West Seattle Summer Fest 2011, day 3: Sunday afternoon updates

High-thin clouds, not too hot, not cold, it’s the “just right” final afternoon of West Seattle Summer Fest in The Junction. Belly dancing’s on the “informal stage” here at California/Alaska (by our HQ in the Information Booth) right now; it was TILA Real Estate’s “Minute to Win It” a bit earlier:

(No, that’s NOT Guy from the Food Network. Excellent lookalike, appearing here for his second consecutive year.) And we just heard from Stu Hennessey of Alki Bike and Board with a reminder that his electric-bike/conversion demo is coming up in the GreenLife area at 2 pm (west side of California, just north of Edmunds). Police tell us it’s been a trouble-free Summer Fest from their standpoint. Whether you’ve already been or not, c’mon down for the final hours – booths till 5, music till 5:45. P.S. Shoutout to the North Andover, Massachusetts, family and friends of Alex Young, who is enjoying Summer Fest with West Seattle relatives and dropped by to say hi. Farmers’ Market is on till 2.

2:17 PM UPDATE: That’s Evergreen Tang Soo Do Academy, putting on a martial-arts demonstration a few minutes ago. The sun’s back out, and the blue sky is winning the battle over the clouds. We’ve seen some other sights – they went by too fast even for us to photograph, but we saw someone pushing a dog in a stroller.

3:34 PM UPDATE: The photo’s from WSB contributor Stephanie Chacharon, who explains, “Visit Team Red Footed Boobies outside the post office! Passing out bottled water and boobie cookies in return for a donation to the Susan G Komen Foundation. (And keep an eye out for them at Alki on a sunny day soon!)” Meantime, before the festival ends, we had to go get a photo of this year’s single most-talked-about food item:

That’s the deep-fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It had the buzz all weekend long. Its creators are online, here. (And of course, they’re on Facebook.)

4;24 PM UPDATE: There is a medical emergency right here at California and Alaska – a man collapsed and medics have been giving him CPR ever since they rushed over moments later (we’re told a citizen had started CPR before their arrival). Tables were quickly cleared on the east side of SW Alaska to clear a patch for three fire units that are here. They are about to take the man to the hospital; we will write more about this separately.

4:39 PM UPDATE: Medic 32 has left with the patient, with three other fire units following. Efforts to save him were continuing.

4:53 PM UPDATE: The festival’s wrapping up for vendors; even the info booth will be broken down close to 5, so we’ll have to move on. The last music act starts at 5 – The Fuzz.

me on 28th Ave SW July 10, 2011 (6:22 pm)

I am sad about the man collapsing. I hope he is okay.

WSB July 10, 2011 (6:26 pm)

I don’t know if we will be able to find out unless someone who knows him posts here, but I will ask SFD if they got word. I am writing a separate story to point out the amazing fast action taken to get help, including the bystander who did CPR. – TR

West Seattle mom July 11, 2011 (1:50 am)

I loved the festival this year!! Our family (husband and two kids – 18 months and 5 year old) loved it. A great big props to everyone involved.

However, to the folks at the ProLife tent, not cool that you’d entice my daughter over with stickers and offer her a tiny baby doll shaped like a fetus without knowing my views or having my permission. Regardless of my beliefs, it’s not your place to walk her through the stages of a baby’s development or ProLife’s platform. She is five. We are at a festival. Have some respect.

We are also really sad about the man collapsing. He’s in our prayers.

Loco in W.S. July 11, 2011 (9:23 am)

Ditto for what w.s. mom said
pink floyd “leave our kids alone”

West Seattle Mom July 11, 2011 (12:24 pm)

Same goes for anybody handing out free condoms I hope…sheesh – whatever.

Steve Carter July 11, 2011 (5:03 pm)

I did not care for the West Seattle Street Fair this year. I have been attending the festival for many years and this years vendor selection was very weak. There was not much in food offerings (though the local restaurants more than made up for it). The arts, crafts and retail booths did not have anything new, interesting or exciting as there have been in years past. The music was OK but still would have liked a headliners or two!

rebecca July 11, 2011 (11:57 pm)

I don’t know who you are but you are an angel in my book, you helped me when no one else did. I was by myself with my one year old son and two year old daughter When I lost her after she walked away from a bouncy house. She was in line to get out of the bouncy house behind several other kids, I looked down to put my son in the stroller thinking I had time. It was so quick I swore someone had to have taken her. i put my son in the stroller it only took less than 10 seconds. She was gone. I didn’t think there was any way she could have gotten that far so quick. Not possible. I ran around for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do. A woman with kids the same age that I had been talking to the whole time took my son, said go find her and i did just that, i went in one direction praying that was the right way to go. I found her, the longest five full minutes of my life. By the grace of God. No one else cared no one else wanted to help me. This event is unorganized, it needs more support more visibility with police and fire. There was no one around as far as authority goes. Nowhere to go. so many people that did not care. They were mad at me when I tried to work my way through curbs, cables and lines of people . But there was one and I don’t know her name and i thank God she helped me. Maybe just a booth or something or for the cops that just hang out in the junction directing traffic. Anyway a lesson learned with a lot of lost sleep.

WSB July 12, 2011 (12:02 am)

Rebecca – I am glad to hear everything turned out OK. In terms of a booth, I realize it’s not in the kids’ zone, but the Information Booth at California/Alaska is the hub of Summer Fest and has been for the four years we have been part of it – the police check in there, festival personnel with walkie-talkies are there, first aid is there, people (including but not limited to us) are there to answer questions. It’s also the official lost-child zone. God forbid you or anyone else needs to use it in the future, but every year there are usually three or four lost kids brought there and happy reunions ensue. Again, I’m so glad you found yours, whatever it took … TR

Oliver Little July 13, 2011 (2:21 pm)

A bit of back story- The angel she referred to came to the info booth for help and we put out the alert call immediately to festival staff over the radio. I walked with her back to the kids area where the lost child had been waiting with a friend of the angel and her daughter. By the time we got there, mother and child had been reunited and we called off the alert.
When we have a lost child in a crowd, it’s important to remember that mom is probably not far away and it’s best to stay put and let mom scan the crowd, rather than moving around. We dispatch 2 staff members to wait with the child and communicate via radio to our base until SPD can take over, but usually mom’s radar is faster.
Our info booth is conveniently located at the heart of the festival, very close to the kids area and we’re ready to help.
You may not always be able to see it, but rest assured there is an emergency management system in place with eyes everywhere during this event. Safety is our top priority. Thanks for the comments, keep ’em coming!

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