West Seattle, Washington
25 Friday
What a weekend – more than FIFTY events in our area! 
Including – Earth Day work parties and festivals, Healthy Kids Day at the West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor), a movie star at Admiral Theater (which is still celebrating its impending SIFF debut), a spaghetti dinner to raise money for ARK Park, local students show their talent including the “Fashion Through the Ages” Seattle Lutheran HS duo and Chief Sealth HS musicians, freebies including free Sunday yoga at Sound Yoga and free jazz at Admiral Church (both WSB sponsors) plus free swimming at Southwest Pool — here’s the full West Seattle Weekend Lineup, brought to you by Skylark Cafe and Club:Read More
(Harold and Hester, in a photo shared with WSB from last year’s Snooty Walk)
We told you two days ago about the third annual Snooty Walk and Pet Rodeo, presented by West Seattle High School students, coming up at Hiawatha a week from tomorrow – and now we have word from Teri Ensley at Furry Faces Foundation that a Pet Adoption Event will be part of it. Teri tells WSB:
We just confirmed that West Seattle-based Animals First Foundation and King County Animal Care and Control will both be at the Pet Rodeo from 2 pm – 4pm. Additionally, Deena Cornish of Good Citizen Canine, Animals First Foundation’s dog behavorist/trainer, will be on site to answer questions about people’s dogs. And of course, Furry Faces Foundation will have a booth there because we love the students and this event.
For details on how your pets can be part of the Pet Rodeo/Snooty Walk fun, check out our Wednesday report.
Before we publish the full West Seattle Weekend Lineup a bit later, a couple quick notes about events today/tonight: St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church‘s two-weekend rummage sale starts today, 9 am-3 pm; the West Seattle CoolMom group’s next Family Movie Night, featuring “An Arctic Tale,” is 6-8 pm at Camp Long Lodge (there’s still room, according to CoolMom’s Laura Elfline, who recommends calling Camp Long NOW to save a space).
From Thursday night’s quarterly meeting of the Sunrise Heights Neighborhood Association (this area is roughly between High Point and Westwood, between 35th and Delridge):
E.C. HUGHES SCHOOL’S FUTURE: Sage Wilson of the SHNA board has been talking with Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association about applying for a city Department of Neighborhoods grant to study community interest in the closed Hughes school. (After temporarily housing South Lake High School the past two years, it’s vacant again this year.) The grant would facilitate open houses for public input on the site, to figure out if there’s enough interest to look into buying it, since it’s on the Seattle Public Schools surplus-property list. Neighbors’ general consensus was that it’s a good idea to talk about this before a development proposal comes in from outside the neighborhood. Sage will head up the grant-writing effort, to meet a July deadline.
SEX OFFENDERS: Detective Bob Shilling from the Seattle Police Sex Offender Detail briefed the neighborhood about how to find information online, as well as what families really need to know about sex crimes: Long story short, very few involve “strangers.” As for sex offenders in local neighborhoods, you can use this website to see if any level-1 or level-2 offenders are living near you (it’s linked from the bottom of our Crime Watch page if you ever need to find it again); the West Seattle overview is that the Southwest Precinct area has 163 right now, fewer than any other precinct in the city (the largest number is 343 in the North Precinct). Statewide, there are 20,178 registered sex offenders.
POKER TOURNAMENT FUNDRAISER: This Saturday night is SHNA’s 4th annual Texas Hold’em Poker Night at the social hall of Our Lady of Guadalupe, $15/person or $120/table of 9. Must be 21 or older. More info on the SNHA website.
With the recent bursts of sunshine and warmth, thoughts turn to spring cleaning, among other things, and what better way, than to have a garage sale … 
and to invite the entire region to come buy your stuff. Nine days left to sign up to be part of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day — one peninsula, many sales (almost 150 last year) — on Saturday, May 9th. More than 80 sales are registered so far – we didn’t have that many last year till four days before the close of registration (admittedly, we stretched out the registration period this year, so we had more time to get the word out). Plenty of room on the map for more. And as promised, the map will be out earlier, so you have more time to plot your shopping strategy if you’re NOT having a sale – we’ll have it available starting Sunday 5/3 at our table at the Sustainable West Seattle Festival (WSB sponsor) – and more time to send it around to everyone you know if you ARE having a sale. If you don’t have enough room for one of your own, check with Lora at Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) or Cameron at C & P Coffee, both of whom are offering courtyard space, first-come first-served and they’ve already been making reservations … also be thinking about the contests, “Most Creative Sign,” “Most Unusual Item Bought” and “Most Unusual Item Sold” (here’s the report on last year’s winners). Registration deadline is 11:59 pm Saturday 4/25 – sign up online here, or go here to print out a mail-in form, or pick up a preprinted form at Hotwire, Illusions Hair Design, Stor-More Self Storage, Brunette Mix (all four are WSB sponsors), Delridge and Southwest Library branches, or the Senior Center of West Seattle. So far, we have school sales, church sales, block sales, estate sales, individual sales – add yours to the mix, and watch the official site at westseattlegaragesale.com for updates!
By Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
It’s 8:00 Thursday night — do you know where your roller skates are?
If you do, and you’re a female over the age of 21, with current health insurance and a “badass” attitude — you may be a prime candidate for the Rat City Rollergirls.
RCRG was founded in 2004, based back then at the Southgate rink in White Center. Though Southgate has since closed and RCRG skaters now practice at rinks in Lynnwood and Bellevue, they maintain their ties to the White Center/West Seattle communities. For starters, at least eight skaters live in the area, including Bird on a Wire coffee shop owner Heidi Herr (skate name: “Skate Trooper”). Also — community outreach is a core value for RCRG, and they participate in local activities including helping clean up Longfellow Creek, and a stretch of road they’ve “adopted” in White Center (where their next cleanup is scheduled for April 25).
West Seattle Rollergirl and “Derby Liberation Front” team co-captain “Deadly Aim” (aka Aimee Ettel) took some time off the track to provide some insight into the world of RCRG and to talk about their upcoming home game at RCRG’s big new home “rink,” KeyArena, this Saturday.
That’s the only Overton Berry Ensemble, and a taste of what’s in store at Admiral Church this Sunday. Admiral Church (California/Hill; here’s a map) joined the WSB sponsor team this week to get the word out about its annual Jazz Sunday, coming up this weekend; as you can see on the lineup here, it starts with “jazz-flavored worship” at the 10:30 am service, featuring the Admiral Choir, vocalist Grace Holden, flutist Bernie Jacobs, bassist Jeff Davies, all under the leadership of church music director Keith Terhune. Then at 7 pm, it’s a free concert (donations will be accepted) with the Overton Berry Ensemble (and Grace Holden sings again). To get your complimentary ticket(s), call the church at 932-2928.
That’s Bianca and her prize-winning chicken from last year’s Pet Rodeo and Snooty Walk presented by West Seattle High School students; tonight, Collrane Frivold sends word that another Snooty Walk is in the works – it apparently doesn’t have a website this time around, so Collrane is helping get the word out:
This year my class is putting on the third annual Snooty Walk on April 25 (starting at 2 pm at Hiawatha). This is a fun event created to connect the whole West Seattle community and the love of pets in this neighborhood. My class wants the whole community to be a part of this, so I was hoping you could post it on the blog so that it will be more known to the West Seattle community. … You just have to show up and buy tickets to enter your pet. It cost $10 to enter your pet, and we’re also going to be making pet videos and you can buy a package for a pet video and a ticket for $20.
The 12 events we are doing this year are best trick, best costume, best dancer, speediest pet, drooliest, smallest pet, cutest couple, fattest pet, obstacle course, most obedient pet, oddest pet noise, and most unique pet. Six of these events will be running at one, then we will switch and run the other six. Then the grand finale snooty walk will be at 3:30. This is when the pets and their owners strut their stuff and do whatever they think of as snooty. … Basically this event is just to do something fun for the community, and express the love for pets in this community.
Collrane says judges will include King County Council Chair (and Executive candidate, and WSHS alum) Dow Constantine and Husky Deli owner Jack Miller. Photos from last year’s Snooty Walk are online here.
First: Remember Mary Griffin and Grace Puffert? Two months ago, we interviewed them about their Seattle Lutheran High School senior project — a community fashion show, showcasing “A Century of Fashion,” to raise money for Providence Mount St. Vincent, where both work as volunteers. Their show is just one week away, so we checked in with them last Thursday night, just before they gave it a trial run at The Mount. In our photo above, that’s Mary at left and Grace at right with some of the items loaned for the show. They’ve got men’s fashions, too, like this ’70s classic:
Grace and Mary hope to see you at the big show, 4 pm next Sunday (April 19th) at Seattle Lutheran (map). Just so happens – this is also Seattle Fashion Week – and while the shows aren’t in West Seattle, a few of the designers are:
That shoot outside Salty’s on Friday afternoon involved the work of Heart On My Sleeve, the Pigeon Point-based fashion/music team you met here a month ago (they also were featured in today’s Seattle Times). HOMS is part of a show at 7 pm Thursday, Fremont Studios (tickets available online). Also showing his work during Seattle Fashion Week: Blayne of Project Runway and Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) fame (he’s part of the SFW couture finale, Saturday night at 7 pm, also at Fremont Studios).
