First look at Junction Pet Fest “Most Beautiful Pet” winner
That’s your first look at Myrtle, the Shar-Pei that won the “Most Beautiful Pet” contest at the West Seattle Junction Association’s first-ever Pet Fest about an hour ago. We have a lot more to show you from the contest, including video, a little bit later, but wanted to post this as a reminder that Pet Fest continues till 4 pm in the Wells Fargo lot at the NE corner of 44th/Alaska. (Don’t miss the pet-adoption area featuring Homeward Pet, run by West Seattleite Steve Siadek, who regularly contributes adoption candidates to the WSB Pets page.) ADDED EARLY MONDAY: Still working on a longer compilation of video from the contest, but here’s a clip of Myrtle with the runner-up, another Shar-Pei, named Buddy (his owner Michelle says he’s 1 1/2; Myrtle’s owner Ryan says she’s a rescuee and about 8):
Derby eve: West Seattle Sportsmen’s Club on Fish Watch
That’s the temporary “pond” set up at Seacrest with the hatchery trout that arrived this afternoon in advance of tomorrow morning’s West Seattle Sportsmen’s Club Hi-Yu Kids’ Fishing Derby. It’s happening much earlier in the season this year (last year it was in July) — 8 am-11 am tomorrow, to be specific, free to kids under 14, gear provided. But first – club members will be on fish watch all night tonight, guarding the pond and its contents – if you stop by Seacrest on this lovely night, you can’t miss ’em. Then in the morning, when the Derby begins, club members and fish will be joined by Hi-Yu junior and senior court members and candidates; kids get to keep their catch, and get goodie bags regardless of whether they catch anything.
West Seattle Weekend Lineup: Pet Fest, Water Taxi, more
Sunshine? Did somebody say sunshine? From a free kids’ fishing derby to the home stretch for Ercolini Park, from Spring Clean-ing to becoming a Master of Disaster, plus two big events Sunday — the West Seattle Junction Association‘s first-ever Pet Fest and the Elliott Bay Water Taxi‘s season kickoff — and music and theater and art and shopping, 50 West Seattle events outdoor and indoor, ahead:Read More
Wednesday morning miscellaneous mentions
FILM CREW AT WESTWOOD VILLAGE: In case you see it over by Eats Market and you’re wondering what’s up (thanks to Kristen for the tip and the follow-up info), they’re shooting a commercial for Sleep Country USA, till about 1 pm.
PHOTOGRAPHERS’ RIGHTS: We get lots of great pix from photographers both professional and nonprofessional around West Seattle, so when WS-based lawyer and WSB reader Venkat Balasubramani told us about this, we thought some of them might want to know: Tonight at Photographic Center Northwest (900 12th Ave, map), 6:15 pm, he’s discussing the legal rights of photographers who take photographs in public places. To register (discount in advance), go here.
CONCERT ON THE WATER IN WEST SEATTLE: Jennifer Kallen, the promoter for Firefly Concert Series, says the venue for this has changed to a waterfront residence in WS and there are a few tickets left: Rebecca Riots, 8 pm Saturday (after a 7 pm potluck). More info and tickets available here.
GO FISH!!!! Also Saturday — the first Hi-Yu event of the year is earlier than ever this time around, and while it’s on our Events page, we also wanted to give it a special advance shout-out as you plan your weekend: The West Seattle Sportsmen’s Club presents the annual Kids’ Fishing Derby at Seacrest, 8 am-11 am Saturday. Here’s a pic from a previous derby:
As Karen Haynes-Palmquist explains:
It is FREE to kids under age 14. Poles, bait, etc. are all supplied to fish for trout with, along with the expert help of the Sportsmen. The West Seattle Hi-Yu junior and senior court and candidates will also be there. A pond is set up with more than 100 fish, and goodie bags are distributed to all participants whether they catch a fish or not. Kids get to keep their catch. Information on the Sportsmen can be found at www.wssportsmen.org.
3 weeks till West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day!
Less than a week left to sign up to be part of the 4th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (go here to see how); we’ve now passed 60 sales signed up to be part of one fun day of West Seattle-wide shopping and selling on May 10, but there’s room for more on the map – invite your neighbors to set up a block sale, or have one at your business/school!
Happening today/tonight: Earth Day, to art, to dogs, to darts
Looks like Winter Encore ’08 smacked other areas but spared us (so far), so here are outdoor and indoor highlights (find today’s full list in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup):
EARTH DAY: It’s officially not till Tuesday but today, Cooper Elementary and neighboring Pigeon Point Park are the epicenter of the Duwamish Alive! activities happening all day long (with work parties at Roxhill Park and Brandon Street Natural Area too). Full details here.
