3 next weekend: Tool Library, Morgan Festival, Junction Health Fair
WEST SEATTLE TOOL LIBRARY GRAND OPENING COMING UP: On this showery Sunday, no rest for some of the stalwart volunteers from Sustainable West Seattle. We photographed Chas Redmond and Bill Reiswig at the WS Farmers’ Market, just one day after their group put on its 3rd annual festival – part of ReFRESH Southwest this time around. Today, they were promoting next Saturday’s West Seattle Tool Library grand opening (9 am-2 pm, north side of South Seattle Community College), and continuing to collect tool donations. As ReFRESH SW ended Saturday, we had asked Gene Homicki what the Tool Library still REALLY needs; his reply, the one thing they’re still hoping to get donated – an electric pressure washer! If you can donate one of those, here’s the contact info. Meantime, get a sneak peek at the tools in the system by searching this database (300 or so now, 100 more to be catalogued, Gene tells us).
MORGAN JUNCTION FESTIVAL UPDATE: Also next Saturday, it’s the southernmost West Seattle neighborhood to have its own major festival – Morgan Junction! 11 am-6 pm next Saturday (6/12), you’ll find live music next to Beveridge Place Pub and other entertainment (lineup here) in year-old Morgan Junction Park, booths (come say hi, we’re #17) behind Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) and Zeeks Pizza, and the Bite of Morgan food samples (be sure to pick up a free ‘ticket’ book) at not only Feedback and Zeeks, but also Kokoras Greek Grill, Abbondanza and Domino’s. (Plus the legendary Bubbleman at 5:15 pm!)
WEST SEATTLE JUNCTION HEALTH FAIR: Brand-new event this year (info here) – gathering The Junction’s health-related businesses together for an expo to show their stuff. Among them are WSB sponsors Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, Westside Dermatology, 8 Limbs Yoga, Fitness Together; they’ll join more than a dozen-other health/wellness specialists for demonstrations, raffles, freebies, and there’ll even be a mobile blood drive, plus police, firefighters and disaster-preparedness experts. This’ll all happen 10 am-2 pm in the Wells Fargo parking lot, conveniently across from the West Seattle Farmers’ Market during those same hours, next Sunday!
Ticket-sales time for West Seattle Garden Tour 2010
Will June showers mean July flowers? If so, it’ll be the best year yet for the West Seattle Garden Tour. Just might be, no matter what! WSB is pleased to be among the West Seattle Garden Tour sponsors this year for the first time; 
we just got word from organizers that the $15 tickets (kids under 12 are free) go on sale this week at Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor), West Seattle Nursery, ArtsWest and Junction TrueValue – or you can buy yours online right now. The tour is on July 18th. Organizers hope to sell 1,000 tickets this year to match what they’ve received in sponsorships – the proceeds this year will benefit Highland Park Elementary, the Duwamish Longhouse‘s Rain Gardens, Seattle Tilth, the ArtsWest education program, and the South Seattle Community College Arboretum (WSGT photo at left), which this year is one of 8 WSGT stops. SSCC is also where ticketholders will see a noon edible-gardening lecture by West Seattle’s own Willi Galloway of DigginFood.com, followed by wine, cheese and confections tasting courtesy of SSCC. The July 18 tour is self-guided, 9 am-5 pm.
‘Running for Robel’ followup: Holy Rosary kids @ Race for the Cure
(Photos courtesy Tim Hinthorn)
A few days ago, Susan G. Komen for the Cure volunteer Meg Paynor e-mailed WSB to share the story of a Holy Rosary School class running in the Race for the Cure today to honor their beloved teacher, who’s fighting breast cancer. She explained that they were chosen to start the Kids’ Race because of their touching story; we published that report on Friday night. This morning, they ran in the rain – and Tim Hinthorn just sent a note to share photos along with this report:
Over twenty students and their families from Holy Rosary School didn’t let summer rain drown their spirits as they participated in the Susan G Komen “Race for the Cure” this morning.
The students wore “Running for Robel” t-shirts to express their love and support for Second Grade teacher Karen Robel. Willie McGaughey, Cory Hinthorn, and Ethan Grassley finished the kids’ race first, second, and third respectively, and all participants finished the race with enthusiasm, love, and hope that Mrs. Robel recovers soon!
Though the race is over, the Komen organization accepts online donations year-round – go here.
West Seattle finalist in All-Star contest gets Safeco showcase today
Pongo Teen Writing Project founder Richard Gold of West Seattle is scheduled to get a big-screen showcase during this afternoon’s Mariners-Angels game at Safeco Field. As reported here last Tuesday, Gold is a finalist in the national All-Stars Among Us competition (with voting under way now). After getting word of that from the Mariners, we contacted him to find out more about Pongo and its West Seattle connections beyond the fact he lives here:
The Alki Bakery is Pongo’s office. That’s where I meet with volunteers, collaborators, and supporters. I love to walk along Alki afterward. But in terms of Pongo’s work, what I’ve found is that the process of healing through poetry is profoundly powerful, so I seek the youth who are institutionalized in county-wide and state-wide agencies. Our principal sites are King County juvenile detention and the state psychiatric hospital for children. Of course, I’ve worked with West Seattle youth along the way. And in the community, Pongo appears at Folklife and Bumbershoot where we speak to 500 people over a weekend and give readings, and talk to our West Seattle friends. FYI, one of Pongo’s recent volunteers is Mike Hickey, a West Seattle resident, professor at South Seattle CC, and current Seattle Poet Populist.
So why enter the nationwide contest?:
…I hope to do more good through our Pongo website, which contains free writing activities that serve abused and neglected youth. We have writing activities that address addiction, letter to a missing parent, feelings of invisibility, etc. It’s my hope that through the “All-Stars Among Us” balloting more teens, counselors, and teachers will discover and use the Pongo website.
He adds, “My primary message at the baseball game is this… For abused and neglected teens, like struggling baseball teams, you can’t undo the past. But the best first step is honesty, figuring out your truth, followed by effort and the support of caring teammates.” So if you’re going to today’s game, watch the big screen for the Richard Gold shoutout; in the meantime, you can vote for him by going here (click on the Mariners logo). June 20 is the voting deadline. Each Major League Baseball team has three finalists in the competition, and each will send one to Anaheim for recognition during the All-Star Game on July 13. (Photo courtesy Richard Gold)
West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival: Another award-winning field trip
(First three photos by Mark and Carrie Hewitt)
How does a queen cross a mud puddle? Very carefully! That’s the current Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu, Georgia Mitchell, leaping over a lingering puddle on Saturday in Shelton, where the Hi-Yu float had another award-winning day:
The “Dreams Do Come True” float was in Shelton for the Mason County Forest Festival Parade, where West Seattle Hi-Yu won the Governor’s Award – here’s your Hi-Yu royalty with the plaque and fellow parade-participant clowns:
Reporting the big win – on the heels of the Port Townsend Rhododendron Festival Parade Mayor’s Award last month – Hi-Yu Summer Festival President Tim Winston adds, “The float ran great, the girls did a great job representing West Seattle, and there was SUN!” Also along for the trip, two of the current Miss Hi-Yu candidates, Kelsey Bills and Melanie Frey:
(Photo by Carol Winston)
The candidates have several big events ahead before the July 26 coronation reveals who will be the next Queen and Senior Court – first one, the candidates’ reception at American Legion Post 160 this Wednesday night.
The date’s official, as announced on the card distributed at the 
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