It’s the first night of this year’s Summer Concerts at Hiawatha series, and swing/jazz seems perfect for this warm summer night on the east lawn of Hiawatha Community Center, where Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators are playing for a crowd we estimate to be at least 300 so far, with people still drifting in:

And some are already dancing, both near the stage and on the edges of the crowd:

The concerts are presented by the Admiral Neighborhood Association, led by president David Whiting:

He introduced tonight’s emcee, Victoria Ferrulli, who is representing ANA in the Seafair Scholarship Program for Women (one of two West Seattle representatives in this year’s competition, along with Hi-Yu‘s Kayli Schulz):

We’ll find out Saturday night, before the Torchlight Parade, who gets crowned as Seafair royalty. Meantime – concert sponsors are here at Hiawatha, including us, and some have special freebies – next to our table, Merrill Gardens (WSB sponsor) has coloring books, and over under the canopy, Metropolitan Market (also a WSB sponsor) has mini-brownie bites with coupons for a discount on more:

The music continues until about 8 pm, and it’s a big lawn, so bring your chair/blanket if you’re not here already, bring a picnic if you want – it’s a really casual environment and a great place to be outside on a midsummer night. Next week (Thursday, August 1st, 6:30 pm) it’ll be The Dusty 45s – and if you want a dinner option, there’ll be a barbecue benefiting Hiawatha.

7:49 PM UPDATE: ANA’s estimate of tonight’s peak crowd (starting to dwindle now), 400 people.