FREE SWIMMING! It’s part of the April Pools Day event 10:30 am-noon at Southwest Pool.
LONGFELLOW CREEK FARM WORK PARTY: As we put it in our first report, “free organic produce … with just one catch!” Noon-4 pm.
HOMEMADE BRIGADE: Artists and craftspeople are setting up inside Freshy’s noon-4 pm today to show and sell their creations. Organizer Amber Bennett says live music will follow.
SNOOTY WALK: Across the street from Freshy’s, at Hiawatha, the pet event organized by and benefiting the West Seattle High School Class of ’09 starts at 2 pm. Read all about it here.
GOING TO THE HEALTHY LIVING EXPO? It’s not in West Seattle but if you’re going to this event @ Qwest, the WS Nia Divas asked us to let you know they’re presenting a free Nia class there @ 3 pm.
WSB FORUM COMMUNITY GET-TOGETHER AND ARSON-VICTIM FUNDRAISER: 6-9 pm tonight at Admiral Pub, join the WSB Forum Community for an evening of fun — all ages welcome — including a dart tournament and raffles with a list of enticing items (still growing as we speak) to raise money for Puget Sound Key and Lock, the Morgan Junction business gutted a month ago by a still-unsolved arson attack (recent followup here). Admiral Pub is on the east side of California just a few blocks north of Admiral; here’s the latest forum thread about tonight’s event (including raffle-item updates).
3 days till it’s time for you and your pet(s) to get “snooty”
Those are a few of the photos that WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham took at last year’s “Snooty Walk” pet event put on by the West Seattle High School Class of ’09. This Saturday, the ’09ers are doing it again — and class co-president Sumeet Chadha wrote this to tell you a little more about the event:
This year the class of 2009 at WSHS is hard at work wrapping up the final preparations for the Snooty Walk on April 19th. It has been very hectic because our Advisor went on Admin. leave so the class has been working extra hard to bring everything together.
This year there are plenty of new events like, cutest couple, best dancer, and the obstacle course. Of course we are keeping some of the most fun events that we had last year such as, drooliest and best trick. Husky will be providing ice cream and volunteers will be cookin’ up hot dogs (pun) and hamburgers. We will also feature a bouncy toy.
We are going for more of a spring carnival feel with the bouncy toy. There will be a lot more to do while roaming around this year because we are setting up a “driveway fair” with a bunch of non-profits and sponsors coming to talk about their products.
It is $10.00 to enter a pet and all proceeds benefit WSHS class of 2009 in order to create a $5 prom. The money will also be used for graduation and other class needs.
We raised more than $1,400 last year and hope to beat that amount this year!
That’s this Saturday @ Hiawatha. Check out the Snooty Walk website for more, including event times. Organizers say it’s on, rain or shine!
Wednesday late-afternoon miscellany
THE GROUCHOS OF NORTHERN PIGEON POINT: Have been meaning to share West Seattle writer Mark Bourne‘s Grouchos writeup on Film.com, for anyone who didn’t catch it when it was aggregated on our More page.
WATER AND WALKING: Chas Redmond happened onto this city page re: the Westcrest Park reservoir’s history. He was doing research for this project; another public workshop’s coming up in South Seattle on April 30. Another project he’s involved in, West Seattle Walking Trails (originally reported here), is progressing — a grant application to fund some of the wayfinding kiosks has made it to the next stage of a process that has several more months to go; meantime, tomorrow he and Feet First reps will brief the Seattle Design Commission (agenda here) on the entire project.
WEST SEATTLE COMMUNITY GARAGE SALE DAY UPDATE: 40+ sales signed up so far for the 4th annual version of the big all-over-West-Seattle selling and shopping day May 10th, from individual sales to school/block sales — if you don’t want to register a sale because you’d have only have a few things to sell, there’s a location offering you space – get the latest WSCGSD info (including of course how to register) by going here (we’re updating that site, westseattlegaragesale.com, daily; if you have any questions before or after registering, please e-mail garagesale@westseattleblog.com).
Junction Association update #2: Latest on Pet Fest
Courtesy of the LOLcat generator @ Seattle-based ICanHasCheezburger.com … our illustration for the fact we have more details on the “Ugliest Dog/Ugliest Cat in West Seattle” contest under way now in advance of the West Seattle Junction Association‘s first-ever Pet Fest, 10 am-4 pm April 27. As we mentioned last week, you can enter your pet now by visiting Next to Nature, where Louis Lujan explains they’re not really asking you to declare your beloved pet “ugly,” but rather, more like a “funniest-looking” pet (or pet photo) situation — Louis tells WSB, “It’s supposed to provide a few lighthearted chuckles … We’d gladly accept some animals that are just having ‘bad-hair days’ or ones that are dressed up to be ‘ugly’.” Dogs will be judged “in person” on Pet Fest day; cats will be judged by fest-goers viewing their photos (out of respect for the fact most cats don’t like crowd situations); photos in either category should be entered ASAP at NTN in The Junction. Later today, one more Junction Association update – the newest details on what’s in the works for Summer Fest in July!
