West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Last month, new SDOT director Greg Spotts talked with the West Seattle Transportation Coalition (WSB coverage here); now, he’s scheduled as the spotlight guest for this month’s meeting of HPAC, the community council for Highland Park, Riverview, and South Delridge. Got a question about which way the transportation policy in the city is going? This is your chance to ask – or just to listen to what he has to say, with so many transportation issues having emerged or intensified in the HPAC neighborhoods during the bridge closure. The meeting will be held online at 7 pm Wednesday (October 26th); video/call-in info is on the HPAC website, along with details of what else is on the agenda. All welcome.
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: HPAC says Spotts had to cancel due to a conflict.
(WSB photo from 2019 West Seattle Junction Harvest Festival)
Next weekend will be part of a four-day Halloween celebration, Friday through Monday, and the biggest event of all will be on Sunday (October 30th) in The Junction – the return of the full-fledged Harvest Fest. In the first pandemic year, 2020, the West Seattle Junction Association assembled and sold Harvest Fest boxes so families could enjoy seasonal fun at home; last year, The Junction hosted in-person trick-or-treating. This year, all the festival fun is back – costume parade, trick-or-treating, activities, chili cookoff, pie-eating contest – and new fun has been added, including a cornhole tournament, mainstage music, and square dancing. The West Seattle Farmers’ Market will still be happening at its regular time in its regular location – California SW between Oregon and Alaska – and the street closures will expand to California between Alaska and Edmunds and Alaska between 42nd and 44th. The festival hours will be 11 am-5 pm Sunday (the Farmers’ Market is 10 am-2 pm as usual). If you’re interested in the cornhole tournament – prizes! – team registration is still open last we heard; use this form. For everything else, just show up (all the spots in the pie-eating contest are taken, by the way). Even more Harvest Fest details are in our most-recent preview. (And you can plan your whole Hallo-weekend with our West Seattle Halloween Guide!)
Back on Thursday, we reported that SDOT hoped to have crews out this weekend working on the changes to California/Findlay that are accompanying its new pedestrian-activated “half-signal.” This morning we saw those crews at work; tonight, we noticed the signal is now activated. It cycled through a red-light period as we approached; we’ll be checking with SDOT tomorrow to see if it’s fully operational. The “paint and post” curb bump-outs are installed, as our photo shows, but the concrete median on the south side of the intersection is yet to come.
2:16 PM: Until 5 pm – you’re invited to the return of the Fauntleroy Fall Festival, free fall fun on both sides of the 9100 block of California SW, inside and outside Fauntleroy Church/YMCA and Fauntleroy Schoolhouse/Hall at Fauntleroy.
The activities list is here; the event schedule (for performances and competitions) is here. Photos and more to come!
2:40 PM: Those are three of the decorated cakes for which you can vote in the cake-decorating contest on the lower back level of The Hall at Fauntleroy; at 3 pm, you can compete in the cake walk. Just outside the room where that’s happening, it’s a fall photo booth with West Seattle photographer Holli Margell – lots of families stopping for that.
And steps to the west, The Falconer is here with amazing birds.
Over in the lot outside Fauntleroy Church/YMCA, the festival traditions include pumpkin-painting:
Birdhouse-building:
And making salmon hats – celebrating the return of coho to Fauntleroy Creek (any time now!):
Sun’s out right now, too. More to come!
3:15 PM: A first-time feature, bunny-petting (replacing the “petting zoo” of years past), is a hit – you’ll find it in the “lower playground” area behind The Hall at Fauntleroy:
Nearby, The Don’t Ask Band is playing:
The Don't Ask Band pic.twitter.com/vSfAOOpJkw
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) October 23, 2022
There’ll be live music inside The Hall shortly too, with the West Seattle Big Band scheduled at 3:30 pm.
West Seattle Big Band! pic.twitter.com/SyLK29ncXb
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) October 23, 2022
3:48 PM: And there they are, playing timeless tunes. Back out in the church/Y lot, it’s a great day to climb:
Or to talk with some of the community organizations that are there – including the Fauntleroy Community Association, debuting this new banner:
One more hour to go – we’ll add more photos later!
