West Seattle, Washington
12 Thursday
(“Big Purple Slide,” which you’ll find in front of Rocksport at Summer Fest)
It’s noon and West Seattle Summer Fest is now cranking into high gear for its first afternoon. We’re in the Information Booth again this year – what’s new is the community (Alaska) stage just feet from us, in front of KeyBank. It’s where TILA Real Estate is about to put on its first West Seattle “Minute to Win It” contest – if you don’t see them at the stage, they’ll be down by PETCO.
(video added – here are the first contestants, Oreo-balancing)
Very nice breeze coming through right now. 12:31 PM UPDATES: Outside the Senior Center of West Seattle, you’ll find Sound View Quilters, selling $1 raffle tickets for this gorgeous quilt:
Proceeds benefit the Senior Center, which is where the quilting group meets. Another update: Who’s scheduled to be in the Community Tent today – till 2, the Water Taxi, Emergency Preparedness, Streets for All, and West Seattle Helpline/Clothesline; 2-5 pm, Water Taxi, Streets for All, and West Seattle Helpline continue, with La Leche League joining them. (Update – just talked to Admiral Neighborhood Association president Katy Walum – they’re in the community area all day too, selling their cool new Admiral T-shirts and other gear.)
To get to the community-group area, just head toward Junction Plaza Park, east from Cupcake Royale (WSB sponsor). One West Seattle Summer Fest fixture is West Seattle Hi-Yu – their award-winning “Dreams Do Come True” float is parked up on California north of Oregon, by Fleurt – you can buy a Hi-Yu button there and/or from the Hi-Yu folks roaming the festival zone (look for the signs and/or red polo shirts):
And a note about where to find food – in addition to all the restaurants that are always here at The Junction, some of which have outdoor areas just for the occasion, there’s the vendor zone west and east of Walk-All-Ways – plus, for example, Jack Miller of Husky Deli is cooking and serving right outside his popular store:
Pagliacci Pizza has a setup outside its Junction store too:
And of course, there’s the sidewalk-sale aspect of Summer Fest – if you’re an Apple devotee (we are), your Apple guy in The Junction is Brian Presser from TouchTech Systems, out in front of the building where his office is on the breezeway, by the liquor store:
Much more to come – our earlier reports include “what’s new/what’s changed,” road closures/bus reroutes, the Art Dive participant list, the Parents’ Rest Stop (scroll down through this archive). Reminder that tonight’s music highlight is Satchel, 8:30 pm, followed by Hell’s Belles.
NOTE: We’ve started a 2nd report about day 1 – so updates are over on this one – coverage continues here.
(Updated 10:45 with photos, now that everything’s set up. Separate report upcoming with ongoing coverage)
We’ll be reporting “live” from West Seattle Summer Fest (co-sponsored by WSB) starting later this morning – vendor hours today, 10 am-6 pm; music, past 9! – but first, one more practical preview: A few notes about what’s different this year, if you’re heading out based on memories of last year. First, the stages – one is at the north end of the festival zone on California north of Oregon (near the Art Dive and beer garden) – right across from the West Seattle Eagles:
The other stage is on the west side of Alaska/California instead of the east end – that’s primarily for non-band performances. Here’s what IS on the east end of Alaska: Junction Plaza Park is open at the northwest corner of 42nd/Alaska (dedicated last week). Last year, the site held a beer garden to raise money for park completion. This year, it’s “just” a park – so check it out if you haven’t already, take a break on its benches, seating walls, grass … There are activities nearby – for example (from the list on this page of non-music activities/entertainment), that’s where the Rat City Rollergirls‘ dunk tank is scheduled to be. The Community Tent, too, where you’ll find neighborhood groups and other cool local nonprofits. There also are food vendors along SW Alaska both east and west of the “Walk-All-Ways” intersection – in recent years, they’ve been only on the west side. Also on the west end of SW Alaska, the Super Terrific Happy Fun Zone (presented by Clowns Unlimited, which sells tickets – otherwise Summer Fest is free), is by Wells Fargo. (Note it’s in two parts – some in SW Alaska street, some north of Wells Fargo’s drive-thru):
New this year: strong>GreenLife at Summer Fest, the sustainability/gardening expo presented by Sustainable West Seattle and West Seattle Nursery, is on the west side of California at Edmunds – between Technical Analysis and the hot-yoga studio:
Direct links: General festival map here; specific map with numbered vendor locations here (alphabetized list with numbers can be found here); live music schedule here, other activities/entertainment here, our overnight note about road and bus changes here. In addition to ongoing coverage here – plus the other news of the day/night – we’ll also tweet photos and quick updates at twitter.com/westseattleblog. See you at Summer Fest! We’re in the info booth again this year, south of the stage that’s in front of KeyBank.
