West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
West Seattle’s most prolific breast-cancer-fighting fundraiser, Tracy Dart – who as you probably know also is a 3-time survivor – just accepted a big donation from the West Seattle Eagles Auxiliary, as her Team Tracy gets ready for this year’s strong>Breast Cancer 3-Day – the sixth one for her. The Eagles’ Madame Trustee Kristina Todd shared the news, with the photos we’re publishing here: Tracy got a check for $500, she says, explaining: “As part of their charity fundraising efforts, the ladies’ auxiliary had raised the money through benefit dinners and various fundraising activities over the past year. This is a perfect example of the Eagle motto of ‘people helping people’ – in particular, within our neighborhood of West Seattle.”
The Seattle-area 3-Day is less than two months away, September 14-16. If you’d like to donate to it via Team Tracy, just go here.)
3:54 PM: It was initially called out as a “heavy rescue” – usually meaning someone might have to be cut out of wreckage – but most of the units have just been canceled for a crash in the 4700 block of 37th SW, in the Fairmount neighborhood south of The Triangle. We’re en route to check.
4:09 PM: Just added (first) photo by WSB contributor Christopher Boffoli, who was told at the scene that a truck rolled downhill and into a parked car.
4:17 PM: More from Christopher – no one was inside the gardening truck when it either lost its parking brake or slipped out of gear and rolled down the hill, hitting a parked car in a driveway and ending up in the front yard of the house next door.
Again, nobody hurt.
6:27 PM: Added three more photos from Christopher – including two showing just how steep the street is.
Canoes participating in the annual Pacific Northwest tribes’ journey are landing at Alki Beach this afternoon – the first arrivals are already here. Alki is a stop along the way to Squaxin Island in the South Sound, which this year is the site of the gathering to which, according to the official announcement, as many as 130 canoes in all are headed (starting with a landing in Olympia next Sunday). Here are the many stops along the way, including Alki. More to come.
2:15 PM UPDATE: More canoes continue to approach the shore, many of their crews chanting and singing. There’s a big crowd all along the seawall and on the beach to greet and to watch. At least half a dozen more are visible offshore; many of these canoes left Suquamish on the North Kitsap Peninsula this morning.
3:05 PM UPDATE: The group of canoes that all arrived together have finished coming ashore; there are now two more in the distance, possibly having launched from Tulalip in Snohomish County. The Muckleshoot Tribe hosts the Alki stop, including support from uniformed security, with a vehicle patroling the boardwalk. The Duwamish Tribe is part of this year’s journey too – Linda Dombrowski tells us that the Duwamish Canoe Family is participating in the Duwamish Raven Canoe. She adds, “Raven Canoe skipper is Justine Finkbonner. Support crew on the beach today include Cecile Hansen, the Duwamish Tribal Chairperson and great-great-great-great-grandniece of Chief Seattle, and Ken Workman, Duwamish Tribal Councilman and great-great-great-great-grandson of Chief Seattle. This year’s Raven Canoe Paddlers include Duwamish youth leaders.”
Two Admiral notes this morning – first, both the Admiral District Business Association made its debut in Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade, in which the Admiral Neighborhood Association marched too:
(Photo by Nick Adams for WSB)
(Photo by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
(All of our West Seattle Grand Parade coverage can be seen here.) Second, the ANA-presented Summer Concerts at Hiawatha start in just three days! Thursday night, come hear The Local Strangers, live on the east lawn at Hiawatha Community Center (2700 California SW, but this is on the Walnut side of the site), free – bring your own blanket(s)/chair(s); show starts at 6:30. After this week, there are five more Thursday night shows – the schedule’s here (note that August 16th’s concert is at Alki Beach – it’s a SC@H tradition to have one there each year, since city cutbacks at Alki Community Center meant they can no longer present a summertime outdoor concert)
We’ve received more than a few reports of bicycles left behind at crime scenes – but this is the first time we recalling hearing a Segway left behind! The photo is from Jennifer, who explained that she found it near where two neighbors’ cars were broken into overnight in the 6600 block of Holly Place SW. Moments after her first note, before we even started writing this story, she sent a second note to say that the owner of a local rental business – contacted by a friend of hers – came to get it, and said, she wrote, “it was stolen from his carport and that it didn’t even run. He said they had to push or pull it over here. He said it was probably pretty difficult since there is resistance in the wheels.”
