Tonight: West Seattle Art Walk, “Wrap It Up,” more …
Got holiday shopping left to do? Tonight you can shop throughout The Junction, and even get your presents wrapped, as part of “Wrap It Up” — More than a dozen businesses are open late (including the participants listed on the official flyer, which you can see here (linked from the Clementine blog). While you’re in The Junction, the monthly West Seattle Art Walk 
will deck the halls — be sure not to miss Divina, Ginomai, and Hotwire on the north end. (Participating artists and venues are listed here.) And in the heart of The Junction, Twilight Art Collective is welcoming visitors into its new space (ex-Bikes and Brew, west of Easy Street; here’s our original report on them from last month). And this isn’t even all that’s happening in WS tonight – more on that as the day goes by.
Two more fun things happening the rest of the day
First, there’s the Kitten Holiday Party (listed on the West Seattle Weekend Lineup) at Pet Elements south of Morgan Junction:
That’s where we found this new kitten owner adopting what she referred to as “Elliott’s new friend.” (Elliott being the cat who will be surprised and hopefully pleased to meet his new pal.)
Also today and tomorrow, noon-4 pm (and those hours Thursday-Sunday every week), an exhibit at the Log House Museum with a unique take on Seattle history, and it’s only there a few more weeks – here’s what the LHM folks have written up about it:Read More
Beautiful day/night ahead – but tomorrow…
(photo from Shannon, taken this morning in Fauntleroy — thank you!)
It’s one of those rare times when Saturday and sunshine synchronize. We’ll be out decorating (after braving the basement, who knows what moved in down there during the bad weather); after night falls, please let us know what spectacular new holiday displays you see, for the ongoing WSB Christmas lights features (photos archived here, clickable map on the Holidays page). We’ll also be covering some of the numerous events happening today and tonight (check the West Seattle Weekend Lineup for the most detailed list) and are especially looking forward to the Christmas Ship’s three WS stops tonight (Seacrest at 5:15, Lowman at 8:50, Alki at 9:40). So enjoy all this because we just checked the forecast and tomorrow says “chance of rain or snow”!
Holiday highlights
Two nights till the Christmas Ship sails to West Seattle — and the good news is that the weather looks great! The Christmas Ship and its floating entourage will make three West Seattle stops on Saturday night: Seacrest 5:15 pm, Lowman Beach 8:50 pm, Alki 9:40 pm) and one on Sunday night (Don Armeni, 7:10 pm – you can find the schedule linked from our Holidays page, where we just added another nightly highlight for tonight: Pathfinder K-8 has its holiday Craft Fair & Culture Night, 6-8 pm tonight. (We love hearing about, and sharing news of, school activities – so if you’ve got one or more kids in West Seattle schools, please make sure the school office and PTSA have WSB on their mailing lists — all the info, from e-mail to postal mail to phone # to even where to find us on Facebook, is on the Contact WSB page.)
Hometown Holidays ready to roll
Still seems to be a chance you might get caught in a flurry (here’s the latest forecast) — but what could be more Christmasy? Day 1 of Hometown Holidays in The Junction starts @ noon; remember to bring donations for the Warm Clothes Drive (at left, we caught up with West Seattle Junction Association executive director Susan Melrose a short time ago at HH HQ — aka the Farmers’ Market parking lot — with one of the first donations). The full list of today’s activities, noon-7 pm, in stores and all around The Junction, is now posted online here. (And you can peek ahead to tomorrow’s 10 am-5 pm lineup here.) Tonight’s highlight, of course, will be the Christmas Tree Lighting, starting with Dickens Carolers music @ 5:30 and the ceremony commencing @ 6. Here’s the tree, just about ready for the switch to be thrown; see you there!
Jingle boats: Christmas Ship Festival’s West Seattle stops
In the past few days, two of the bloggers on the Other Blogs in WS page, Rhonda and Alice, have mentioned the schedule for one of our favorite holiday highlights, the Argosy Christmas Ship Festival. Its West Seattle stops have been listed on our Events page (along with many other WS holiday happenings; please let us know if yours is missing!) for a few weeks now, but in case you hadn’t looked that far down, here are your choices:
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8: With Northwest Girlchoir Vivace on board, the Christmas Ship and its accompanying vessels will be at Seacrest 5:15-5:35 pm; with Canterbury Belles on board, it will visit Lowman Beach 8:50-9:10 pm, then sail along Beach Drive and around the point for an Alki stop 9:40-10 pm.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9: With Soundwave on board, a Don Armeni stop is planned 7:10-7:30 pm.