(Scene from early Summer Fest setup on Thursday evening)
With West Seattle Summer Fest officially starting less than 12 hours from now – 10 am Friday – we wanted to remind you of a few practical points that might affect how you get around West Seattle in the next three days, even if you’re not going to the festival:
ROAD CLOSURES: These are in effect till at least mid-evening Sunday – the roads will reopen when everything from the festival is cleared: California SW is closed from SW Oregon to SW Edmunds, the two blocks in the heart of The Junction’s business district. Oregon is open to east-west through traffic, but then California is closed again for most of the block north from Oregon to SW Genesee (that’s where you’ll find the Art Dive, among other attractions). The only east-west closure is SW Alaska, from 44th SW to 42nd SW.
BUSES: Summer Fest-related “stops missed”/”reroute” advisories are listed for multiple Metro routes and one Sound Transit route. If you go to the Metro “events” page, you’ll find the link for yours (each affected route links to a PDF with the specific changes) – these are the ones that are listed.
*Route 22 has an advisory through midnight Sunday
*Route 37 has an advisory through 5 pm Saturday
*Route 51, through midnight Sunday
*Route 53, all day Friday
*Route 54, through midnight Sunday
*Route 55, through midnight Sunday
*Route 57, through 7 pm Friday
*Route 85 Night Owl, through Saturday
*Route 128, two advisories – one is through midnight Saturday, one covers 6 am-9 pm Sunday
*Route 560 (Sound Transit), through midnight Sunday
*Route 773 (Water Taxi shuttle), through midnight Sunday
The Summer Fest website isn’t working at the moment (likely updating before tomorrow) or else we would add a blurb here about changes to the festival layout – most notably, the Alaska stage for live music is on the west side of SW Alaska, instead of the east side as in years past – so we’ll reserve that till the morning.
In addition to covering West Seattle Art Walk tonight – and any breaking news, of course – we’re also continuing to preview West Seattle Summer Fest, tomorrow through Sunday in The Junction. We asked the proprietors of Twilight Artist Collective (which has a great lineup for Art Walk tonight too) who they’ve rounded up for the Art Dive, since we didn’t see the list on the Summer Fest website (which DOES have copious amounts of information on other participants, so check it out if you haven’t lately) – and they provided the list! (You’ll find the Art Dive tent on California north of Oregon.)Read More
Since it’s West Seattle Summer Fest eve, we’ll also be publishing previews throughout the day – more than a few participants (festival site map) have sent us extra info about what they’ll be up to, and if you’ll be there, you’re welcome to do the same! (Here’s all the ways to get info to WSB.) Kids’ activities at Summer Fest go far beyond the bouncy toys in the Super Terrific Happy Fun Zone – there’s also an area where kids can work on arts and crafts and other activities, hosted again this year by Pathfinder K-8. Plus, here’s your chance to get a jump on a coloring contest that one Summer Fest merchant is presenting for kids 12 and under – Dawn Jump from Prudential NW Realty asked us to help get the word out about the contest, and we invited her to share a scan of the coloring sheet (it’s available at PNW offices at Jefferson Square, but you might not be able to get there before WSSF). Print it out here, start coloring, and take it to the PNW booth during Summer Fest (again, here’s the map – they’re #48), where Dawn says every young artist will be entered in a drawing for “a variety of prizes,” plus they’ll be displaying the art too. P.S. Another BIG art feature for all ages @ Summer Fest is the Art Dive – presented by Twilight Artist Collective – look for the big tent full of local arts/crafts (marked by the palette icon here).
