Junction Car Show coverage, early edition
That’s the view to the north and the south from midblock on California SW between Alaska and Oregon about half an hour ago, as entrants in the first-ever West Seattle Junction Car Show got ready to show off classic wheels like these:
And more participants were still arriving as of minutes ago – here you see a few heading north through the sections of California that otherwise are closed off for the day (Edmunds to Alaska, Alaska to Oregon, Oregon to the post office) with the east-west streets still open):
This grouping of cars looked very nicely color-coordinated with the Capers storefront:
We’ll be back later for a closer look; the car show (with WSB among the many sponsors) is scheduled to continue till 4 pm. More info about today’s events in this preview.
Hours till the first-ever West Seattle Junction Car Show
One more reminder tonight – our next update will be some early-morning pix as the cars get set up (some spaces are left for same-day registration – “load-in” is at 6:30 am, from the east side of the Edmunds/California intersection). Tomorrow, 8 am-4 pm, it’s the first-ever West Seattle Junction Car Show (with WSB among the co-sponsors), featuring more than 200 pre-1975 cars along California SW, which will be closed in Edmunds-Alaska, Alaska-Oregon, and Oregon-post office sections (the west-east streets remain open to traffic). There’s a raffle, T-shirt sales (design at left), and several special options for breakfast, including Puerto Vallarta opening at 7 am, West Seattle Eagles offering breakfast starting at 7 am, and Elliott Bay Brewery opening at 10 am. And don’t forget to wander over to the West Seattle Farmers’ Market at 44th/Alaska for the zucchini races (here’s our coverage, with video, from last year). The forecast looks a little better than today.
Bizarre incident on Alki tonight
In the Alki area and saw some police/fire activity a little while ago? WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli checked it out, and sent the photos that accompany this post. At first, a “water rescue” call went out on 911, with the typically large response; then all but one engine was canceled. Witnesses who were having a party under tents at the beach (photo below) told him a fully clothed man had gone into the water and looked to be in danger/trouble, so someone called 911, and when fire/police started to arrive, he ran out of the water, soaking wet, and took off into the residential neighborhood to the east. When a new emergency response showed up a few minutes later, Christopher investigated that, and discovered the man — still sopping — turned up near Alki Community Center, was checked out by paramedics from Engine 29 and turned out to be OK. Christopher adds, “He was quoted as saying the temperature of the water ‘surprised him.’ Police transported him home.”
New WSB Forums section: Freebies, Deals, Sales
Almost since their start 9 months ago, the WSB Forums — with more than 28,000 posts in nearly 2,000 topics, to date — have been a place for West Seattleites to help each other, as well as a place to discuss myriad topics (sometimes cheerily, sometimes crabbily, seldom boringly). 
Help comes in many forms, from the official sections such as Reader Recommendations (where’s the best place to … who’s the best person to …) and Jobs Offered (businesses can post “help wanted” listings FREE), to individual discussions/events such as the fundraiser that helped an arson-damaged business recover (our report here), and many other smaller efforts in which people have come together to lend a hand. So the current economic jitters have inspired a new section: Freebies, Deals, Sales. Fairly self-explanatory (sales includes yard/garage/rummage sales, but can also include major business sales, like “annual half off everything”) – rather than set too many guidelines at the start, we’re going to watch first to see how YOU choose to use it. We just put it up a few hours ago and already, two people have posted freebies. West Seattle/White Center vicinity only, please; and, when your freebie is gone, or your sale is over, come back to post that too, so we can keep the area current. We prefer that the posts come from those who are offering the freebie/deal/sale, but if you spot something good you want to share, it’s OK to post that too – we reserve the right to delete anything suspicious, though (so this kind of thing doesn’t happen). Anyway: The new section’s here.
NAIOP’s huge work party to help fix up Camp Long
That’s Tai, and he’s one of more than 350 volunteers who are toiling — rain? what rain? — at Camp Long right now, for a huge work party organized by NAIOP (National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, a trade association for real-estate and development companies) as one of its “community enhancement projects.” We wandered the park at midmorning to see what was going on – first, the logistics center in the lodge:
Next, out into the park. NAIOP had a map to various work sites, labeled by area and by priority. One big priority, fixing up the fire ring toward the south end of the “Parade Grounds” meadow:
All along the trails, groups were restoring and rebuilding, including another huge priority – the big bridge down the trail leading north toward the golf course – lots of work alongside cabins and picnic shelters too:
And of course, the front entrance was getting some love too:
As we left after a while (we’re going back later to see how it all turned out), we ran into someone who spent LAST Saturday on a big cleanup/restoration project – Nancy Driver, co-organizer of the West Seattle Gateway Cleanup, walking by with pruning saw in hand. She explained that some NAIOP members such as Harbor Properties and Excel were major contributors (manpower as well as $power) to the work that went into the Gateway Cleanup, and she wanted to do something to reciprocate. You can lend a hand in West Seattle greenspaces just about any Saturday, by the way – the regular volunteer work parties are always in our West Seattle Weekend Lineups published every Friday, and they’re also listed at greenseattle.org.