ADDED SUNDAY EVENING: Also seen at the festival, Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network, educating festivalgoers about wildlife on and off our shores:
If you see a marine mammal on a West Seattle shore, alive or not, or one offshore that appears to be in distress, call Seal Sitters’ hotline at 206-905-7325. … From the Emergency Communication Hubs, the Fauntleroy area’s new volunteer hub captain Chris Jaramillo was at the festival:
The hubs are places you’d go to get and share information if disaster strikes and the usual methods are unavailable out of service – check this map to find the location of the hub closest to you (and if there’s not one nearby, get involved and start one!).
P.S. Speaking of getting involved, many people did that to make today’s volunteer-staffed, donation-funded festival, led by coordinator Reed Haggerty, a successful comeback. Like many events, the festival was on pandemic hiatus in 2020; last year, a drive-up/ride-up version was offered.
Two days after reports of brown water in The Junction and Alki, it’s back, according to staff at Uptown Espresso (California/Edmunds), who say they’re closing early as a result and have heard of other businesses experiencing the problem. They’re on hold with Seattle Public Utilities at 206-386-1800 trying to report the problem. We have yet to get details from SPU on what exactly the problem was – one resident on Friday reported being told it was a break, but none ever appeared on the SPU water-outage map, and commenters said they were told it was related to “construction.”
ADDED: Carrie sent this photo of what turned up in her water:
We’ll be following up again with SPU on Monday.
Those are some of the two-dozen-plus vendor booths surrounding the meadow at High Point Commons Park (3201 SW Graham, south of the Bee Garden) this afternoon, first time the Makers’ Art Market has set up in this location. Each booth holds a different artist/creator/small business. We talked to three during our brief visit – Emily and Cole screen-print their Thic Boyz insulation items in their West Seattle garage:
Sally‘s business Beyond the Curls offers organic and vegan hair-care products, as well as accessories:
And Dr. Kari Logan is selling a variety of her Mae Botanicals body-care items
Other vendors (see the list here) have a variety of products including ceramics, cards, and jewelry. Early holiday shopping? Year-round gift-giving? Treating yourself? Whatever the reason, you can go browse and buy until 5 pm today.
Before this afternoon’s festival, the first fall-fun community event in Fauntleroy this year was the Great Pumpkin Search, three hours on October 8th during which attendees searched for pumpkins hidden in and around the Endolyne business district. This was presented by the Fauntleroy Community Association and coordinated by Candace Blue, who emailed to share photos and public acknowledgments for everyone who joined forces to make this volunteer-powered event happen:
We all had such a great time, including Fauntleroy Community Association members and the hunters – children, adults, and even dogs. All 200 pumpkins were found and the special gifts were treasured. This event will definitely be a happening next year. A special thanks goes to:
Susan Lantz-Dey, who assisted every day, managed the booth and painted the booth signs
Frank Immel, who set up the booth and then stayed the whole day to assist
Bill Wellington, who let us borrow his tables
The pumpkin hiders – Paulette Eister, Claudia Levi, Catherine Bailey, Loren and MacKenzie Tapia with my 3-year-old grandson Philip, and my husband Scott Wiesemann (who also scouted all day to let us know where pumpkins were left)
Avalon Glassworks for donating a beautiful glass pumpkin
The businesses in the triangle – Endolyne Joe’s, El Camino (thanks for the bags when we ran out), and Wildwood Market
The entities that (promoted) the event – The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the West Seattle Blog, the Fauntleroy Community Association newsletter, and the Fauntleroy Community Association website
It takes a village and you all pulled through. Thank you so much!
7:11 AM: Most units sent on a “full response” to 30th SW near Raymond have been dismissed, We’re on our way over to see if we can find out what the original call was about.