Last night, the political-news website PubliCola reported that this year, abortion-rights-supporting organizations NARAL and Planned Parenthood were not being allowed to have booths at West Seattle Summer Fest – see the PubliCola report here, and a followup here. The PubliCola report has been a hot topic in the WSB Forums all day long. Minutes ago, West Seattle Junction Association director Susan Melrose sent WSB and PubliCola this statement – saying they’ve changed their minds.
After the 2009 West Seattle Summer Fest, the West Seattle Junction Association (WSJA) decided to not accept organizations into the event to discuss the issue of abortion. In past years, WSJA received strong negative feedback from the public against how the issue of abortion was being presented though we had asked these organizations to be contentious. Many families wrote, called and emailed that the graphic displays still offered by certain groups were not appropriate for their children. Summer Fest is a family and community oriented event, therefore WSJA listened to community input and chose not to accept any organizations to debate abortion. This seemed like a fair way to address the issue since not all applicants are accepted into the festival due to limited space. The first responsibility of the WSJA is to our community and we were responding to community feedback.
Now the West Seattle community has spoken out again. After it was publicized that pro-choice and pro-life organizations would not be registered with Summer Fest, we received calls and e-mails that many do want this issue to be presented at the event. Our organization has no position on this issue and our decision to not accept organizations from either side of this debate was based solely on the feedback of the community who we tried to accommodate.
Based on recent community input, WSJA has made the decision to allow one booth for each side of the issue into this year’s festival. In our effort to be neutral, we created a far greater stir than expected. We hope to respond to and remedy the initial complaints by having vendors sign a statement that all displays and handouts are subject to approval by WSJA.
Just four days till West Seattle’s biggest event of the summer – West Seattle Summer Fest (co-sponsored by WSB), three days of celebration, music, shopping, art, food, family activities, and more in the heart of The Junction, this Friday through Sunday. Quick note tonight from a Junction business with a message to famiiles with babies – Donna Ryan Photography (4218 SW Alaska, just east of Cupcake Royale [WSB sponsor]) will be hosting Summer Fest’s only “Parents’ Rest Stop” in her expansive studio space. She says it’s a place for breastfeeding moms to come nurse, and overall, “I welcome parents of babies who need a few minutes of privacy / quiet to drop in during festival hours.” What else is happening at Summer Fest, you ask? There’s tons of info on the official website – live music performances listed here, other live performances and activities listed here, vendors and exhibitors listed here …
The super-secret-surprise act that people have been wondering about, next Friday night at West Seattle Summer Fest, is finally public, according to Jason Fitzgerald of The Workshop – it’s Satchel:
Satchel is playing a surprise set at West Seattle Summer Fest on Friday July 9th on the Alaska Stage from 8:30pm – 9:30 PM. Of course, this show, like all West Seattle Summer Fest music, is ALL AGES and absolutely FREE.
The rest of the West Seattle Summer Fest music lineup is online, here.
Two weeks from tonight, you’ll be dancing in the streets – if you feel like it – at West Seattle Summer Fest in The Junction (co-sponsored by WSB). It’s coming up July 9-10-11, and the website’s being updated with more on what you’ll find and who you’ll see during three days of free entertainment and activities – including the music lineup first previewed here three weeks ago. From 5:45 pm Friday through 3:45 pm Sunday, most of the schedule’s now up, in order of appearance, here. And there’s more than music – from the Rat City Rollergirls to the Art Dive, Big Purple Slide, and Super Terrific Happy Fun Zone, that’s all listed here, with times and places. Then there’s the five-page list of vendors – listed in alphabetical order, starting here. It all kicks off at 10 am Friday, July 9, and runs till 5 pm Sunday, July 11 – and also mark your calendar for the West Seattle Art Walk on Summer Fest Eve, 6-9 pm Thursday, July 8 – there’ll be extra fun that night too.