8 days left till the 5K Alki Beach Run for NW Hope and Healing
One week from tomorrow, it’s your chance to multitask in the best of ways: Enjoy an invigorating 5K run/walk along Alki, while raising money for a West Seattle-based organization that helps women fighting breast cancer. The Northwest Hope and Healing Foundation sponsored its fundraiser run through Lincoln Park last year (see photo above), but this year it’s along Alki, from the Bathhouse to Anchor/Luna Park and back. When NWHH joined the WSB sponsor team earlier this month to provide a continuous reminder of the upcoming Alki Beach Run, we wrote here about all the work they do – it’s different from the organizations that are researching treatments and cures; Northwest Hope and Healing provides services to help patients cope with the immediate needs in their lives once they have been diagnosed … and sadly, there still are plenty of people who need that help (read more on this NWHH webpage). It all starts a week from tomorrow, 9 am Sunday 9/28; you can register online here, right now — or if you can’t do the run/walk but would like to contribute to Northwest Hope and Healing anyway, you can do that here.
Fauntleroy Church: Sale today, documentary Wednesday
(photos added 11:16 am)
The all-church sale happening today at Fauntleroy Church quite decidedly has “indoor” in its official name, so that’s one place you can go to stay dry till we get a break in the showers. The sale’s under way 9 am-3 pm today; the church is at 9140 California SW (map). Then, Wednesday night is your next chance to see the new Fauntleroy documentary on a big screen – here’s a preview from Judy Pickens:
The Fauntleroy neighborhood, past and present, will hit the silver screen on Wednesday, September 24, when The Fauntleroy Story: 100 Years of Community premieres at 7 p.m. in Fellowship Hall at Fauntleroy Church. The 35-minute documentary explores the neighborhood from its founding at the end of the streetcar line to present-day challenges of sustaining community.
The project originated as an idea for the church centennial and soon grew into a profile of the whole neighborhood. The steering committee has wide representation from the community and the Southwest Seattle Historical Society. Residents, businesses, and the church pitched in to help fund the $30,000 project and match a $15,000 grant from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.
The screening will include a Q&A with the production team. Take-home copies of the DVD will be available by donation.
If you miss the premiere, DVDs will be available starting Sept. 25 at The Original Bakery, church office, and Loghouse Museum gift shop. The next local screening will be during the Fauntleroy Fall Festival on Oct. 19.
We attended a preview of the semifinal cut back in July; here’s that report.
Congrats, Wildcats: West Seattle High School beats O’Dea!
Just in from our correspondent at West Seattle Stadium: The big game just ended, and West Seattle High School‘s football team has beaten O’Dea, 21-6. We shot video of the game-end celebration and we’ll put it up when it comes into WSB HQ a bit later. This is big because WSHS has NEVER before beaten the football squad from O’Dea, which the Times noted here has won the Metro League 12 of the past 14 seasons. ADDED 10:32 PM: The end-of-game video, starting a few seconds before the clock ran out. Note that we did NOT go to shoot the game itself, so we don’t have highlights – we went to the stadium late in the game to make sure we’d be able to share the score fast if they won (last year we learned it’s almost impossible to find out the score any other way), and since WSHS did win, we shot the fans going wild (more so than the players). Congratulations! (P.S. Anyone interested in sending pix/video and/or texting or phoning in the score after any local schools’ games, we’d love to share more of this; let us know if you can help.)
Protests in West Seattle, Ballard target Mars Hill parenting seminar
Left to right, that’s JanS, JoB, and Kat near Mars Hill Church-West Seattle tonight, in a vigil/protest that grew out of a vigorous discussion in the WSB Forum and elsewhere this past week. It began with first word that MH was sponsoring a two-day seminar with parenting author Tedd Tripp, whose teachings include an advocacy of corporal punishment and say it may even be merited for babies. Opponents decided to gather tonight outside MH-Ballard, where Tripp is speaking, and MH-West Seattle, one of several MH branches where the seminar is being broadcast live. As families arrived, the West Seattle trio stood on the corner across from the church’s south side and offered their thoughts to those who walked by, as well as offering flyers.