4 weeks from today — Saturday, May 9 — it’s the 5th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, not one big sale but rather MANY sales, some big, some not-so-big, all over the peninsula, 9 am-3 pm. Here at WSB, it’s our second year coordinating the big event, and we have some updates for you:
REGISTRATION: By request, we expanded the registration period from 2 weeks to 3 weeks this year. The first week is now over, and we’ve got 60 sales on the list so far – last year set a record at almost 150 – can we beat it this year? This is the FIRST major Garage Sale Day in the city this year, since Greenwood has moved its event to fall. Three ways to sign up: Register and pay online (go here); print out the form (go here) and postal-mail it; or pick up a pre-printed mail-in form at Hotwire Coffee, Illusions Hair Design, Stor-More Self-Storage, and Brunette Mix (all 4 are WSB sponsors) or at one of these two Seattle Public Library branches, West Seattle (Admiral) and Southwest (35th/Henderson). Deadline for us to receive registrations is Saturday night 4/25 — we’re making the map available earlier this year (the very first copies will be available at our table at the Sustainable West Seattle Festival on 5/3), so we really need everything in by deadline.
WHAT TO DO WITH ANYTHING LEFT OVER: It’s official – Northwest Center will partner with West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day again this year. That means the dropoff spot in The Junction (44th/Edmunds) will stay open later than usual on Sale Day itself, or you’ll be able to book a Big Blue Truck pickup online for AFTER Sale Day, once you know how much you need to donate. (NW Center welcomes your stuff any time, of course; here’s a list of what they take.)
REMINDER – TWO SALE SPOTS IF YOU DON’T HAVE ROOM FOR YOUR OWN: Hotwire Coffee and C&P Coffee are both making space available in their courtyards – contact Lora at Hotwire or Cameron at C&P ASAP if you’re interested.
The official all-Garage-Sale-Day-all-the-time site is at westseattlegaragesale.com, where you’ll find registration info and other updates any time; you can also become a fan of the new WSCGSD page on Facebook by going here.
“Egg hunt on aisle 7” – you can almost imagine the overhead announcement. That’s just one of the scenes from inside West Seattle Thriftway, where the traditional crowd waited excitedly outside just before the 9 am egg hunt:
High stakes there – prizes in this egg hunt included a Wii and Mariners’ tickets! And if that wasn’t fun enough – an Easter Bunny sighting (our video camera followed his/her entourage):
(Added later: Thriftway now has its photos up online at westseattlethriftway.com – if your family’s in one of the photos, you can e-mail info@westseattlethriftway.com to request a copy!) Then at 10 am, community centers all over West Seattle had egg hunts too – by then the rain had stopped and the sun was even trying to come out. On the field at High Point Community Center, we spotted the REAL Easter Bunny – this gentleman who was out scattering the eggs and treats:
That section of the field was stormed shortly thereafter by the oldest kids:
Check out our video from just after they got the “go” signal:
Younger groups had their own egg hunts, one on the tennis court, one in the playfield corner at 34th/Myrtle:
If you missed today’s egg hunts, note that a few West Seattle churches are planning their own, right after Easter services tomorrow morning; see our West Seattle Easter services list for the locations.
That’s our video from last year’s egg hunt at Delridge Community Center – which, along with every other West Seattle community center, is planning one at 10 am today. First, there’s the 9 am egg hunt at West Seattle Thriftway and the 11 am Eastridge Christian event at Lincoln Park, all listed here along with church services today and tomorrow (and more).
It’s just one night — but its ripple effects will make a difference in thousands of lives over the ensuing year. The West Seattle Food Bank‘s “Instruments of Change” fundraiser is coming up, and this Thursday is the deadline to RSVP for tickets. The event May 1st at The Hall at Fauntleroy not only features KIRO Radio’s Gregg Hersholt as emcee, but also includes former mayor Norm Rice as a special guest speaker, plus live music and a Dessert Dash. Go here for full details, including how to get tickets.
WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli took that photo of the newly completed staircase through Orchard Street Ravine in Gatewood, site of a work party tomorrow morning. Tomorrow’s also prime time for egg hunts; though we have a special page with Easter (and Friday/Saturday) services here, and an overall Easter page (including Saturday/Sunday egg hunts) here, those events are just part of what’s in this West Seattle Weekend Lineup – with other highlights including West Seattle Nursery‘s spring open house, and lots more going on this weekend, more than three dozen events ahead on our list brought to you by Skylark Cafe and Club:Read More
Reminder: Discount early registration is still under way for the first-ever West Seattle 5K – benefiting local schools. It’s happening along Alki on May 31st, same day that Alki Ave will close (roughly from Seacrest to Cactus) for Car-Free Day-Turned-Celebrate-Seattle-Summer-Streets. Not only can you sign up online, you can also designate donations for the participating schools – start here.
Click that image for a full-size, printable version of the map/venue list for tomorrow night’s West Seattle Art Walk (6-9 pm, every second Thursday of the month). 40 venues are participating this time, from Alki to Delridge to Fauntleroy and many points inbetween, including Admiral, where Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) – will offer art, real estate, and shopping deals:
With a common appreciation for modern architecture and design, it’s a perfect match. During the West Seattle Art Walk, the real estate professionals of 360 Modern will have a festive meet and greet hosted by Click! Design That Fits in the Admiral District of West Seattle.
Guests can talk shop with fellow modern design fans, perhaps laying the groundwork for a future move with help from the local modern authorized agents of 360. Also during the event, all Click! purchases are 15% off! and the beautiful encaustic and oil paintings of Kate Fluckinger
adorn the walls. (Sorry, discount does not apply to the artwork.)
Meantime, “food can be art” is part of the message behind a photography display at C and P Coffee that you’ll see as part of the Art Walk; “What Feeds Us” photographers Sally Shintaffer and Poppy Barach are also known for writing the website Mixed Greens (featured on the WSB Blogs page, too). One more preview:
That’s art by Karl Addison from partybots.org, and you’ll see it at Twilight Artist Collective in The Junction during the Art Walk. Wine and cupcakes are promised too; here’s the official description of what he’s showing:
Karl Addison has been exploring the idea of over-population, saturation, and the dynamics between individual identity versus the selfhood gained and lost when one becomes part of a union. For this show, Karl will impregnate the back gallery of twilight with a superplethora of mustachio boxes. The mustachio boxes, each having individual personalities, that when viewed together in this overpopulation become something all together different.
An ardent naturalist, Karl Addison uses earth-friendly products in all his endeavors.
(Other photos of his installation are on this Flickr page.) More information about tomorrow night’s artists can be found on the official Art Walk site — along with detail on some of the places you’ll find treats (like champagne and chocolates at Clementine!).
Fourth day of registration for the 5th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day — one day, many sales big and small all over West Seattle, mapped and marketed by WSB — and three dozen are on the list already, including group and block sales. We extended this year’s registration period to 3 weeks instead of 2 so you’ve got more time to think about it, and hear about it. Today’s other updates: If you haven’t already seen this on the official Community Garage Sale Day site at westseattlegaragesale.com, we have two locations so far offering space to those who can’t or don’t want to have their own standalone sales — Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) and C & P Coffee. Space is limited at both so if you’re interested contact Hotwire proprietor Lora or C & P proprietor Cameron ASAP. Also – in addition to offering online signup/payment (go here) and the link to download a form you can mail in (here), preprinted forms are available for pickup at locations around West Seattle (let us know if your business 
is interested in having some forms on hand and we’ll drop ’em by): four WSB sponsors — Hotwire, Illusions Hair Design, Stor-More Self-Storage, and Brunette Mix — and two Seattle Public Library branches, West Seattle (Admiral) and Southwest (35th/Henderson). We’ll have contests again this year – including “Best Sign,” for which Val (photo right) was one of last year’s winners. By the way, West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day is the ONLY major communitywide sale day this spring — the “granddaddy of ’em all” in Greenwood moved to fall this year (at least one person told us they signed up for WSCGSD because of that – they’re looking forward to spring cleaning!) — and we’ll again be getting the word out regionally. Maps will be available earlier this year too – we’re planning to have them ready in time to start handing them out at the Sustainable West Seattle Festival on May 3 (the Sunday before WSCGSD).