VERY busy morning already at the first-ever West Seattle Junction Health Fair – dozens of local providers in booths set up in two rows in the Wells Fargo parking lot, right across SW Alaska from the Farmers’ Market. Stop by the very first booth along the sidewalk, where we are hanging out with Liz from the West Seattle Junction Association – you can get free The Junction/Downtown West Seattle stickers, info-cards about West Seattle Summer Fest (with the band list), which is coming up July 9-10-11; September 19’s West Seattle Junction Car Show; and this booth is also where to drop off the free raffle tickets you can pick up from many of the providers – prizes include yoga, fitness, skin care, massage and more. We’re right next to the booths for two WSB sponsors – Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy and Westside Dermatology :
Two more sponsors, Fitness Together and 8 Limbs Yoga are here too – and many other providers!
It’s all here till 2 pm. Including the Puget Sound Blood Center mobile unit – donate once, save three lives!
More coverage to come. 11:23 AM: Couple other brochures you can pick up here – the Junction Health and Wellness Guide brochure, listing more than 60 area providers/practitioners in all. Also the general Junction brochure. And Mr. Yuk stickers. Lots of great people watching – we just saw a family go by with a couple kids in one of the most interesting school sweatshirts we’ve seen lately: “Warning: Denny Dolphin/Slackers Be Warned/Denny students are college-bound …” Couldn’t read the rest at a distance (refers to Denny International Middle School in Westwood). Also speaking of people-watching – City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen has just visited the Farmers’ Market with two businesspeople from France – Chris Curtis of the Neighborhood Farmers’ Market Association helped guide their tour too – stand by for a separate story on that.
12:52 PM: A few clouds are mixing with the sunshine. The crowd’s been steady – including not only Health Fair browsers, but also blood donors – one dropped by to let us know she’d given! More of whom you’ll see if you make it down here before 2:
Gordon’s at the West Seattle Be Prepared booth – you’ve heard all about preparedness efforts here; West Seattle leads the city in readiness, and if you’re still not sure how to be part of it, he can tell you all about it.
1:30 PM: Engine 32 is here for fire-engine visits! North side of the Health Fair zone.
E-32 is based just blocks away at Station 32 on SW Alaska east of Fauntleroy. 1:46 PM: Engine 32’s cameo is over – they’re headed back to the station. 2:16 PM: Final tally from Puget Sound Blood Center: 23 people gave blood during the Health Fair!
One more video look at Saturday’s Morgan Junction Community Festival, presented by the Morgan Community Association – on a day we might all look back on as the first “real” day of West Seattle’s 2010 summer. Edgar Riebe of Captive Eye Media captured festival scenes in the final few hours, including the legendary Bubbleman, and the last musical act, the Burley Mountain Band. (For photos and more video, check out our as-it-happened coverage, report #1 and report #2.)
Belly dancer Najma is just one of the performers who’ve already taken the stage – or, in this case, danced on the green – at Morgan Junction Park, where we’re midway through the Morgan Junction Community Festival. Lots of folks dropping by to say hi (and in the past hour-plus, picking up the free bumper stickers we mentioned in our first report – they’re going fast!), telling us they’re taking a break from yard work or other things they think they SHOULD be doing … c’mon, get away from the computer, it’s a mellow afternoon down here. Dog-friendly too if you want to bring your pooch. Still three more bands to go over the next few hours, plus the fabled Bubbleman at 5:15 pm.
3:32 PM: Inbetween the park and the area where us exhibitor types are hanging out behind Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor)/Zeeks Pizza, you’ll find West Seattle Natural Energy and MissionMoto – they’re set up between Beveridge Place Pub and Feedback – and just past them, you’ll find booths like the one Sylvia Rolle and Cindi Barker are staffing right now:
They’ll be happy to tell you all about the West Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs (and other West Seattle Be Prepared readiness matters). More to come – this continues till 7.