7:22 AM: We’re told by police and fire at the scene that this involves a man who was threatening to set a fire in a domestic-violence situation. The suspect has been arrested. Both SPD and SFD continue to investigate.
11 AM: SFD says one person suffered minor injuries, a woman in her late 40s who was treated at the scene.
Mostly from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar and Halloween Guide, here’s what’s up today:
TRAFFIC ALERTS: SDOT says it’ll close the southbound outside lane of West Marginal Way SW between 17th SW and the Duwamish Longhouse for two weeks starting today to collect traffic data before building the planned protected bike lane … The Highland Park Way hill had unannounced repaving on Saturday, so work might be continuing there today…. Added 11 am: Crews are working at California/Findlay too, painting some of the intersection changes we’ve been reporting on.
VACCINATIONS: Madison Middle School (3429 45th SW) has a community clinic today for flu shots (9 am-3 pm, info here) and COVID shots (10 am-2 pm, info here). … Also, Community School of West Seattle (9450 22nd SW) hosts a COVID-vaccination clinic 1-6 pm; info is in our calendar listing.
CHURCHES WITH ONLINE SERVICES: We’re continuing to list these – see today’s list here.
(WSB photo from West Seattle Ski Swap day 1)
WEST SEATTLE SKI SWAP, DAY 2: 10 am-4 pm at the VFW Hall (3601 SW Alaska), it’s the second and final day of your chance to get geared up for the snow-sports season ahead – skis, boards, apparel, accessories. Presented by Mountain to Sound Outfitters (WSB sponsor).
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm, the market offers fall produce as well as flowers, cheese, fish, meat, baked goods, condiments, fresh-cooked food, beverages, more. Here’s today’s vendor list. California SW between Oregon and Alaska.
PAINTED PUMPKINS AT THE MARKET: Look for students from the Chief Sealth International HS Key Club in the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle booth on the west side of the market – they’re expected to be back today selling painted pumpkins as a fundraiser.
MAKERS’ MARKET IN HIGH POINT: Dozens of local vendors will be at High Point Commons Park (3201 SW Graham) noon-5 pm for the Makers’ Art Market‘s first time there.
PRESCHOOL FUNDRAISER @ OUNCES: Noon-8 pm, visit Ounces (3809 Delridge Way SW) and tell them you’re there for Alki Co-op Preschool; a percentage of proceeds will be donated.
SOUTHWEST ARTIST SHOWCASE: The monthlong display of community-contributed art runs one more week at Southwest Library (9010 35th SW), open noon-5 pm today.
FAUNTLEROY FALL FESTIVAL: Paint a pumpkin, build a birdhouse, see raptors and pet bunnies, make a salmon hat, listen to music, much more! 2-5 pm, the full festival is back for the first time since pre-pandemic. Fun for all ages, on the grounds of Fauntleroy Church/YMCA and The Hall at Fauntleroy/Schoolhouse, across the street from each other in the 9100 block of California SW. Our preview includes the activity list, the performance/event schedule, and a map! All free except for concessions, funded by donations and powered by volunteers.
AT ARTSWEST: The ArtsWest (4711 California SW; WSB sponsor) play “Swimming While Drowning” concludes its run, 3 pm curtain. Tickets are available online.
GET READY FOR DIA DE LOS MUERTOS: 3 pm online event, explained here, which is also where you can get tickets (free).
‘MUSIC AND MYSTERY’: A concert and book presentation with Gerald Elias, violinist and author, at Camp Long (5200 35th SW), 3 pm. Our calendar listing has info on the event and how to get tickets.
NEED FOOD? White Center Community Dinner Church serves a free meal (take-away available) at 5 pm Sundays at the Salvation Army Center in South Delridge (9050 16th SW).
SUNDAY NIGHT JAZZ: Triangular Jazztet at The Alley (4509 California SW), 8 pm and 9 pm sets.
SUNDAY NIGHT KARAOKE: 9 pm to 1:30 am at Admiral Pub (2306 California SW).
Have an event to list for our calendar? Please email westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
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