We just couldn’t wait till tomorrow morning — went to the downtown waterfront tonight to get photos of the new trim and new logo on the newly rebranded King County Water Taxi. Tomorrow, of course, you can see it in person …
… free rides all day, and while the big party at Seacrest Pier (map) is noon-2 pm (with the fireboat Leschi scheduled for a spray show around 12:45), the Water Taxi sails its full schedule on day 1, which means you should see its first arrival at Seacrest around 8:45 am. P.S. If you’re trying to remember what the Water Taxi USED to look like, here’s a WSB photo from last fall:
Talking with King County Council Chair Dow Constantine at the Gathering of Neighbors today, we’re pretty sure he mentioned a new look for the shuttle buses too, so we’ll be watching out for that tomorrow morning as well. ADDED 11:07 PM: Well, we don’t even have to wait till tomorrow for THAT – turns out the King County Ferry District has a Flickr stream with an entire sequence of photos of the shuttle-bus rewrapping — see it here (as well as more pix of the Water Taxi’s new look).
Just received the official final list from Phillippia at DNDA, which is presenting the Gathering of Neighbors/Biz Expo with the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. To see the full list, click here – we’ll be there along with more than 70 other local businesses and organizations, including — just to name a few — WSB sponsors Budget Blinds, Eagle Electric, Stor-More, Ventana Construction, and the West Seattle Family YMCA, plus lots of other folks you’re going to want to meet, including the West Seattle Emergency Communications Hubs volunteers, the community orchestra Westside Symphonette, WestSide Baby, experts to answer your questions about what’s up with the Alaskan Way Viaduct, we could go on all night. Just come by and say hi, 11 am-3 pm tomorrow, Chief Sealth HS at Boren (5950 Delridge; here’s a map), and remember that if you’re thinking about joining in this year’s West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (May 9), sign up at our table tomorrow — the first day of registration — and get a one-day-only discount on the signup fees (which pay for mapmaking, posters, other fun stuff that gets WSCGSD on the regional radar). See you tomorrow!
, Better late than never, we present the West Seattle Weekend Lineup, with the return of the Water Taxi on Sunday, the Gathering of Neighbors tomorrow, the second and final weekend of “The Underpants” (all three events are WSB sponsors), and the final performances of ArtsWest‘s “History Boys.” Slower weekend than usual, what with Spring Break, but still more than 30 events in this edition of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup:Read More
Very belatedly finishing the West Seattle Weekend Lineup – if you see this before 8 pm, it’s not too late to catch night one of the West Seattle Lions‘ annual Plant Sale, happening at Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon St), tonight till 8. It continues tomorrow 9 am – 3 pm. Dahlias, rhodies, scented geraniums, tomatoes, and much more. West Seattle Master Gardeners on hand to answer your questions. Cash/check only. Proceeds benefit Lions philanthropic work (including eyeglasses and hearing aids for low-income WS residents, and scholarships for college-bound WS teens).
The King County Water Taxi is aboard the good ship WSB Sponsorship as of this week, and we’re now just three days away from the start of its 2009 season. A news release just came in with a few more details about this Sunday’s noon-2 pm kickoff celebration, including giveaway and music details – read on!Read More
First, from Matt Schlede at the West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor):
The West Seattle & Fauntleroy YMCA are now registering for youth t-ball/baseball, ages 4-10 year olds. Registration ends April 9th. One practice during the week, and one game one Saturdays at EC Hughes Park. Season starts April 27th. Financial assistance available. Register online at westseattleymca.org or in person at either YMCA; questions to mschlede@seattleymca.org
Second:
This announcement’s from Darin Smith:
The Hiawatha Tae Kwon Do Club is looking for new members for its ongoing classes at the Hiawatha Community Center in West Seattle. Adults (18 and older) can sign up to learn Tae Kwon Do, a Korean martial art known for its fast sparring techniques, dynamic forms, and strong kicks. The classes involve an International Tae Kwon Do (ITF) based style with emphasis on proper technique, physical fitness, and mental discipline. The club is focused on self-improvement in a non-competitive atmosphere that promotes unity, respect, and indomitable spirit. Classes cost $30/month and meet Mondays & Thursdays 7-8:30pm and Saturdays 11:15am-1:15pm. Beginners are definitely welcome and preferred; new students can join at any time! Please call (206) 684-7441 for questions or registration information.
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