under consideration. Meantime, we’ve checked with police on how Summer Fest is going from their perspective — Lt. Smith tells us they’ve only had one notable incident here for which a report had to be filed – a burglary at one of the booths, late last night after closing time. 4:07 PM UPDATE: Besides the Summer Fest T-shirts on sale at the spot next to us here in the Information Booth, and the “I Love West Seattle” bumper stickers the Chamber is selling on the other side of us, here’s another way to show West Seattle pride:

Jason Olcott is selling those T-shirts in a booth of items made/sold by West 5 employees – right in front of West 5. (If you don’t see this till after Summer Fest and you’re interested in contacting him, chunkmag@yahoo.com – we also mentioned his T-shirts during the Art Dive by Hotwire Coffee [WSB sponsor] last September.) And newly available here at the Info Booth – we have bookmark-size flyers with the Movies on the Wall lineup (you can also find that on the “Cinema” tab above; first movie’s next Saturday night!) – some passersby have expressed excitement about the lineup! Uh oh, and a bulletin from the Jones Soda booth – no more soda till 5 pm (but that still means 2 hours of freebies). 4:46 PM UPDATE: Nancy Woodland from WestSide Baby stopped by with big news – First Student, the folks you see advertising for school-bus drivers, will be donating a bus for them to use for the big Stuff the Bus diaper drive two weeks from today (get a package, or two, or more, and drop ’em off that day, Sunday 7/27, at the bus you’ll see parked right by the West Seattle Farmers’ Market). WestSide Baby already had access to a bus but always had to rustle up a driver, and other logistics, but First Student is going to provide a driver too – and will also help WestSide Baby promote Stuff the Bus in the parade next Saturday. 5:26 PM UPDATE: Hour and a half to go, some features have shut down (the kid craft area, the pet area), but the booths and music are still going strong (Green Pajamas is about to play) – among recent visitors here at the Information Booth were the folks behind two of the West Seattle-based blogs on our Other Blogs in West Seattle page, Kirida and M&M. Also visiting right now, Brian from TouchTech Systems, the newest computer-related store in The Junction, in the breezeway with Many Moons etc. (just south of Oregon). 6:06 PM UPDATE: Snake sighting by Cupcake Royale – you can’t miss its handler, who’s in a wizard suit:

Speaking of reptiles, we have an update on the High Point iguana (reported here earlier in the weekend) — stand by for that within the next hour or so. 6:36 PM UPDATE: Less than half an hour to go but still lots of people, the temperature’s cooling, great deals at the booths – here’s a sample of Green Pajamas, one of the day’s hot music acts, which is just wrapping up its set:

Click To Play

6:52 PM UPDATE: Last Summer Fest update unless something dramatic happens in the next 8 minutes or so … it’s been a busy but safe day (per the police assigned to the festival, who have been stationed here at the Info Booth for a while). A question we’ve fielded more than a few times: Who organizes this, and how do you find out about getting a booth for next year? Summer Fest has multiple sponsors but it’s presented/hosted by the West Seattle Junction Association, whose members are Junction businesspeople. Its contact info is at wsjunction.com. Tons more big West Seattle summer events in the days and weeks ahead — including the West Seattle Grand Parade next Saturday — some updates on that coming up here on WSB later tonight. (And thanks again to the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce for the space in the Information Booth where we’ve been headquartered these past three days, publishing continuous updates while trying to help info-seekers a bit — information, after all, is what WSB is all about. And thanks to the many people who’ve stopped by to share info with us – and in doing so, with you – and/or to say hi – it’s been a blast!)