(WSB file photo)

Some of West Seattle’s annual events are making a comeback from pandemic hiatus. For others, though, it’s not so easy. the Fauntleroy Fall Festival is hoping you can help it return. Reid Haggerty asked us to share this:

In September 2001, the United States went through one of its most challenging times. When I woke up that morning to the news that an airplane had flown into a building in New York, I hit “Snooze.”

By the time my clock radio came on again, another plane had flown into another building. I rushed downstairs to watch on TV as one of the biggest tragedies in American history unfolded. Kids at school, our teachers, our parents – everyone knew our lives had changed.

But amid all the uncertainty, something wonderful happened – and we need your help to keep it going. Over the next several months, this neighborhood came together to create the Fauntleroy Fall Festival. People enjoyed a Sunday afternoon of free activities and the kind of connecting that strengthens the ties that bind us in community.

Then nearly two decades later, along came the seemingly unrelenting isolation of a global pandemic. Two years into it, we’re still trying to figure out what the new normal will be.

Just as in 2001, community is what we most need now. If public-health restrictions can continue to ease, we hope to gather again on a fall afternoon to see friends and neighbors at the festival.

Over the years, many local partners have kept the festival free and a truly community event. To name a few: FCA, Fauntleroy Church, Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes Catering/The Hall at Fauntleroy, the Fauntleroy Children’s Center, Endolyne Joe’s, Gail Ann Photography, the Fauntleroy Watershed Council.

As the festival has evolved, costs have risen and our pool of volunteers to serve on the planning committee and help the day of has gotten smaller. If this free event is to continue, we need to replenish that pool with fresh energy and ideas.

Email fauntleroyfallfestival@gmail.com if you might be able to help plan, coordinate, and/or execute our 2022 fall festival or a spring fundraiser to benefit the festival. We would love to have you!

The last full-scale FFF was in 2019; last year, there was a drive-through version.