West Seattle Summer Fest 2010, 1st afternoon, report #2

(Our 1st afternoon report is here; our preview with “what’s changed” is here; bus/road info, here)

(The Full Tilt Ice Cream bike is here selling ice-cream bars all weekend! By the info booth)
Vendors are here till 6 tonight – starting up again at 10 Saturday – and the music is already going on the California Stage (across from West Seattle Eagles), with Ragged Glory till 3:30, Trombone Cake at 4, and onward from there – last act of the night on the California stage is Hell’s Belles at 9; the Alaska stage, near our spot in the info booth at Walk All Ways, starts music with Mariachi Fiesta Mexicana at 5:45 pm, followed by Kim Virant at 7, and the much-awaited Satchel at 8:30. And something lots of folks have asked us about – the Rat City Rollergirls dunk tank – is just getting set up. More to come as the afternoon rolls on! There’s a nice breeze here through the heart of The Junction, and things have been mellow, but fun, so far.

3:52 PM: We have an unofficial policy of photographing every candidate and elected official who stops by – just chatted with 34th District State House Position 2 candidate Joe Fitzgibbon (D):

He says he’s about to head back out doorbelling and expects to pass 5,000 doorbells rung (etc.) sometime tonight. The election is August 17th, but since it’s vote-by-mail, you’ll see your ballot before the end of the month. And as we write, another candidate in the same race, Geoffrey “Mac” McElroy (I), has just dropped by – we’ll add his photo in a few.

4:44 PM: The fire scare (see separate story) delayed the continuing coverage here. Here’s the McElroy photo:

(And if we see Marcee Stone and/or Mike Heavey, we’ll take their pix too – all candidates/politicians welcome at the info booth!) We’ve also seen a lot of The Junction’s merchants today, no surprise – here’s Easy Street Records proprietor Matt Vaughan (they’re having their giant tent sale as usual this Summer Fest):

And little visitors, too: Fauntleroy Children’s Center is one of the “field trips” we’ve seen come through. This photo was taken shortly after they passed the info booth and were heard to exclaim “A POLICEMAN!”

We’re in the info booth till about 5:30 today – vendors are here till 6 pm – music continues on till 10 pm+. And right by our booth, a martial-arts demo (youth) just kicked off! We’re rolling video. (added later) Here’s the Evergreen Tang-Soo-Do Academy demo (they’re in Admiral):

5 Replies to "West Seattle Summer Fest 2010, 1st afternoon, report #2"

  • z July 9, 2010 (5:38 pm)

    just moved to west seattle in october. 6months ago we would have been excited about the festival, but now we have a six month old, which means after an hour in the sun and heat, we turn into boring losers. so allow me to be a bit whiny.

    i must of admit we underestimated the festivals ability to screw up our lives for 3 days. whoops.
    we live less than a block from spring hill on 44th, love the neighborhood. but there is nothing quite like forced admission to a very loud 3 day day rock fest full of very average/bad bands with an infant on your hip. the music sounds like it is almost in our living room. its too hot to close the windows for naps, too loud to open them, which doesn’t help all that much anyway. kid can’t sleep so he’s crying. good times dude.

    hey, maybe mix in a little jazz, blue grass next year and turn down the volume, this ain’t capital hill. chill out we are across a bridge man. my infant is really looking forward to the punk rock bank at 9pm, 2 hours after his bed time.

    family friendly for sure.

    well worth the price of admission.

  • luckymom30 July 9, 2010 (5:54 pm)

    Just back from spending the day at Summerfest, it was such a great time, the selection of merchandise was awesome! My daughter had a great time on all the rides and all the people we met were incredibly nice. Going back tonight for music and going yet again tomorrow morning!

  • Junctionite July 9, 2010 (7:31 pm)

    Two blocks from the junction and I agree with Z on the music, are medicore stoner bands a requirement? Mix it up a bit! Jazz, Blue Grass, R & B, maybe some ethnic bands.

  • Aaron July 9, 2010 (8:55 pm)

    We love West Seattle Summer Fest, but I thought I would mention something odd that we witnessed this evening. We saw two police officers talking to two young women and then one officer took off his belt, gun included, and gave it to one of the young women to try on. We were completely shocked by this.

    The young woman put on the belt, posed for pictures, then gave the belt back and posed for more pictures with the officer(s). Are police officers allowed to remove their belt/weapon and hand it over to the public? It appeared that the officers were on duty. Obviously he could have known these young women, but it didn’t seem that way at first glance.

    Luckily nothing stupid happened as a result of this, but we were still so surprised to see it happen. It just doesn’t seem like the right choice, no matter what the case, but especially in a setting like this with so many people around.

  • Kirsten July 9, 2010 (10:16 pm)

    Wow! I think the Summer Fest is a great way for local vendors and the community to enjoy some summer fun! I am a new resident of West Seattle. I live about a block from the Junction, and I have to say, I didn’t mind the music one bit. I’m sorry for the people who have kids, but music is part of what makes Seattle great, West Seattle included. It’s only fitting that we should have free music.

    Thanks so much to the WSB and for all the other people who have worked so hard to provide us with this festival!

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