Meantime, while we’re not sure it’s from a theft, we’re also taking the occasion to mention a mystery bicycle that’s shown up – not too far (likely coincidentally, but you never know) from the above discovery:
Patty sent the photo and reports: “I found this bike in my boulevard strip this morning. It has a rear wheel lock on it, so it is not ridable unless you have the key for that. It is a 6-speed, with brown leather seat, front luggage rack & a headlamp. Obviously somebody’s commuter bike. I don’t know why it is here but figure it may be stolen and just dumped in front of my house. If the rightful owner wants to come by, I left it propped against my recycle bins by the sidewalk. 39th Ave SW between Othello and Webster.”
12:51 PM UPDATE: Patty says they’ve found the bike’s owner, who lives nearby. It was apparently stolen just last night.
(Photo of The Brothers by Danny McMillin, via the WSB Flickr group pool – larger views here)
Happy last full week of July! (Already?)
TRAFFIC ALERT FOR TONIGHT: Southbound Highway 99/Alaskan Way Viaduct will close 9 pm-5 am as WSDOT continues reinforcement work (which it says is now halfway done) on the section of the AWV under which the future tunnel will pass. Here’s our newest ongoing list of closures, day by day.
WOMEN IN CHARGE: We first told you last month about this newly formed group for West Seattle’s women business owners; this morning is their first major meeting, 9:30 am at Mind Unwind (2210 California SW).
MONDAY ARTISTS: This group of watercolorists welcomes you to join them 9:30 am-noon on Monday mornings at Island View Apartments (3033 California SW).
LAS VEGAS IN WEST SEATTLE! That’s the theme for this week’s meeting of the West Seattle Cooking Club, 3 pm at Beveridge Place Pub – Las Vegas! Go cook something that reminds you of Sin City and bring it along.
NIGHTLIFE: Monday is Pub Quiz night at Shadowland, 8 pm … Sing with Karaoke Kelli at Heartland Café‘s Benbow Room tonight at 9 pm …
More on the calendar!
Reminder that southbound 99/Alaskan Way Viaduct will close in about half an hour for the first of five overnight closures scheduled this week – and every week into the fall. Those Sunday through Thursday night’s 99/Alaskan Way Viaduct closures are the biggest traffic alerts for this week – the state explains them here. The week’s full list, broken out day to day, is ahead:Read More
(WSB photo from 2007 West Seattle Grand Parade)
WSB’er Kathleen just sent e-mail to make sure we had seen the sad news that Chris Wedes, best known as J.P. Patches, has died, at the age of 84 – just one day after this year’s West Seattle Grand Parade, a parade in which he had appeared more than a few times, with his final appearance in 2010. Here’s a short story on The Seattle Times (WSB partner).
Checking WSB archives: In February 2008, West Seattle’s then-State Senator, now County Councilmember, Joe McDermott introduced a resolution honoring Mr. Wedes on the 50th anniversary of his TV show.
That picture was shared from Olympia by then-Sen. McDermott, and featured him with Mr. Wedes – who was not in his J.P. makeup – and with McDermott’s cousin Emmett Blake (“Patches Pals and West Seattleites both,” the then-senator noted at the time).
Three months later, in full J.P. Patches regalia, Mr. Wedes appeared at the Admiral Theater – here’s our coverage (with video). By then, he was already fighting the cancer that has now taken his life.
So far as we can find in our five-plus-years of archives, his final appearances in West Seattle were in 2010. He was at the May 2010 Westwood Village Street Fair. We covered his appearance, but the best photo came later, from Karen, whose friend Kristi got him to pose with her pugs:
He also rode in the 2010 West Seattle Grand Parade:
(July 2010 photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
ADDED 7:15 PM: The Times has now published a full obituary – read it here.
One more note from here: Back in May, Mr. Wedes’s wife Joan Wedes was an honored guest at the dedication of the new South Transfer Station in South Park. Since JP Patches was also known affectionately as “Mayor of the City Dump,” the city promised a tribute to him at the new building that is about as close as you get to a “dump” these days. (The dedication got little to no coverage in local media [us included] because it was overshadowed by breaking news – shortly after the ceremony ended, Ian Stawicki‘s deadly rampage began.) She’s at right in this photo we took during the dedication:
Though you can’t tell since our photo is a wide shot, Councilmember Jean Godden, sitting next to Mrs. Wedes, was wearing a J.P. Patches button.
8:14 PM: Another West Seattle-raised politician who was a Patches pal, King County Executive Dow Constantine, remembers J.P.:
Several generations of Seattle kids owe a bit of their personality and sense of humor to J.P. Patches. Chris Wedes, sidekick Bob Newman, and director Joe Towey created a remarkable world of improvised comedy that enthralled children and, with an occasional wink or double-entendre, let parents in on the backstage hilarity.