4:37 PM: The Slags are just now starting to play – a little later than scheduled – and we’re awaiting word on whether the Bubbleman will make it – apparently he was having some trouble catching a ferry from Vashon. Meantime, some updates – we’re out of the I (Heart) West Seattle bumper stickers that the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce had given us to hand out – also “sold out” (though they too were free), the coupon books for the Bite of Morgan tastes – organizers printed almost 500 this year, a few hundred more than last year, but still ran out. Of course you can still stop in to eat and drink at the nearby restaurants/bars – all this is amid Kokoras Greek Grill, Feedback Lounge, Zeeks Pizza, Beveridge Place Pub, Starbucks, West Seattle Thriftway, Subway, New Teriyaki and Wok, Domino’s – and a bit to the south, Caffe Ladro.
5:25 PM: Bubbleman is indeed here and started a few minutes ago. We photographed him getting ready:
And from their performance about an hour ago – The Slags – introduced by their drummer’s son, with a bit of off-camera coaching from Morgan Community Association’s music guru (among other things) Chas Redmond:
Speaking of music … we spotted Willie Murderface – a West Seattleite who hosts karaoke – and asked if he’d stop for a photo:
Even if you’re not a karaoke denizen, you may remember Willie for the benefit he organized last January to raise money for Jason McKissack, the Seattle police officer who suffered a career-ending injury when attacked in the line of duty two years ago. (Here’s our story from the night of the fundraiser.) Thanks to everybody who stopped by today – the booth area behind the Feedback is starting to clear out, but there’s still one band left to play in the park (warming up now) before the festival wraps. We’ll have one more report later including a video-highlight roundup and any other post-festival tidbits – meantime, hope to see you tomorrow at the West Seattle Junction Health Fair, 10 am-2 pm in the Wells Fargo parking lot, right across from (and same hours as) the Farmers’ Market!
That’s the entertainment schedule at the Morgan Junction Community Festival, which has just begun at Morgan Junction Park (on California SW just north of Fauntleroy) – in and around the park, and don’t miss the dozens of booths behind Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) and Zeeks Pizza, including ours:
(That’s our old advertising banner from the Water Taxi, which isn’t running ads on the new boat yet.) Also of note, in the “festival zone” at Beveridge Place Pub, a crowd’s gathering for the USA-England World Cup soccer match:
You can also watch at Abbondanza Pizza a bit further south, same side of California SW. So come down and enjoy the festival – be sure to get your free Bite of Morgan food coupons (Abbondanza is among the participants) at the Morgan Community Association booth at the park – the one in the left of this shot:
The festival continues till 7 pm. More coverage to come! 11:49 AM: Almost forgot – in addition to the Bite tastes, you can get a barbecue lunch at West Seattle Thriftway, kitty corner from the festival zone, till 4 pm, benefiting the Morgan Community Association!
12:49 PM: Back to the festival focus after a brief bit of breaking news (diver rescue call that turned out OK – diver wasn’t missing or in trouble, after all). Good news – we have something new at the booth, courtesy of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce – free I *HEART* West Seattle bumper stickers! While they last! Here they are on our table, next to the makeshift World Cup scoreboard:
Also Water Taxi brochures and city Neighborhood Center info. We’re right behind Feedback Lounge, between Animals First Foundation and Pacific Rim Emergency Planning.
2:05 PM: Shoutout to more of our neighbors here in the exhibit area – longtime WSB sponsor Ventana Construction is right across the way – here’s Ventana’s Anne with kids Delila and Logan:
We’ve also seen some candidates – Marcee Stone and Joe Fitzgibbon, both candidates for the 34th District State House Position 1 have been sighted. (P.S. Later in the afternoon, another candidate in that race, Mike Heavey, visited the festival too, as we noted at the time via Twitter.) We’ll be starting a new report shortly – have video of belly dancing and music too!