Some accepted flyers, some didn’t; one person was heard to suggest that the protesters go inside to listen for themselves. To that point, we should note that a Mars Hill representative, in logo T-shirt and name tag, offered us and the other media reps the chance to go inside and observe the seminar. We didn’t take him up on it; the controversial topic itself comes up late tomorrow morning. Meantime, we’ve received a photo of the concurrent Ballard protest tonight:
That photo is courtesy of our friends at MyBallard.com; you can see their coverage here.
Happening now: West Fest, night 1
Gotta love a festival with a 20-foot-high inflatable pig over the barbecue stand. Lots of food options at the West Fest Fall Family Festival (WSB sponsor), happening now through 10 pm, then again tomorrow 10 am-10 pm, at Holy Rosary (42nd/Genesee – look for all the activity NORTH of Genesee), and much dining was under way when we dropped in briefly:
There are also games, bouncy rides, and indoor offerings too — bingo in the gym, with coffee and other autumnal beverages available for purchase. Despite the clouds, it was relatively pleasant during our passthrough. Live music should be under way by now; the schedule is listed in this WSB preview.
Denny/Sealth: The decisionmaking’s not all done yet
The major decisions in the controversial campus-combining project may be in the history books, but there is other work under way now, with public involvement/comment encouraged, and we want to make sure you know it’s happening: First, what is currently being called the “School Design Team for Future Redevelopment of the Former Denny Middle School Site” is about to meet for the first time – in two sessions two weeks apart, the first one next Monday afternoon – here’s the official announcement:
The first meeting is planned for September 22nd at 3 pm at Denny Middle School with a repeat meeting to take place on October 8th at 7 pm at Denny Middle School for parents, neighbors and community members not able to attend the meeting on the 22nd. The SDT process allows a set number of volunteers from the school, parks, businesses and the surrounding neighborhood to attend the meetings to develop the project needs and requirements. The entire community is invited to attend these meetings and voice their opinion and desires regarding the design and use of the former Denny Middle School site. A number of people from the community volunteered to be a part of the design team. At this time the available seats have been filled. However, we may need optional members in the case that any of the team members are unable to keep their commitment for the full length of time. If anyone is still interested in volunteering to be a part of the design team, please fill out the volunteer form.
The first meeting will familiarize everyone with the school design team process and begin the process of deciding together the best use of the space. The intent is to have all stakeholders be able to express their interests.
The second group that’s meeting is the Sealth/Denny School Departure Advisory Committee. Its first meeting actually happened earlier this week, but we didn’t get an announcement ahead of time and we don’t see evidence much of anyone else did, either — we’re thankful that one of the participants called us the next day in hopes we’d shine a little more light on the process. This is a group the city is required to convene because the Denny/Sealth project calls for zoning “departures” – regarding parking and height. The Departure Advisory Committee’s next meeting is 7 pm October 7, also at Denny.
Today/tonight in West Seattle: Temp “parks”; punishment protest
TODAY: TEMP PARKS: We just checked and the soggy weather’s not stopping the local plans for PARKing Day, a nationwide event with temporary “parks” set up – often in onstreet parking spaces – to demonstrate the importance of greenspace in urban areas. One was planned for Alaska/California 9 am-4 pm today (as of 9:08 am, they’re setting it up), and another in the 9600 block of 16th SW in White Center, 10 am-3 pm in front of Full Tilt Ice Cream.
TONIGHT: PUNISHMENT PROTEST: A demonstration is planned outside Mars Hill Church-West Seattle at 6 pm tonight by people who are upset about the parenting-book author whose Mars Hill-Ballard seminars are going to be broadcast there live tonight and tomorrow, Tedd Tripp, because his advocacy of corporal punishment includes the suggestion parents may need to hit children starting in infancy. This Times story today takes a thorough look at the controversy, including a statement from MH; the genesis of the demonstration was in this WSB Forum thread, followed by this one specifically about the protest plan (check it if you are interested in participating in the protest; meantime, MH’s seminar schedule is here – the “physical discipline” discussion is tomorrow morning).
CUPCAKES FOR CORA: 
Thanks to Diane for spotting this: 
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