Getting ready for tomorrow’s West Seattle 5K & Summer Streets on Alki

| Fun stuff to do | West Seattle news

Signed up for tomorrow’s fifth annual West Seattle 5K (with co-sponsors including WSB) already? Get yourself to West Seattle Runner (California/Charlestown; WSB sponsor) by 6 pm tonight to pick up your packet and bright-yellow official T-shirt! The team there to help you includes student volunteers like the National Honor Society members we photographed earlier this afternoon. Or – if you’re not signed up already, you can register there till 6, and avoid standing in line on race day.

That, of course, is TOMORROW, with the WS5K run/walk starting near the Alki Bathhouse just after 9 am. The weather forecast looks ever-more-promising (now “partly sunny”). Remember that with the 5K followed by SDOT Summer Streets on Alki 11 am-5 pm – what began five years ago as “car-free day” – there are closures, detours, and parking restrictions, as shown on the city’s map below:

See an even-more-detailed map here. We’re boothing at Summer Streets for the first time ever; we’ll be in the western zone between 62nd and 63rd (or so). That’s also where the day’s biggest event is scheduled to start around 1 pm – the Alki Beach Creeps-presented Costumed Bike Parade – and they are inviting everyone and anyone to join in. Other activities – entertainment and lots more – are listed here.

Kathy May 18, 2013 (5:42 pm)

On any sunny weekend Alki Neighborhood is normally infested with cars. Some are classics or pimped up, souped up specimens. Others are just ordinary vehicles, circling around and around the neighborhood trying to find street parking within walking distance of the restaurants and beach action. ONE DAY per year, Alki Avenue is set aside for pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles: bikes, skateboards, skates, scooters, etc. This is a big reason to celebrate. Enjoy the view of Puget Sound and the Olympics from your favorite restaurant without having to look through the windows of parked cars. Meet and greet friends, neighbors and visitors up close and personal instead of from inside a car-cocoon. Participate in a costume bike parade or let your kids learn safety skills at a Bike Rodeo. Envision what a street can be like when the right of way is dedicated to gentler forms of travel. Give your car a rest on Sunday, May 19th, and leave it in the garage. Come on foot, by bike, by bus (#50) or Water Taxi and/or Water Taxi Shuttle to enjoy the unique atmosphere of Alki neighborhood without cars that occurs only one day per year.