Three days till the next big festival – the Morgan Junction Community Festival on Saturday (11 am-6 pm in Morgan Junction Park and behind the Feedback Lounge [WSB sponsor]/Zeeks Pizza buliding) – More information to share about what you’ll see and hear while you’re there. The Morgan Community Association website has the full list of live-music acts and other entertainers – it’s an eclectic lineup, too, including jazz, country, rock, and punk music, plus belly-dancing and bubbles! Then there’s the Taste of Morgan (free coupons for food samples at area eateries) – and in the exhibitor area (behind Feedback/Zeeks), you’ll find us – we’re co-sponsoring the festival – and you’ll get to meet reps from more than two dozen other local businesses/groups … including Ventana Construction (WSB sponsor), West Seattle Natural Energy, MISSIONmoto, Madrid Frame, West Seattle Food Bank, Sustainable West Seattle, Furry Faces Foundation, Animals First Foundation, 34th District Democrats, Wahine Sport, Barefoot Books, The Kenney, Solstice Park P-Patch, West Seattle Garden Tour (co-sponsored by WSB), Penguina Designs, Emergency Preparedness Communications Hubs, Pacific Rim Emergency Planning, Bruce Savadow Photography, Alice Kuder from Prudential NW, Tatayna Graphics, Emerald Spiral, SDOT, and of course the Morgan Community Association itself. 11-6 Saturday, see you there (and at the West Seattle Junction Health Fair the next day!).
WEST SEATTLE TOOL LIBRARY GRAND OPENING COMING UP: On this showery Sunday, no rest for some of the stalwart volunteers from Sustainable West Seattle. We photographed Chas Redmond and Bill Reiswig at the WS Farmers’ Market, just one day after their group put on its 3rd annual festival – part of ReFRESH Southwest this time around. Today, they were promoting next Saturday’s West Seattle Tool Library grand opening (9 am-2 pm, north side of South Seattle Community College), and continuing to collect tool donations. As ReFRESH SW ended Saturday, we had asked Gene Homicki what the Tool Library still REALLY needs; his reply, the one thing they’re still hoping to get donated – an electric pressure washer! If you can donate one of those, here’s the contact info. Meantime, get a sneak peek at the tools in the system by searching this database (300 or so now, 100 more to be catalogued, Gene tells us).
MORGAN JUNCTION FESTIVAL UPDATE: Also next Saturday, it’s the southernmost West Seattle neighborhood to have its own major festival – Morgan Junction! 11 am-6 pm next Saturday (6/12), you’ll find live music next to Beveridge Place Pub and other entertainment (lineup here) in year-old Morgan Junction Park, booths (come say hi, we’re #17) behind Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) and Zeeks Pizza, and the Bite of Morgan food samples (be sure to pick up a free ‘ticket’ book) at not only Feedback and Zeeks, but also Kokoras Greek Grill, Abbondanza and Domino’s. (Plus the legendary Bubbleman at 5:15 pm!)
WEST SEATTLE JUNCTION HEALTH FAIR: Brand-new event this year (info here) – gathering The Junction’s health-related businesses together for an expo to show their stuff. Among them are WSB sponsors Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, Westside Dermatology, 8 Limbs Yoga, Fitness Together; they’ll join more than a dozen-other health/wellness specialists for demonstrations, raffles, freebies, and there’ll even be a mobile blood drive, plus police, firefighters and disaster-preparedness experts. This’ll all happen 10 am-2 pm in the Wells Fargo parking lot, conveniently across from the West Seattle Farmers’ Market during those same hours, next Sunday!
We’ve been enjoying music drifting over from the Delridge Day main stage, into the Sustainable West Seattle Festival exhibition area, here at ReFRESH Southwest (grounds of Delridge Community Center till 5 pm). Above, drumming and dancing early in the afternoon. Right now, the Vicious Puppies Crew – breakdancers that rocked the festival (Delridge Day) last year too – are over at the main stage. 4:05 PM UPDATE: Final hour – here are more of the scenes – City Council President Richard Conlin dropped by, wearing the I (Heart) West Seattle T-shirt we remember from his visit to the Morgan Junction Park dedication this time last year (the Morgan Festival is coming up hext Saturday, in and around the park, 11 am-6 pm):
4:24 PM UPDATE: It’s been an afternoon full of workshops, too – here are some of the stars – urban ilvestock!
