Lady Liberty isn’t the only one at Alki with a torch today – that’s Home on the Range barbecue (whose MySpace site declares the team “… is gonna win at Alki”) cleaning off the grill in dramatic style (go here for a few seconds of video including the roaring torch), just one of the sights late this morning as the competitors in the Evergreen State Barbecue Championships revved up for the first of two days. Two vendors are selling food – they’re both along the walkway that’s across the street from Pegasus (62nd/Alki):

Also happening right now (till 2 pm), the Neighborhood Matching Fund 20th-anniversary open house at Youngstown Arts Center. Scrapbook-making is under way; we caught Ron Angeles, Delridge Neighborhood Services coordinator (left), and Pete Spalding (Delridge District Council president, among other roles) making entries for Delridge:

You’re also invited to make sure any local NMF project you are or have been involved with is represented on this map:

Free treats too and reusable shopping bags while they last. That’s what the mayor also was supposed to be handing out at the West Seattle Gateway Cleanup, continuing till about 3:30 – we caught him as he posed for pix near the Fauntleroy walkover around 10:30:

After that, we walked onto the pedestrian bridge (an interesting experience for an acrophobe) to get an aerial perspective of what the history-making volunteers are up to:

As we mentioned earlier, more than 200 had signed up, including representatives of a variety of local groups – among those we spotted this morning, Mars Hill Church-West Seattle, local LDS church members, the Morgan Community Association (later we’ll show you a photo of their cute T-shirts) and more.