At 10 am, the biggest of West Seattle Summer Fest‘s three days begins in The Junction. Vendors are scheduled to be open till 8 pm; music goes till 11 pm. Above, the map. Below, some highlights:

MUSIC – ALL ON THE CALIFORNIA-NORTH-OF-OREGON STAGE: Here’s the lineup. The live music starts at noon with Eight Legs to Nowhere. Continues till midnight (Head Like a Kite at 11:15 pm is the last group) – with longtime faves including Rat City Brass at 2:30 pm, Rachel Harrington at 3:45, Massy Ferguson at 5.

LIVE PERFORMANCES AT CALIFORNIA/ALASKA: These are not in the festival guide – but the first ones of the day are a hot-dog-eating contest at 1 pm, Troupe Hipnotica belly dancing at 1:30 pm, Evergreen Tang Soo Do martial-arts demonstration at 2 pm, Sugar Rush cake-eating contest at 3 pm, “adorable child dancers” at 4 pm, Nadira at 5 pm, West Seattle Hi-Yu at 6 pm.

SUMMER FEST KIDS’ AREA: Open 10 am-8 pm today. The rides are at SW Alaska and 44th SW, a few on Alaska, the rest in the Wells Fargo parking lot to the north. Here’s our earlier report with full details on the rides and the pricing. But there are free activities too – like the art zone coordinated by Pathfinder K-8.

ART DIVE: Look for the big tent on California SW north of SW Oregon. Too many participants to list in the guide, but we got a sneak peek from coordinators Twilight Artist Collective in this earlier report (hair extensions!).

HACK-CYCLE: Bring that neglected/no-longer-needed bike, and use cool tools to make something new (and hopefully still rideable) out of it. The Hack-cycle zone is on SW Alaska east of California, across from Junction Plaza Park. Here’s our preview story, with metal artist Rusty Oliver explaining what it’s all about (or if you don’t have a bike, drop by to help provide human power!).

GREENLIFE: The sustainability zone is in a parking lot on the south end, just past Bikram Yoga, and east of the 44th/Edmunds Chase drive-thru. Today’s demonstrations start at 11 am with “Green Cleaning Materials,” and continue till “Making Beer at Home” at 5 pm. Full schedule here.

FESTIVAL FOOD: Most of the food booths are on SW Alaska on both sides of California – but note that many of the area restaurants in The Junction to serve you day in, day out, night in, night out are offering something special, like in more than a few cases, outdoor seating … so wander the whole area to have a look BEFORE you get hungry!

INFORMATION BOOTH: If you just can’t find someone – or have another question – or want to say hi to reps from neighborhood groups, West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, West Seattle Junction Association, and WSB (hi!) – you’ll find them all in the info booth is in the heart of the festival area, Walk-All-Ways at California/Alaska.

Before we move on to West Seattle Summer Fest 2011 Day 2, we have a multitude of photos still to share from Day (and Night) 1 – above, of course, The Fastbacks’ reunion, and below, the crowd:

Summer Fest was full of unscheduled moments – like a Seattle Police sergeant atop Seattle Fire’s Ladder 11 as its ladder was extended during its visit alongside Junction Plaza Park:

Also extended: The arms of Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) co-proprietor Jeff Gilbert, in the midday sunshine:

Many more photos, after the jump:

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The first evening of West Seattle Summer Fest 2011 is under way and we still have sunshine here in The Junction – lots of people, too. Everybody’s asking about The Fastbacks – they play at 8 pm at the main music stage, California SW just south of the post office (between Genesee and Oregon). Except for Caspar Babypants at 6:30 pm, right here at California/Alaska by KeyBank, all the music acts are on that stage. (After The Fastbacks, it’s The Cops at 9 pm.) The spot where CB will play in an hour is hosting a jump-rope demonstration by champion jumper René Bibaud and her Ropeworks business, right now (video added):

6:25 PM UPDATE: Big crowd already before Mr. Babypants even starts playing.

If you’re coming to the festival tonight, bring a sweater – there’s a bit of a breeze. P.S. Looking for the trash cans? Keep an eye out for the Zero Waste stations first and foremost – this is one in the middle of the Alaska-to-Oregon block:

If you don’t make it here tonight, Summer Fest revs up at 10 am Saturday.

7:02 PM: Caspar Babypants is still playing. Here’s a bit of video:

Every 10 seconds or so, someone stops by to ask us where The Fastbacks are playing. 8 pm, the main stage up by the beer garden/Eagles aerie/post office. See you there!