I knew this day would come, but cannot believe that it has. Good night, sweet clown.
ADDED 8:19 PM: Cynthia Reid, who knew Mr. Wedes for many years, also was responsible for bringing him to the West Seattle parade – 1996 was the very first time. She told us, “Even though Chris has been so ill, I just wasn’t prepared for the news today.”
We contacted her after reading her Facebook comment about his death, in which she explained that she was just 5 when Chris Wedes came into her family’s life, visiting her cousin at Children’s Hospital while he was recovering from open-heart surgery. “They told us Craiger wasn’t going to make it after his open-heart surgery, he’d just given up. J.P. came and spent the whole day with him, and even brought his favorite treat, Fudgesicles! Craig found the strength that day to pull thru and we’ve felt indebted to Chris ever since. … Chris was told countless times how much he helped kids who were going thru a hard time with their families. Divorce, abuse, etc, he knew he was the only constant in their lives. And every year during the parade these folks would approach him and thank him. Every story meant so much to him. He KNEW how important it was to the kids, all the kids, and especially the ones who were hurting. Please know how much he cared about each and every kid out there.”
ADDED: Patches Pal Jeff Jones shared memories too, and a photo:
A huge shoutout to my great Patches Pal friend Eric Wiseman for having JP as his special guest for BBQ a few years ago.
I have a Boris S. Wart second-meanest man in the world t-shirt my Mom gave me back in the day.
Coaching girls’ hoops at the rec center, the kids would always ask me who the meanest man was, I said me!
The … picture is me asking JP who the meanest man is, he said, Jonesy, it’s the Principal.
21-year-old Tony Pham of West Seattle is the champ, after the first-ever Zippy’s Giant Burgers (WSB sponsor) burger-eating contest: 8 burgers in 8 minutes. He and his fellow competitors had a sizable audience:
Even Zippy himself (aka Blaine Cook) watched from the sidelines:
At the end, he had an expression of disbelief; second place was a five-way tie, six burgers in eight minutes:
Zippy’s planned to donate the $10 entry fees to the White Center Food Bank.
Back on Thursday, we brought you the Port of Seattle’s announcement that three more Super Post Panamax cranes would soon arrive, headed for Harbor Island. Looks like they are now visible in Elliott Bay, according to the photo we received from Don Brubeck.
ADDED MONDAY MORNING: Trevor MacLachlan shares a closer view:
We’re checking with the Port regarding the timeline for when they’ll dock at the terminal on this side. The Zhen Hua 23 is still off Magnolia, according to marinetraffic.com.
Finally got some information about the incident that brought the law-enforcement helicopter Guardian One to the Highland Park/White Center area early this morning – several people called, e-mailed and texted us about it in the 2 am hour, but we couldn’t find out at the time what was going on. Now we know that it involved a report of gunfire near 17th and 98th in White Center – first word of that came thanks to a comment on the WSB Facebook page, and it was confirmed by King County Sheriff’s Deputy BJ Myers, with whom we just talked at White Center Jubilee Days (where we’re tabling today on behalf of our partner site White Center Now). No proof of the reported gunfire, though – nobody hurt, no property damage, no shell casings found. A suspect was reported to have been seen running; deputies did make one arrest of a person who they say had a gun, but no one has identified him as having been involved with the alleged gunfire.
One more hour to take a diaper donation to WestSide Baby‘s “Stuff the Bus” headquarters in the AmericanWest Bank lot at 41st and Alaska – lots of cheerful volunteers are there to greet you and cheer, from the moment you turn in. By 11 am, they already had 17,000 diapers – one-third of the way to today’s goal. If you bring some, you can honk the bus’s horn – Lucas did:
1:17 PM UPDATE: Nancy Woodland from WS Baby sends word that they were up to 33,000 as of 10 past 1 but need 17,000 MORE by 2 pm – drop everything and go get some if you can!
2:40 PM UPDATE: From Nancy, 43,106 diapers today, but …
215,000 diapers total so far from Stuff the Bus (diapers plus money turned into diapers). plus 100,000 in the match from National Diaper Bank Network.
ADDED: Here’s how the bus looked toward the end of today’s drive:
And at WestSide Baby HQ in White Center, volunteers working hard to sort them:
You can donate any time – here’s how – and smaller drives continue, such as the one at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), where you’ll get a free drink for bringing in a package of diapers before the end of this month!