4th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day update
Haven’t decided yet if you’re going to have a sale on West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 10; official website here)? Check out the Top 10 Reasons to Have a Garage Sale! In the case of WSCGSD, another top reason is to join in a communitywide event — maybe even get to know your neighbors better by having a block sale — if you don’t want to have an individual sale, have a block (3 or more homes) or business/organization/school sale — we’ve got some great-sounding ones already in the nearly three dozen sales that are on the list so far. Get on the map (literally) – plan your sale and sign up online (go here) or by mail (download the form here, or pick up a copy at one of the locations listed here). We’ve added a few extras this year including a “Best Sign” contest (here’s some inspiration from last summer; wasn’t part of WSCGSD but sure caught our eye). Registration’s open till April 25; even if you’re more a shopper than a seller, mark your calendar for May 10 and get ready to shop till … you know. P.S. Shopper alert, this weekend is the granddaddy of all Seattle community garage sale days, the one that inspired Megawatt in 2005 to start one in West Seattle — 9 am-3 pm Saturday (April 19) is Greenwood Garage Sale Day, a tradition that’s been going on for more than a decade now; help build ours to match (maybe eclipse) theirs!
West Seattle weekend scenes: 1st 70+ day since October
Ah, it’s sunset-photo season again! This is from Cove Park next to the Fauntleroy ferry terminal just as the Issaquah was about to head westward at sunset tonight. Now, from the middle of the bright height of the early-afternoon sun:
That’s some of the fun from Healthy Kids Day at the West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) today (second photo courtesy Josh Sutton from the Y). The activities were today only, but the Y has waived joining fees for the whole weekend, so that part continues tomorrow. So does the event that brought out this line on Harbor Ave just north of The Bridge this morning:
For the second straight adoptathon, Kitty Harbor (next to ActivSpace) had a line of would-be cat adopters waiting to get in as soon as the doors opened. The adoptathon continues tomorrow, 11 am-7 pm. Last but not least, a bonus photo that’s actually from last night’s lovely sunset:
WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham shot that from Don Armeni. (Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
Happening today/tonight: 1st parks meeting, much more
The full list of West Seattle weekend events for today and tomorrow is in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup list we publish every Friday; find the latest one here (and if you’re ever looking for it, just go to the right sidebar list of WSB Categories and click on the last link – the newest one will be on top of the archive page that comes up). Highlights:
PARKS PLAN MEETING: Remember the round of meetings to gather input for the city Parks Department Strategic Business Plan? As we mentioned last month, the draft plan is out, and a new round of meetings is under way. The first of 6 in West Seattle is at 3 pm today, Alki Community Center. (Read the plan here; see the full list of meetings here – next one is Monday night at Hiawatha Community Center – you can also comment on the plan online.)
HEALTHY KIDS DAY: It’s one of the biggest events of the year at the West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor); tons of fun, with full info here. 10 am-1 pm today.
ADOPT A CAT: Last time Kitty Harbor (profiled on WSB here) had an adoptathon, the person who runs KH, Delyn Kosbab, said folks lined up outside before the doors opened. She’s doing it again this weekend — 11 am to 7 pm today (KH is just south of ActivSpace on Harbor Ave).
SPECIAL BOOK/MUSIC EVENT WITH WEST SEATTLE AUTHOR: Clay Eals has received widespread acclaim for his biography “Steve Goodman: Facing the Music.” A few weeks ago, 200 people attended a presentation he gave about it, with eight musicians playing Goodman’s music, in Lake Forest Park (see photos from that event on this page), and tonight you can hear about Goodman’s life and times from Eals, with music by singer/guitarist Tom Colwell, accompanied by bassist Bruce Hanson, and Mark Myers on dobro and harmonica, 7 pm at Admiral UCC (California/Hill), free of charge. (Read more about Clay Eals and the book here.)