8:26 PM: Hanging out just north of the stage. Here’s a quick clip of The Fastbacks (we’ll substitute a longer one when we get back to HQ, music takes a while to upload in the field):

The Cops are up around 9 pm, and that’s the last scheduled music for the evening, though the party will go on at some of The Junction’s regular venues.

9:50 PM: Here’s the long Fastbacks clip, including their intro by Easy Street Records owner Matt Vaughan (joking that he was filling in for Dow Constantine, a nod to the King County Executive’s famous intro for Mudhoney at Summer Fest two years ago):

*NOTE – Even if you don’t see a screengrab, we tested, and the video DOES play, just click the arrow* Wondering about tomorrow’s music? Schedule’s here. It’s *all* on the one stage on the north end of the festival zone, California between Genesee and Oregon – Caspar Babypants was the only performer scheduled for the “informal” area in the heart of The Junction.

We’re into hour three of day one at West Seattle Summer Fest already – and we’ve had sunshine, though the clouds are coming and going too. It’s not too hot, not too cold, just right. Kicking back has begun – earlier, we caught Dave and Dean from West 5, with Dean’s fiancee Quinn, at the Elliott Bay Brewing outdoor area:

It’s not all play and no work, though – as chair of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce board, Dave is currently pulling a shift in the Information Booth at California/Alaska, where we are embedded throughout the festival as well. Among the changes this year – food stands on both sides of Alaska:

Thinking about the food you cook at home – longtime WSB sponsor Dream Dinners is here, and if you place an order during the festival, you get a special salad bowl – at left is DD’s Leslie Thomson, with her visiting cousin:

And if you have any concerns about safety – no worries, the police are here:

From left, Southwest Precinct’s Lts. Ron Rasmussen and Ron Smith. When you come to Summer Fest, remember to check out the GreenLife zone down on the south end, presented by Sustainable West Seattle and West Seattle Nursery. That’s where we found Donna Sandstrom from The Whale Trail, showing off one of their new whale-viewing kits:

Want to find out about backyard cottages? Ncompass Cottage Company (WSB sponsor) is there too:

Remember there’s one main music stage this year, California near Genesee, where Ali Marcus was scheduled as the first act, 12:45 pm. There’s one exception – Caspar Babypants will be here at California/Alaska at 6:30 tonight. Much more coverage to come (and other news too) … we’ll be adding to this as the afternoon goes on.

From the SDOT traffic camera pointed north along California SW from SW Alaska – a “live” overview as West Seattle Summer Fest is now officially open! A few more reminders and preview notes, including info from businesses and organizations that shared information when we issued an open invitation, are ahead – but first, the basics:

TODAY’S HOURS AND HIGHLIGHTS: 10 am-10 pm, with vendors till 6 pm and food till 8 pm. The music schedule is here – Caspar Babypants is at California/Alaska (informal performance area) at 6:30 pm and the long-awaited The Fastbacks reunion is at the California-north-of-Oregon stage at 8 pm. The vendor list and map are here. Kid-zone rides/pricing/hours here.

HACK-CYCLE – BRING THAT NEGLECTED/OUTGROWN BIKE: If you missed our story about metal artist Rusty Oliver‘s participation in Summer Fest to help you transform a neglected/outgrown bicycle into a work of hopefully rideable art – see it here. Just make sure the bike you bring is still intact. The Hack-cycle area is on the east end of the SW Alaska festival zone, by Junction Plaza Park (next to bicycle parking and other recycling).

HELP SUMMER FEST BE AS GREEN AS IT CAN BE: Just in case you missed this call for volunteers, one more time – the Zero Waste effort at Summer Fest could use a few more bodies:

Volunteer Friday 3 pm-8 pm or Sunday 11 am-2 pm. Help educate festivalgoers on how to recycle and compost. Help make the festival a Zero Waste event! Contact Liz@wsjunction.org ASAP …

ONE MORE WAY TO BE GREEN – CORK RECYCLING AT BIN 41: Got wine corks? Bring them to Bin 41 wine shop, on the west side of California just south of SW Alaska:

Many of you are aware (and have been contributing, thank you!) to our cork recycling efforts at the bin. We’re teamed with Recork of Amorin, serving as a Public Collection Partner. Cork is a renewable, fully reusable natural material. Let’s join together to keep the life cycle of this amazing product in action. WE WANT YOUR CORK. This weekend we’ll have our collection box outside at our table to get the word out. Bring in a minimum quart size bag of corks (natural only, sorry no synthetic / plastic) and enter your name into our cork-a-thon raffle. We’ll draw the winner of a wine accessories medley on Sunday before we close.