We’ve already previewed the Hi-Yu Community Breakfast till 11 (story here) … WestSide Baby‘s “Stuff the Bus” diaper drive 10 am-2 pm (story here) … but here’s even MORE happening in West Seattle and vicinity today:
ARTS AND CRAFTS FAIR: At 4480 Fauntleroy Way in The Triangle, Diva Espresso is hosting an arts/crafts fair till 3 this afternoon – details here.
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: As with every Sunday, you’ll find it at 44th/Alaska till 2 pm.
MEDITERRANEAN FANTASY FESTIVAL: Day 2 at Hiawatha Community Center! Entertainment on indoor and outdoor stages 11 am-5 pm … and vendors galore. Admission free. (Here’s our report from Saturday.)
WHITE CENTER JUBILEE DAYS STREET FAIR/PARADE: Today’s events start with the parade at 11:30 am and continue till the carnival closes at 9; you can find full schedule/event details on our partner site White Center Now.
ZIPPY’S BURGER-EATING CONTEST: Registration started at 10, contest is at 2 pm, at Zippy’s Giant Burgers (WSB sponsor), 9614 14th SW. (Entry fees donated to the White Center Food Bank, which also serves part of WS.)
34th DISTRICT DEMOCRATS PICNIC/SOFTBALL GAME: You never know who’s going to show up (check out our coverage from last year). Picnic starts 3:30 pm, first pitch 4:05 pm, E.C. Hughes Field (map/details in our calendar listing).
BIKRAM YOGA CLASS FOR WEST SEATTLE HELPLINE: 5 pm today, Bikram Yoga Seattle (WSB sponsor; 4747 California SW) is presenting a special class to raise money for West Seattle Helpline – details here.
Check the WSB West Seattle Events Calendar for today’s complete lineup …
It’s a West Seattle tradition – the day after WestSide Baby rolls a big yellow school bus in the West Seattle Grand Parade, you’ll find that bus pressed into service as a diaper-drive center! Again this year, the WS Baby “Stuff the Bus” drive is happening in the lot at AmericanWest Bank on the east side of The Junction, 4022 SW Alaska, 10 am-2 pm TODAY. Your donations count for even more than the face value, because WestSide Baby has worked hard to get “matching” donations … between today and a variety of smaller drives hosted this summer, they’re aiming to get 50,000 donated diapers matched with 100,000 more from partners. (P.S. If you missed WS Baby’s Nancy Woodland as Grand Marshal in Saturday’s parade, there’s video in our first parade report.)
This morning, 8-11 am, you are invited to come support West Seattle Hi-Yu by joining in the annual Community Breakfast (at the Alki Masonic Hall, 4736 40th SW, suggested donation $6 adults/$3 kids). It’s been a big week for Hi-Yu royalty and volunteers – especially Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade:
This year’s Junior Court – from left, Princess Elena, Queen Thea, and Princess Amanda – and Senior Court Queen Kayli showed off their synchronized moves while riding on the “Secret Garden” 2012 float. Here’s our video:
If we haven’t said this often enough, ours is the last Seattle community to have “its own” float, and Hi-Yu represents West Seattle in parades around the region, from late spring through fall; community support is vital to keeping it going, though – donations and volunteers. Saturday marked James Kline‘s first year in the parade as Hi-Yu president:
Each year, the designers of the official Hi-Yu button – sold at various major summer events around Seattle – get to ride in the parade too, and this year, that happened to be last year’s Junior Court royalty, so they got a parade encore!
Tonight, Hi-Yu’s float and entourage will be part of the Chinatown Seafair Parade; next Saturday night, look for them in the Seafair Torchlight Parade downtown.
ADDED: One more view of Team Hi-Yu on Saturday – courtesy of J.P. Peck at QuickShows.com:
One more reminder that the new Web address for Hi-Yu is westseattlehiyu.com – where you’ll find an updated calendar and the latest Hi-Yu news.
Despite everything else happening on Saturday, more than 50 took time out to help clean up West Seattle’s busiest beach. From Seal Sitters‘ Robin Lindsey:
Seal Sitters teamed up with Alki Community Council and Seattle Parks to sponsor a cleanup of Alki Beach (and Constellation Park) in honor of seal pup Sandy who was found dead, entangled in derelict fishing line earlier this year. Fifty-one passionate people showed up, anxious to do their part to help protect sea life from the dangers of marine debris and trash. Peggy Foreman of NOAA talked briefly about marine debris and specifically about the stranded Arroyos gray whale whose stomach contents consisted solely of human trash.