If you haven’t gone out to see the Christmas Ship before, the sounds and sights are always splendid: the brightly lit boat pulls close enough to shore for the choir on board to serenade landlubbers with holiday songs. (Here’s a Seattle Channel video from the 2005 season, featuring a West Seattleite — the announcer shown early on in this ’05 video, Dano Beal, is a teacher at Lafayette Elementary.) All the West Seattle stops are planning bonfires again this year as well (the flames roaring up from a burning pile of pallets are sometimes a more dramatic sight than the Christmas Ship itself!).
Swan song for “Bat Boy” at ArtsWest tonight
After more than a month at ArtsWest, “Bat Boy” flies off into the night following two more shows tonight (7:30 and 11 pm; tickets available online). Throughout the run, local theatergoers have continued to stream in; we got this unsolicited rave just yesterday from a WSB regular: “We saw it last night, my first experience at ArtsWest. It’s totally over the top and perhaps a little edgy for some folks around these parts (not me, but I was enjoying the reactions from some audience members almost as much as the show) but still hilarious and very entertaining.” It’s drawn reviews from this one in the Weekly (second item) to this one in the P-I to this one at the youth-edited site teen tix. After tonight’s “Bat Boy” finales, ArtsWest moves on to more traditional holiday fare, with O. Henry’s “The Gifts of the Magi” opening December 5th … although we have to say, “Bat Boy” in a Santa hat might have been a hoot. (“Bat Boy” photo by Matt Durham, courtesy ArtsWest.)
Skeleton Theatre ’07, night 1
Two clips from West Seattle’s own homegrown Skeleton Theatre last night; you may recognize the soundtrack. (Read all about Skeleton Theatre, including where and when to go see it for Night 2 tonight, on the ST site.)
(video no longer available due to host’s shutdown, sorry!)
Halloween countdown: Skeleton Theatre site, HP jack-o-lanterns
Two nights till Halloween! As we count down … first, a photo from what promises to be one of the wildest Halloween night events in West Seattle (and it continues the night AFTER Halloween as well) — Skeleton Theatre at 36th & Hanford. This free neighborhood production drew thousands last year; this year, the Skeleton Theatre team has a website up with lots of info about the show, the people, when and where to see it. And they sent this cool photo:
And we continue showcasing the pumpkin photos you’re sending. In honor of the High Point award mentioned earlier, here are three jack-o-lanterns by a family in HP — first by Rachel; next by Galen; then, by Michael (more later!):
West Seattle Halloween highlights today
Halloween itself may not be till Wednesday but you’d never know that with all the activities this weekend. (Some calendar synergy finally comes into play next year when it’s on Friday, and 2009 on Saturday.) You can see the full list in the latest edition of the WSB West Seattle Weekend Lineup, but here are more of today’s highlights (graced by good weather, too!):
SPIDER-POWERED CARS: Happening 10 am-1 pm @ Hotwire Coffee on the north edge of The Junction, cool Halloween craftmaking to benefit animal rescuers.
TRICK OR TREAT IN THE JUNCTION: Big fun expected throughout the business district in the heart of West Seattle, 1-3 pm.
HALLOWEEN IN THE FOREST: Two sessions tonight @ Camp Long.
FAMILY REUNION IN HELL: At Skylark, starting at 9 pm.
WHO’S MORE HALLOWEENISH THAN ‘BAT BOY’? ArtsWest presents a special late performance tonight at 11 (in addition to the regular show at 7:30).
GUMBO: Just heard from Lakema Bell @ 
from 
First: Word comes from Divina that the shop @ California/Genesee will feature student artists, K-12, from around West Seattle, during tomorrow night’s monthly West Seattle Art Walk in The Junction (more participants are 
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