We also caught up with the Highland Park group that we mentioned in a separate story earlier – as they joined in Delridge Walks, heading to the festival on foot:
Again, this is on till 5 – performances by the Delridge Community Center building, sustainability exhibits (and other ‘tablers’ like us) in the parking lot. (video added 6:26 pm – there were also workshops inside, like this one)
5:07 PM: It’s all wrapping up, and we’re packing up. Lots more going on this weekend, of course – and next weekend, two festivals: Morgan Community Festival on Saturday, the West Seattle Junction Health Fair on Sunday (both of which we’re co-sponsoring). We’ve got some more video and photos to add to coverage of ReFRESH Southwest – once we’re back at HQ. Thanks to everybody who stopped by to chat, and everyone who worked hard to make this happen! ADDED: A few more pix, as promised – you saw the chickens above – here’s the chicken workshop!
The year-old Delridge Community Center Playground was a big draw:
West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen stopped by in the festival’s final moments:
And for even more photos – digital pix from Usnaps, a portable, rentable, digital photo booth created by West Seattle-based entrepreneurs – Usnaps’ Kim Schwarzkopf stopped by the WSB table to say hi; they’ve traveled the country with Usnaps in recent months. See the ReFRESH SW Usnaps pix here.
All over West Seattle, so much happening today – The Kenney has welcomed people of all ages to its ‘Family Reunion’ festival – we dropped by for some of the indoor activities, on a quick side trip from tabling at the Sustainable West Seattle Festival section of ReFRESH Southwest. Above, the Raining Sounds sang for the crowd; below, face painting was a hit
Still time to get over to the grounds of The Kenney – and bring some disposable diapers for the WestSide Baby diaper drive, till 4 pm in the main lobby.
We’re here in the bright sunshine at Delridge Community Center, with a rainbow-striped cloth over our table, across from ZipCar, next to the North Delridge Neighborhood Council (selling their (Heart) Delridge T-shirts! as seen in our photo above), southeast side of the parking lot (which is where all the tents are set up), kitty corner from the West Seattle Food Bank (whose past board president Pete Spalding is walking around handing out (No) Hunger stickers). There’s “street food” too – we’ve heard about a taco truck and a hot-dog truck so far. See you here – free workshops, performances, family fun till 5.
2:10 PM UPDATE: So sunny and gorgeous, we’re just sitting here talking with folks – right behind us is a bike booth, with Stu Hennessey from Alki Bike and Board showing off “e-bikes” among other things. We’ve taken some more photos, too:
King County Executive Dow Constantine stopped by a while ago … Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association director Derek Birnie’s here:
Lots of sustainable businesses – here’s Adam from Clean Air Lawn Care (WSB sponsor):
In our morning preview, we mentioned the Bucket Brigade, a project of Urban Land Army – Highland Park’s Becca Fong is here:
More to come! Look for the info booth on the south side of the parking lot – you can get a map that also has a schedule of performances and workshops – an electric-vehicle demonstration is about to begin. If you’re driving (and of course you’re encouraged to bike, walk or take transit), note that since the parking lot has festival booths, you’ll park somewhere on the periphery of the Delridge Community Center grounds – side streets have parking too.
2:39 PM: Want a free ticket to the Green Festival downtown? Drop by our table – or the Sustainable West Seattle table – we just got a batch. If you can’t make it there today, you can go tomorrow!
As a prelude to this afternoon’s ReFRESH Southwest mega-event (full listing of performances/workshops/tables/booths here), people were invited to walk to Delridge Community Center – perhaps taking photos and/or cleaning up along the way – and we caught up with part of the Highland Park group doing the latter. (By the way, that’s 34th District State House candidate “Mac” McElroy in the background – we’ve seen him at the last few Highland Park Action Committee meetings, along with many of the other community-council meetings we routinely cover. Any candidates coming to today’s festival, be sure to come see us at table 26 – as we did last year during the summer of city campaigns, we’ll photograph everybody who stops by!)