While the beach did not appear to be as littered as usual on a summer Saturday morning due to a rather rainy Friday, the volunteers (20 Seal Sitters and 31 folks from the community, 6 of those minors) filled about 10 large trash bags. Armed with buckets, bags and grabbers, they picked up plastic bottles and caps, countless cigarette butts, and among other things a kayak paddle, a woman’s black and pink bra and dirty diapers. We even had a family drive all the way from Ellensburg just to pick up trash on the beach. Brooklyn, the “almost” 9 year old daughter, read about seals on our website, saw the post about Sandy and told her mom and dad that she wanted to come help seal pups by cleaning up the beach. We can’t thank everyone enough for helping out today. A minimum of 120 hours were donated this morning (we have not yet tallied the worksheets for an actual figure). All of these volunteers are a true inspiration!
Robin says the photo she shared shows “students from UW’s Environmental Studies program (Kim, Alex, Nick and Ana) who each donated over 3 hours of their time” on Saturday.
(Photos by Nick Adams for WSB)
Yet another facet of the interwoven events of Saturday, in connection with the West Seattle Grand Parade, was the Rotary Club of West Seattle-presented Kiddie Parade. Once again on Saturday, the proud participants marched down California from SW Genesee to Edmunds. Or rolled:
First, as usual, they mill about, which is almost as much of a spectacle:
Costumes usually abound:
Always lots of kids in the “main parade,” but this is a chance for little ones to enjoy the being-in-the-parade experience, even if they’re not part of a school, group, church, etc. that has an entry.
In this morning’s “West Seattle Saturday” preview, we mentioned the scheduled Alki launch of “sky lanterns” as a fundraiser for youth arts education. Seems the wind on Alki was not conducive to a mass lantern launch, and organizers announced via Twitter they were moving to the south end of Lincoln Park and planning to send up the lanterns around 10. So we’re mentioning it in case anyone in that area is taken by surprise.
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
When Seattle Police Officer John Bernasconi pulled his motorcycle up to the curb near the start of the West Seattle Grand Parade route this morning, to join the Drill Team as its leader for one last ride, a colleague joked, “Hey, this is seniors’ parking.”
The officer laughed. Within an hour, there would be time for more somber emotions – though the hugs and handshakes began long before he and his colleagues reached the California/Charlestown intersection where a ceremony was planned to mark his last ride.
This year, he is retiring, not just from the Drill Team after 36 years (12 as Drillmaster), but from the force after 43 years. We told his story here on Thursday,
Though he has worked from the downtown-based Traffic Division, those who speak fondly of him include Southwest Precinct leadership past and present – Traffic Division vets – current commander Capt. Steve Paulsen, past commander Capt. Joe Kessler (who now leads the West Precinct and was at today’s ceremony), current operations Lt. Pierre Davis. “He is just the nicest guy” is something we heard often.
And fittingly for a nice guy, though the morning was a tribute to him, he brought the gifts – bouquets of flowers for his wife Cindy, daughter Alexandra (visiting from Australia), and his mom (visiting from California). Our nine-minute uncut video shows how the farewell unfolded:
(That video is by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand; for a shorter clip, see Christopher Boffoli‘s video here.)
What made this particularly unusual was the fact it was held during the West Seattle Grand Parade – Officer Bernasconi’s choice, because he is a native West Seattleite, and it’s where he and Cindy, married 28 years, raised 23-year-old Alexandra:
Then after applause and more hugs ..
…off he rode:
…while his teammates, and their counterparts from Vancouver, B.C. – who as shown in our long clip also stopped to pay tribute – continued the parade.
The crowd continues to grow in the courtyard next to Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor), home to West Seattle Outdoor Movies, which opens its 2012 season tonight at dusk (an hour and a quarter or so away) with “Pretty in Pink.” Admission is free but bring $ for raffles and concessions, which always have a beneficiary – tonight, WestSide Baby:
Yes, that’s WS Baby’s executive director Nancy Woodland handling the popcorn machine, hours after a fun ride in the West Seattle Grand Parade as its Grand Marshal (see video in our first parade report). Tomorrow’s a huge day for WS Baby too – its annual Stuff the Bus diaper drive; bring diaper donations to the AmericanWest Bank lot at 41st and Alaska between 10 am and 2 pm. Back to movie night … the team from longtime WSB sponsor Dream Dinners is serving up jambalaya:
Always a fun time. West Seattle Outdoor Movies (with co-sponsors including WSB) continue every Saturday night for five more weeks after this – see the schedule at wsmovies.org.
