West Seattle, Washington
18 Monday
Just in from the West Seattle Junction Association — the program for West Seattle Summer Fest, coming up July 11-12-13 — and it has first word of the music acts you can expect to see. It’s not on the Summer Fest website just yet, so download it here (the music lineup is on page 7, with performer info starting on page 10). The program has other Summer Fest details too; click ahead for a few additional notes of interest:Read More
Those who worry that city leadership might not always have neighborhoods’ best interests at heart will be interested in that excerpt from the Sustainable West Seattle Festival speech by Jim Diers, former director of the city Department of Neighborhoods. From our vantage point next to the main stage for all five hours, Diers was hands-down the most energetic speaker of the day (gotta check out the NEIGHBOR POWER! bellow – that’s the title of a book Diers wrote). More from him, and four other clips to conclude our coverage, ahead:Read More
We’re just back from the first-ever Sustainable West Seattle Festival in The Junction, and by all accounts, and our observations, it was a smash hit. SWS president Bill Reiswig said in closing remarks less than an hour ago that what he found really “moving” was all the interaction going on, between exhibitors and participants and festivalgoers — a fulfillment of the “building community, creating connections” mission you may have seen on the posters for the SWSF.
That’s what we experienced too; we had a great time not only spreading the word about West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, but also meeting so many people who are out there in WSB-land, including some folks we’ve “known” via e-mail for many months but never before met in person … thank you all SO much for stopping by to say hi. We’ll have a full wrapup later tonight with more festival pix and video. Congratulations to Sustainable West Seattle, which made a daring move by putting on a major event like this after less than a year in existence … and succeeded big-time.
(Our previous reports on the festival, under way in The Junction till 3 pm, are here and here.)
Just steps away from the Sustainable West Seattle Festival table that’s become temporary WSB HQ for the day, you can see the Westenders Scooter Club with those bright bikes. And though it’s not technically on the festival site, across the street by the northeast entrance to the Farmers’ Market, we spotted the “human-powered smoothie” maker:
The festival continues till 3 all around the Wells Fargo lot on the northeast corner of 44th/Alaska; we’re here mostly on behalf of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (just another form of recycling) — lots of folks have dropped by to say hi (thanks!). We’re just west of the “Main Stage,” where a variety of speakers have appeared throughout the day – later we’ll upload video from the speech by Jim Diers, former city Department of Neighborhoods leader, whose booming call for “NEIGHBOR POWER!” could be heard for blocks away!
Those are Duwamish Tribe members singing a song of welcome to open the first-ever Sustainable West Seattle Festival, continuing till 3 pm in The Junction (Wells Fargo lot and surroundings, across from the Farmers’ Market). Other scenes from the first hour:
That’s the Polar Bear getting ready for its closeup. Next, the popular “Undriver Licensing” booth:
Next, evidence many festivalgoers already were “undriving”:
Here’s an overview of the area north of Wells Fargo. There are also booths in and around the south and east sides, including the drive-thru (our table is next to the main stage just outside the north end of the drive-thru).
Something for gardeners too:
If you haven’t been yet, drop by the WSB table, say hi, and pick up a West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (next Saturday — call it P2P recycling!) reminder. And remember the transportation/transit discussions happening inside ArtsWest, too.
It takes a village to put on a festival, and a small one is going up right now on the Wells Fargo lot @ NE corner of 44th/Alaska, where the first-ever Sustainable West Seattle Festival starts in less than an hour and a half. As mentioned in our previous post, at least one of us will be stationed at all times at a table there for the 10 am-3 pm duration, mostly to continue getting the word out about West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (next Saturday! stay, sunshine, stay!) — we’ve printed out small reminder slips you can put up on the fridge or wherever — but also to talk about community newsgathering and blogging with anyone who’s interested. Here’s the full festival program; here’s a quicker-to-read version of the schedule; we’ll cover various events through the day for in-progress and post-festival updates, too.
