As previewed last week, Sub Pop Records is visiting two community councils in West Seattle this week to talk about its big 30th anniversary party at Alki on August 11th (first announced here in January).
First up – tonight’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting, where Sound Transit light rail and a for-sale greenbelt were discussed too, but Sub Pop’s party was the big story. Lots of new information:
Megan Jasper, CEO of Sub Pop, led the briefing. “We live here,” she said, noting that – as mentioned in the original announcement – many Sub Pop employees and managers live in West Seattle and want to do their best to make this an event their own neighborhood can be proud of.
The band lineup is currently planned to be unveiled May 29th. Now that we have that question answered, about the crowd estimate:
30,000? wondered some WSB commenters. That’s based on what they drew for their 25th birthday bash in Georgetown, Jasper (photo right) and other Sub Pop reps told ANA. Maybe this crowd will be smaller, but they want to be ready just in case.
Four stages are planned, with the main ones near Alki Bathhouse and by Blue Moon Burgers. There’ll be a kids-and-family zone with a separate stage on the Alki Elementary playfield. That one will close at 6 pm, others at 8 pm, and it’ll all be over by 10 pm. The final stage with the closing act will face west toward the water. Scheduling will be spaced so that one group at a time will be playing – you won’t have to make tough decisions.
Alki Avenue will be closed from 57th SW to 63rd SW. (The city is reported to have floated the idea of extending the closure zone, but so far that’s only an idea.) Sub Pop says the planning includes an emergency lane down the inland side of the street in that area. Lots of other questions about traffic – some attendees wondered about Bonair uphill and other back ways in/out of Alki, and Sub Pop said that will be included in their continuing conversations/planning.
About incoming traffic – Sub Pop is working to get the T-5 area across from the Harbor/Florida 7-11 open for parking and are working on shuttles from areas such as The Junction and Morgan Junction. They also are looking into setting aside a space where ride-share drivers (Uber, Lyft, etc.) can drop off and pick up eventgoers.
Also: They’re recruiting cleanup volunteers to ensure that this is a zero-waste area. They will not only work on festival day/night to be sure the event zone and nearby streets are clean, they’ll also be back afterward.
Another tidbit: Lil’ Woody’s (which has burger joints in White Center as well as other parts of Seattle) is working on the Alki beer gardens.
The Southwest Seattle Historical Society is working with Sub Pop – it’s based at the beach after all, and this is about history! – and plans a Log House Museum exhibit on festival day reflecting West Seattle music history, including some of the famous musicians who live here.
Got questions? Want to hear the full briefing firsthand? Next one is at the Alki Community Council‘s meeting on Thursday night (March 15th), 7 pm at Alki UCC (6115 SW Hinds).
P.S. Added as per discussion in comments – here’s the flyer Sub Pop circulated at the meeting.
Also at tonight’s Admiral NA meeting:
SOUND TRANSIT LIGHT RAIL: ANA president Larry Wymer is also on the board of the West Seattle Transportation Coalition and led a discussion/presentation. He went through the Junction Neighborhood Organization‘s slide deck proposing a partly tunneled option – we went into it in detail when JuNO showed it to WSTC last month; here’s the slide deck again:
(Slide deck for JuNO tunnel proposal)
The tunnel idea was received favorably – the elevated plan could pose problems including noise and impediments to West Seattle’s prized views, attendees observed. Other points of discussion included how buses would get from the Admiral District to the planned light-rail stations in Delridge, Avalon/35th, and The Junction, given the depleted state of Admiral bus service in general currently.
Next up in light-rail planning, by the way, is tomorrow’s Stakeholder Advisory Group meeting (5-8 pm at Sound Transit’s Ruth Fisher Board Room in Union Station downtown, 401 S. Jackson).
COLLEGE STREET RAVINE: Elaine Ike from Seattle Green Spaces Coalition told attendees that the group has learned that an undeveloped greenbelt space in the ravine vicinity is for sale. They want a walkthrough with the city and the real-estate broker to determine where this privately owned land starts and where the public land begins, and they want ANA to be involved. Preserving the ravine as public greenspace goes back to the days of West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Charlie Chong, she noted.
SUMMER CONCERTS AT HIAWATHA: The lineup for this year’s series (which WSB is again co-sponsoring) should be ready to announce by the next ANA meeting in May.
SPEAKING OF THE NEXT MEETING: ANA now meets every other month, second Tuesdays, at 6:30 pm, The Sanctuary at Admiral (42nd SW/SW Lander), so you’re invited to the next one, May 8th.
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