SPEAKING OF WINE (AND BEER): Tastings in The Junction during Summer Fest – Bin 41 has its regular Friday night tasting tonight, 6-7:30 pm (details here) … The Beer Junction (4707 42nd SW) has Friday and Saturday tastings this week – 5-7 pm tonight, it’s 21st Amendment Brewing.

SALES, SALES, SALES: Honoring Summer Fest’s origins as The Junction’s “sidewalk sale,” many merchants are offering deals – be sure to shop the stores that line Downtown West Seattle 365 days a year, in addition to browsing the festival booths. Among the sales: Summery items at WSB sponsor Click! Design That Fits (detailed on their blog-format website) … Again and A Gain children’s consignment store on California SW just south of SW Edmunds is offering this sale: “$5 off Keen Sunport sandals, 20% off Giggles dance / costumes and Half Off selected Girls Dresses, Boys Tops, Toys, Crib Aquariums & Bedding, Baby Baths and Maternity Wear!” … WSB sponsor J.F. Henry has its big sale under way too, as detailed in our official “welcome” story yesterday … And Easy Street Records has its traditional megasale too.

HEALTH FREEBIES: Freebies at Summer Fest include this one that West Seattle Whole Health Center e-mailed to tell us about – free acupuncture and Pilates lessons, on this schedule:

Free acupuncture: Friday 10 am – 1 pm, Saturday 10 am – 2 pm, Sunday 2 pm – 5 pm* – Free Pilates: Friday 1 pm – 4 pm, Saturday 2 pm – 6pm, Sunday 11am – 2pm

You can look WSWHC up on the vendor list (which links to a clickable map), booths 155-157.

KIDS’ ACTIVITIES: We just snapped that photo of Laurie Paul, director of Bright Horizons-West Seattle at Summer Fest – BH is a major sponsor of the kids’ area in the Wells Fargo parking lot at 44th/Alaska. We published pricing/ride info in this story yesterday, but remember there’s plenty of free fun too, including art activities coordinated by Pathfinder K-8.

LOTS more to come – we’re live on site at the Summer Fest information booth at California/Alaska, along with reps from the festival-presenting West Seattle Junction Association, the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, neighborhood groups, and more). (But no worries, we’ll be covering lots of OTHER West Seattle news throughout the day too.)

(WSB photos by Torin Record-Sand)
You can’t have a festival without … relief. So this was one of the most important arrivals in The Junction tonight, after the West Seattle Summer Fest zone was closed to traffic and open for both festival setup and general WSSF eve revelry:

In the street outside Elliott Bay Brewing, the Bubbleman is an annual Summer Fest Eve tradition. During the festival itself, you’ll see fun performances in a not-quite-a-stage area set up right at California and Alaska:

And while there are long rows of booths for vendors and groups both local and non-local, remember your West Seattle Junction businesses are really bringing it for the big weekend too:

One of The Junction’s newest businesses, the Tuscan Tea Room, was putting up a banner for its new features. Just down the block, West 5 hosted the band Diminished Men – outdoors, of course:

We’ve received info from other local businesses, and that’s going into our morning preview on the other side of dawn, along with a reminder of some of what we’ve already previewed over the past couple weeks – Summer Fest starts up at 10 am Friday; Team WSB is in the Information Booth at California/Alaska once again this year, wave as you walk by! (Music schedule, vendor list, GreenLife demo schedule, maps, and lots more can all be found at wsjunction.org/summerfest.)

As the West Seattle Summer Fest motto goes, “Let’s close the streets and see what happens.” And as of this evening, till sometime Sunday night, closed they are – California SW between Alaska and Edmunds, and Alaska between 44th and 42nd. Setup is under way, but so is fun – The Junction’s third Shop Late Thursdays of the summer (till 9 pm – participating businesses are listed here), and more. We’ll have a full report later, but just wanted to remind you about the streets, for starters. P.S. Can you help make Summer Fest as green as green can be? There’s a need for volunteers on two shifts:

Volunteer Friday 3 pm-8 pm or Sunday 11 am-2 pm. Help educate festivalgoers on how to recycle and compost. Help make the festival a Zero Waste event! Contact Liz@wsjunction.org ASAP …

P.S. Our favorite pre-Summer Fest photo thus far:

Summer Fest officially opens tomorrow morning at 10 – we’ll be in the information booth again this year (at California/Alaska); come by and say hi!