First, a quick sponsor note that’s also a shoutout to a small-business success story: As advertised in our sidebar, Curious Kidstuff in The Junction is celebrating its 10th anniversary today with a one-day, 25% off sale. Happy anniversary! Now, the two other events, 
just a couple blocks from CKS: After less than a year of existence, Sustainable West Seattle is throwing a party for the whole community — the first-ever Sustainable WS Festival, 10 am-3 pm today, at two locations in The Junction: The Wells Fargo parking lot at the NE corner of 44th/Alaska, and ArtsWest, where a Transit/Transportation Forum has two sessions, 10:30 am and 12:30 pm. (Actually, three festival locations – bus tours to High Point leave at 11 am and 12:30 pm.) There’s a huge slate of workshops, speakers, and events; see it here. We’ll be reporting from a table at the festival all day (and promoting West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day). Don’t forget to bring donations for the West Seattle Food Bank! Speaking of food, this all unfolds right by the weekly West Seattle Farmers’ Market, 10 am-2 pm; plant lovers will want to check the Langley Fine Gardens (despite the name, which evokes a Whidbey town, they’re from Vashon) stand, where we spotted our favorite spiky solanums last week. Read on for the official “fresh sheet” from market organizers:Read More
That photo is courtesy of the members of Sustainable West Seattle, who gathered for a group shot outside Camp Long before their monthly meeting this past Monday night — a meeting like no other in their less-than-one-year history, because it’s the last one before SWS presents its first-ever Sustainability Festival, coming up Sunday, May 4, 10 am-3 pm in The Junction. A little while before that photo was taken, we sat down with three SWS leaders to talk about the festival (and how it’s not too late for you to pitch in, especially if you have some time this weekend) – read on to see why they, and many other folks around West Seattle, are so excited about it:Read More
As reported here last week, one of the new features at the July 11-13 Summer Fest in The Junction will be an “Art Dive” that’s being organized by Twilight Art Collective. Tonight, the folks at Twilight asked us to share this call for participants:
In an effort to inject even more LOCAL ART in this year’s Summer Fest community celebration, this year we will be introducing “ART DIVE”! Art Dive will be a flea-market-like area designated for local artists to sell their goods. 8′ x 2′ tables in the Art Dive tents will be just $125 for the three-day weekend. The Art Dive will have a PRIME LOCATION on California Avenue just South of the North Performance Stage at the Oregon/California Ave intersection! ALL artists are welcome and encouraged to apply!! Just send Twilight an e-mail at info@twilightart.net and put “ART DIVE” in the subject line, and we’ll forward the application to you.
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Twilight, by the way, just launched its redesigned website; you can see it here.
(2007 West Seattle Summer Fest, photo courtesy Chas Redmond)
Third and final update from our recent chat with West Seattle Junction Association president Dave Montoure (of West 5) — some advance scoop on this year’s West Seattle Summer Fest, coming up July 11-13. Last year, you may recall, Summer Fest was retooled with the help of input requested from WSB readers (your input is popular, by the way, the Chamber of Commerce is reviewing everything you had to say on this recent development/business thread). This year, more new features are on the way:Read More
(2007 parade photo courtesy Rhonda Porter from The Mortgage Porter)
As first mentioned last month, the official West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival schedule is out, including the American Legion Grand Parade on July 19. The parade is part of the reason we started WSB – as a way to get the word out frequently, repeatedly, and in real-time, about West Seattle events, needs, celebrations, people, and we love it to bits (see last year’s photo coverage here). Even in a time of dramatic change in the way West Seattle looks — taking care of traditions like Hi-Yu is a way to preserve and nurture some of the small-town feel that so many people are so worried about losing. That said, here’s what’s up: First, the parade needs convertibles. The Huling/Gee dealership provided them in the past. Now, of course, that’s all gone. Second, the parade needs financial backing for bands that can’t all cover their own expenses any more. Read ahead for full details on both, and the simple steps the Parade Committee hopes you can take to help:Read More
(Seafair Pirates in 2007 West Seattle Hi-Yu parade)
Time to mark more big days on your summer calendar. According to the Hi-Yu website: The Seafair Pirates’ Landing at Alki (2007 WSB coverage here) will be Saturday 7/5; the West Seattle Big Band’s Hi-Yu Concert in the Park at Hiawatha (2007 WSB coverage here) will be Tuesday 7/15; the Rotary Club Kids’ Parade and American Legion Grand Parade down California SW from the Admiral District to The Junction (2007 WSB coverage here) will be Saturday 7/19; the Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu Coronation will be Monday 7/21. (As we reported last month, the Summer Fest street festival in The Junction will happen Friday-Sunday 7/11-7/13.)
There’s the latest example of plans for summer getting under way well before the end of winter – that’s a preliminary sketch for this year’s West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival float, which represents WS in parades all over the region and of course appears in the big WS parade too. As previously reported here, this year’s theme is Luna Park, celebrating West Seattle’s historic amusement park. The sketch was shared with WSB by Danette Carufel of the Hi-Yu Committee, who also says:
Hi-Yu is still looking for a place to hold work parties (painting, cutting, gluing) to help build the float. If you know of an empty work space or garage that could be used please contact us through the Hi-Yu website. Once a location is found we will schedule work parties and hope that the community would like to join us in building the float. If any clubs, organizations or anyone looking for community service hours would like to join us at a work party please (also) contact us.