West Seattle Weekend Lineup: Sunshine edition
Lots of fun indoors and out this weekend – “Sin Fronteras” (left) playing South American music at SSCC, jazz at Cafe Rozella, the kickoff for new “Family Night” get-togethers tonight, a school carnival and Yacht Club open house (you don’t have to have a boat!) also tonight, the Lions’ plant sale tonight and tomorrow, “Healthy Kids Day” tomorrow at the Y, a movie tomorrow night at West Seattle Christian Church for a great cause – and more, 44 events in all, listed ahead:Read More
Another pet note: Junction Association announces Pet Fest
The West Seattle Junction Association has just announced details of its first-ever Pet Fest, planned for Sunday, April 27, in the Wells Fargo parking lot at the northeast corner of 44th and Alaska. It’s for people who are seeking pets as well as people who already share their lives with one (or more) — two groups will have adoptable pets on site all day. Also on hand: Artists specializing in “pet portraits,” local animal-relief groups, pet-health experts, and more. An “Ugliest Dog and Ugliest Cat in West Seattle” contest also is promised (you can sign up now at Next to Nature in The Junction). This is all part of a really big day in The Junction — though the West Seattle Farmers’ Market is now officially year-round, it’s still celebrating “opening day” that day with wagon rides and music. More info on the Junction festivities at the WSJA website.
West Seattle Yacht Club: No boat? No problem!
That’s West Seattle Yacht Club commodore Jim Hanson, showing us the club’s official flag on the bow of his boat “At Ease,” moored at Des Moines Marina, where we talked with him about the club’s open invitation to you to join them for an open house tomorrow night, whether you have a boat or not, and about WSYC activities including their plan to sail in the upcoming Opening Day parade:Read More
West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day signups begin!
As of this morning, through Friday, April 25, registration is open and the first signups already have rolled in for the 4th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, which is happening 9 am-3 pm Saturday, May 10. (Backstory: WSCGSD is a creation of the late great community-connection organization Megawatt; its leadership hoped its signature events would go on, and allowed WSCGSD to be taken over by WSB, while Gathering of Neighbors will now be presented by DNDA.) If you haven’t participated before, as a sale-holder or shoppers, just to be clear: This is NOT one big day in one location — this is one day set aside for people to have sales all over West Seattle – as many as people sign up to have – in the past few years, there’ve been more than 100! – all promoted with a map and citywide advertising. For the first time, you can register online — go to the official West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day website at westseattlegaragesale.com to do that, or to get a downloadable registration form you can print out and mail in, or to see the list of locations where you will be able to pick up a registration form starting later today (just in time for the West Seattle Art Walk tonight – some of our form-distribution locations are Art Walk participants). And even if you’re not going to have a sale as part of WSCGSD on May 10, please set aside some time to shop till you drop – as happens every year, we will have maps available online and at several in-person locations starting a few days ahead of time; we’re also promoting/advertising the event to areas outside West Seattle so shoppers will flock this way. One more new feature this year: Contests – including “best sign” and “most unusual sale item.” Questions? E-mail garagesale@westseattleblog.com – and keep checking westseattlegaragesale.com for updates.
Happening today: Caucus, car wash, sale, BBQ, more …
You’ll find the full list of today’s West Seattle events in our West Seattle Weekend Lineup, but we wanted to call your attention to these highlights one more time:
WEST SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL EVENT #1 – 34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS: Sign-ins start at WSHS at 9 am, caucusing at 10 am, for delegates and alternates chosen at Feb. 9 caucuses. More info here.
WEST SEATTLE HS EVENT #2 – “GRAD NIGHT” CAR WASH FUNDRAISER: The Class of 2008 is raising money for a safe, fun Grad Night celebration, and today’s 9 am-2 pm car wash is a big part of it. Free coffee, cocoa, and baked goods while your car is washed at WSHS! Suggested donation $10 or whatever you can give; vouchers also will be available for April 12 shopping at Barnes and Noble to benefit the same cause. (By the way, they’re also still taking volunteers, even last-minute ones, and students can get community-service credit for it; call 206/718-2442.)
GROUP GARAGE SALE: All day at Alki Community Center. (And by the way, registration opens Thursday if you want to have a sale May 10 as part of the annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, presented this year by WSB; the latest info is on our special WSCGSD website.)
WEST SEATTLE THRIFTWAY BENEFIT BARBECUE LUNCH: 11 am-4 pm, go have a freshly barbecued burger, plus chips and soda, at West Seattle Thriftway in Morgan Junction for $7, all proceeds going to employee Julie Lynch and her family as Julie fights breast cancer.
GET INVOLVED WITH WSB FORUM COMMUNITY FUNDRAISER FOR ARSON VICTIM: Planning is going full-speed ahead for the April 19 (6 pm, Admiral Pub) fundraiser for Puget Sound Key and Lock, closed since the still-unsolved arson two weeks ago. Planning and organizing help is still welcome; join WSB Forum Community members at Admiral Pub at 2 pm today (you can also sign up for the mailing list here).
Again, that’s just part of lots happening today and tonight; find more WS events here.
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