AS-IT-HAPPENED COVERAGE: West Seattle Bee Festival 2019

May 18, 2019 10:33 am
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 |   High Point | West Seattle festivals | West Seattle news


10:33 AM: “Hi, bumblebee!” Just heard a young West Seattle Bee Festival-goer greet one of the guests of honor. The festival is under way until 2 pm in and around High Point Commons Park; Lanham Place SW is closed between Sylvan and Graham for the vendor fair, which is just part of the fun. Ella-Bella Bee and The Pollinators are performing in the amphitheater behind Neighborhood House:

Interactive music and comedy until about 11! And if you’re here at 11:30, be part of the parade! Meantime, many all-ages activities, from the Urban Skills Survival Fair on the north side of the park…

… to facepainting toward the south end of the vendor fair on Lanham (which is closed to motorized traffic for the festival) …

“Vendor fair” doesn’t fully describe everyone who’s here. A few people are “vending” – you’ll find beekeepers selling honey by the Bee Garden, too – but many community organizations too …

(Community advocate Mat McBride, who is offering info to prospective “do-gooders”)

SFD and SPD as well. And us … stop by for a free WSB refrigerator magnet while they last:

(It’s our first freebie since the ice scrapers many years ago.)

11:07 AM: Second hour of the festival! As beautiful as the weather is, do take a minute to peek indoors at Neighborhood House – lots going on in there too!

Woodland Park Zoo is visiting with “animal ambassadors.” And the parade starts soon! Back up by the Bee Garden, student jazz:


11:48 AM: After a bit of parading …

… it’s on to the festival’s second half. At noon, at the Bee Garden on the north end of the park, see its founder Lauren Englund do a beehive demonstration! And at the amphitheater on the south end, Laura Love performs with Terry Hunt.

12:46 PM: That’s Laura onstage. And here’s the crowd Lauren drew:

The bees:

You still have time to get here – it’s on until 2 pm; the map for getting here is on the official festival webpage. Lots more visitors than we remember from years past; thanks to everyone who’s stopped by to say hi!

1:19 PM: Less than an hour left! If you’re here, don’t miss the Urban Survival Skills Fair:

This includes very specific preparedness topics – all the way to how to set up an emergency toilet.

If you couldn’t check it out today, the Urban Survival Skills Fair will make an encore appearance at Delridge Day in August (and a scaled-down version during Field Day at South Seattle College [WSB sponsor] next month).

1:50 PM: We were seconds away from tweeting to observe that no candidates had been sighted at the festival, when District 1 City Council contender Brendan Kolding stopped by.

Our longstanding policy “if candidates stop by our booth, we’ll take their picture” continues this year (our next tabling gig is the Morgan Junction Community Festival on June 22nd).

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