Hope to see you at tomorrow’s ReFRESH Southwest – the umbrella name for this year’s combined Delridge Day and Sustainable West Seattle Festival events, all happening tomorrow at, in, and around Delridge Community Center, 1-5 pm (after the Clean and Green cleanup and Delridge Walks events in the morning!) — here again is the outdoor exhibitors’ map (WSB is #26), and now for the first time we have the full schedule of indoor and outdoor events, from arts to games to the sustainability workshops and beyond, just forwarded by SWS Festival coordinator Christina, after the jump:Read More
You’ve seen the poster promising “Hot Local Bands” … now we have the details. From Jason Fitzgerald at The Workshop, which works with the West Seattle Junction Association on West Seattle Summer Fest (co-sponsored again this year by WSB), here’s first word of the live-music lineup:
Here’s the 2010 West Seattle Summer Fest band line-up so far:
FRIDAY, JULY 9TH:
Hell’s Belles
The Tom Price Desert Classic
The Fixers
Kim Virant
Trombone Cake
(added) Midnight Idols*and a special, secret, surprise band announced later…
SATURDAY, JULY 10TH:
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter
Mark Pickerel & His Praying Hands
Caspar Babypants
Massy Ferguson
Whalebones
Curtains For You
Kristen Ward
Marc Olsen
Memphis Radio Kings
Gunn & The Damage Done
Bend
Rat City BrassSATURDAY, JULY 10TH EVENING – FAMILY STREET DANCE:
Cherry Cherry (a 10-piece Neil Diamond tribute band)
All Mixed Up (a Cars tribute band)SUNDAY, JULY 11TH:
Billy Joe & The Dusty 45’s
Kris Orlowski
Shelby Earl
Capping Day
The School Of Rock All-Stars (performing Live Aid Remade, with songs by David Bowie, Queen, Judas Priest, U2 and more)More bands will be added, and as always, all of this music is ALL AGES and ABSOLUTELY FREE
(Last year’s big Friday night super-mega-attraction was of course Mudhoney – we published video here.) If you’re trying to remember who else played last year, here was our 2009 preview.
Counting down to the next big festival – ReFRESH Southwest, combining Delridge Day and the Sustainable West Seattle Festival – this Saturday, 1-5 pm at Delridge Community Center – we’ve got new information tonight. First: SWS, which is handling exhibitors, has provided the map of who you’ll see where (hope you’ll stop by to say hi – WSB will be next to North Delridge Neighborhood Council, where, as reported here yesterday, the cool (Heart) Delridge T-shirts will be on sale, and we’re told you do NOT have to pre-order!). Here’s that map – we’re #26. Meantime, SWS Festival coordinator Christina provided the list of workshops during Saturday’s festival:
1:30 – 2 pm – Keeping Goats by Jennie Grant, Goat Justice League
2:30 – 3 pm – Electric Vehicles by Craig Vinton
3:30 – 4 pm – Keeping Chickens by Jenifer McIntyre, Seattle Farm Coop
4:30 – 5 pm – Keeping Bees by Puget Sound Beekeepers Association
One more new tidbit tonight – the flyer’s out for the city-supported Clean and Green cleanup that will precede the festival, 9 am-noon, centered around Southwest Youth and Family Services, whose HQ is south of Delridge Community Center. Here it is as a 1-page PDF. And you can still sign up online for Delridge Walks – as an individual or group – to walk to the festival from your part of West Seattle.
Last year at West Seattle Summer Fest, the then-new (Heart) Delridge T-shirts were a hit – at the information booth, we fielded multiple queries on where people could find the North Delridge Neighborhood Council‘s table so they could buy one. Just got word from Holli Margell of NDNC (who’s modeling the shirt in the 2009 photo at right) that they’re selling them at this Saturday’s Delridge Day/Sustainable West Seattle/ReFRESH Southwest Festival – but you need to preorder, so that yours will be waiting for you at the NDNC booth:
We have a new batch of Heart Delridge T-shirts ready to sell to raise money for the North Delridge Neighborhood Council. Sized from kids 2T to XXL, they cost $15. You can reserve one of them by e-mailing heartdelridgetee@gmail.com with your name and desired size and it will be waiting for you at the booth.
The festival is 1-5 pm Saturday on the Delridge Community Center grounds; several big events will precede it in the morning, including community-cleanup activities and Delridge Walks – there’s still time to get a group together to walk to the festival, and potentially win a prize! You can sign up here. Meantime, there’s more festival info here, including activities/music highlights.
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