We’ve got one more sketch to show you, plus Danette has a few words of thanks regarding a recent Hi-Yu event:Read More
Nothing like a blue-sky photo from last summer to chase the gray-sky blues away if you have ’em … that’s from West Seattle Summer Fest 2007, and we’re rerunning it as we share the news that the dates are set for Summer Fest 2008, as published on the SF site: Friday-Sunday, July 11-13. West Seattle Junction Association executive director Susan Melrose tells WSB that the first planning meeting of the year happened just last night, so look for more details to come; they won’t start taking applications for table space till April.
As promised in our Hi-Yu update last week, we have more information on how to apply for the Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu scholarship program. As Hi-Yu’s Colleen Gants put it, “It’s a neat way for West Seattle young women to get involved in the community, participate in Seafair, gain professional speaking experience, and join in good old fashioned fun – complete with floats and all”:Read More
Now that it’s mid-January, we can truly see the summer light at the end of the tunnel – and in fact, there are three ways you can get involved with this year’s West Seattle Hi-Yu Summer Festival right now:Read More
TONIGHT: Another indie movie is having its Seattle premiere at Admiral Theater – with a bonus offer: Admiral manager Steve Garrett says every paid admission to “Sentimental Values,” a snowboarding movie, gets a free lift ticket to Stevens Pass. Tickets for tonight’s show at 10 pm are available online in advance ($8; go here) or $10 at the door.
TOMORROW: With only 7 1/2 weeks till Christmas, you can start stockpiling decorations at the various bazaars around WS (check our Weekend Lineup for the latest) and by stopping at the West Seattle Kiwanis booth on the east side of the Farmers’ Market tomorrow. WSB reader Bonnie e-mailed to let us know they’re selling ornaments to benefit the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival, best known for all sorts of summer fun from The Parade to Concert in the Park and a whole lot more.
The ornaments are $25 each and, as supplies allow, will be sold at the Kiwanis booth for the next two Sundays, as well as at the West Seattle Moms’ Holiday Bazaar next Saturday (11/10), 2 pm-5 pm (address is on the WSB Events page).
Good crowd for the events at three Fauntleroy venues this afternoon. Our videographer stopped by to catch a song from the West Seattle Big Band. (Note the audio mix is a little odd because we’re just using the camera mike; a high-quality external mike is next on the shopping list!)
It’s been a busy year for the WSBB, seen at other big events including the Hi-Yu Concert in the Park and Alki Statue of Liberty unveiling.
This big bright banner on the side of the Corner Inn (Fauntleroy/Cali) says it all:
Events are planned at The Hall at Fauntleroy, Fauntleroy Church (full lineup in last Sunday’s bulletin), and Fauntleroy YMCA. Many great local performers are participating, including the West Seattle Big Band (4-6 pm @ The Hall).
Fall officially arrives early Sunday morning. Before and after that, there’s a massive amount of things to do in WS — from Holy Rosary’s annual WestFest tonight and tomorrow, to the North Delridge Adopt-a-Street cleanup, to tonight’s rescheduled outdoor movie (weather looks better), to the last Children of the Revolution appearance (they’re fabulous) of the season at Cafe Rozella tonight, and tons more: 37 events ahead!Read More
Now we know what was missing; the (former) Festival of India moved to the Eastside.
Last weekend in August, and we just can’t bear to see any more rain. We’ve got rowing & volleyball at Alki, the Art in Nature Festival, a narrated history walk around eastern WS, and a job fair (today!) … 31 ways to have fun without leaving the peninsula:Read More
Just a few one-time only events in this advance alert (much more tomorrow morning in our weekly WS Weekend Lineup):
TONIGHT: Open house @ High Point Community Center, 6:30 pm. (It’s a beautiful facility, just 3 years old.)
TONIGHT: The Southwest Design Review Board meets @ SW Precinct, 6:30 pm, to review the proposed new building at the Alki Pegasus Pizza site.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Last outdoor concert of the season @ Providence Mt. St. Vincent, dinner available @ 5 (wine-tasting booth too), music by the fabulous West Seattle Big Band starts @ 6.
SATURDAY: The Great Cross-Sound Race, with rowers going from Alki to Bainbridge and back.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY: Festival season isn’t over yet! Arts in Nature happens at Camp Long all weekend. It’s presented by the Nature Consortium, a WS-based organization profiled today in the Times.
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