(Video of the race’s start and first 2 photos, by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
About 300 people ran and/or walked in the first-ever West Seattle Float Dodger 5K, a kind of opening act for the West Seattle Grand Parade, was a big success, reports Tim McConnell of West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor), which played a big role in making it happen. Tim and wife/co-proprietor Lori McConnell both participated, too, in costume (which was encouraged):
The race started under cloudy skies, but no rain:
The “float dodging” happened after participants walked/ran the first leg of the race, north from California/Charlestown to California/Lander, the starting line of the parade – where the West Seattle Hi-Yu float was parked, minus royalty, for them to run around:
(WSB photo by Tracy Record)
From there, they ran southbound along the entire parade route to the finish at California/Edmunds. The results are available online now – go here. The top male finisher was 29-year-old Mark Mandi, with a net time of 15:28; top female finisher was 30-year-old Bekka Martin, with a net time of 20:17. Other winners included the beneficiaries, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Rotary Club of West Seattle, whose members helped with race staging/organizing – here’s Gary Potter of Potter Construction (WSB sponsor) with some of the course markers:
(WSB photo by Patrick Sand)
This was one of two Rotary events on parade morning – the other was the Kiddie Parade; photos from that are coming up. Run for Good Racing Company was a partner in making the Float Dodger 5K happen, too. So far, sounds like the first one won’t be the last – so watch for the registration announcement next year!
(Our 1st parade report is here; our pre-parade coverage is here)
(WSB video of the All-City Band, top Overall Trophy Winner today)
Just announced by West Seattle Grand Parade coordinators – today’s winners!
Clowns & Comics
1. Seattle Seafair Clowns
2. Keystone KopsPerforming Acts
1. Pathfinder K-8 School (Unicycle Team)
2. Lake City Vigilantes
3. Seattle Seafair PiratesMarching Bands
(Photo by Dan Holz)
1. Kennedy Catholic High School Marching Band(This photo and next one by Nick Adams for WSB)
2. Seattle Seahawks Blue Thunder
3. Pacific Northwest Drumline (Tie)3. Seattle Police Pipe & Drum Band
Drill Teams – Senior
1. Electronetts High Steppers Drill Team & Drumline
2. The Dolls Drill Team
3. Super Steppers Marching TeamDrill Teams – Junior
1. Electronetts Butterflies Drill Team
2. Washington Diamonds Drill Team
3. Daughters of Royalty Drill TeamCars & Antique Cars
(Photo courtesy Lance Rasmussen)
1. Pacific Northwest DeLorean Club
2. Last Resort Fire Department
3. Seattle Lutheran SchoolsCommercial
1. Your Seattle City Light and the Northwest Tap Connection Dance Team
2. Luna Park Café
3. Seattle Public UtilitiesCommunity
(WSB video of part of the OLG parade entry)
1. Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish & School
2. Little Gym of West Seattle(Photo by Nick Adams for WSB)
3. WestSide BabyFloats
1. Marysville Strawberry Festival
Overall Trophy Winners
1. Seattle Schools All-City Marching Band (see video atop this story)
2. Chinese Community Girls Drill Team
3. Sumner High School Marching Band
(Troupe Rashaad from Lacey, at Medfest this afternoon)
ORIGINAL SATURDAY REPORT: Steps away from where the West Seattle Grand Parade (WSB coverage here) began just a few hours ago … another big event is continuing till 7 tonight (and again tomorrow). Belly-dancing is the main event at the Mediterranean Fantasy Festival – Medfest for short – in and around Hiawatha Community Center; it’s celebrating its quarter-century anniversary this time! Shopping and browsing are popular too:
Admission is free. Performers and vendors come from all over the region – the schedule is online, but you also can get a program at the festival – browsing the copy we picked up, we’re seeing performers from Idaho, Montana, Oregon, even Rhode Island, as well as here in Washington. There are indoor and outdoor performances, till 7 tonight, and 11-5 on Sunday. The Babylonian Ensemble co-sponsors the festival, along with the Hiawatha Advisory Council (which benefits from the vendor fees, to help pay for center programs).
ADDED POST-FESTIVAL: A Sunday photo shared by Dina Johnson (who designed the MedFest banner in the photo):
Dina says Tiffany, at left, “is a Tribal Bellydancer from West Seattle, one of Troupe Hipnotica’s (very accomplished) students. Saroya, who grew up in West Seattle, has been co-producing MedFest for 25 years now.”
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