Sustainable West Seattle Festival: Reporting live, till 3 pm
(scroll down for the latest photos and updates)
(Sustainable West Seattle president Bill Reiswig)
Till 3 pm today, West Seattle Blog headquarters moves to the Sustainable West Seattle Festival in The Junction. Above is a photo sent via Twitter by festival organizers, who’ve already “tweeted” lots of great info and photos (follow SWS at @sustainablews – or check the updates via the Web at twitter.com/sustainablews). We’ll be adding our own soon. Our table is by the east side of the Wells Fargo drive-through (where we were last year), west of the “main stage.” We’ve got the first 200 copies of the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day map – which doesn’t go live online till tonight or early tomorrow (if you think you’ve seen a map online already, it’s from a previous year, because this one is NOT yet published online). Great weather for a festival, lots of booths, entertainment, panel discussions (we’re on one at noon) – see the schedule, site layout, exhibitors list, all here. More to come!
10:26 AM UPDATE: Congressman Jim McDermott is speaking on the nearby main stage right now. Great weather, lots of people and lots of incredible exhibitors.
A highlight for kids of all ages – costumed characters – including not just one, but two “Bagmonsters” crafted from plastic bags …among other characters:
We’re right across from Camp Long, Longfellow Creek Watershed, Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, Nature Consortium booths … more of the great groups working to keep West Seattle green, and in many cases make it even greener through their restoration work. By the way, if you pick up a festival program while you’re here, it’s good for reading later – several articles by festival participants including us, talking about the topic that will be the subject of a panel we’re on at noon, “Sustainable Community Through Media” – one of the most important parts of WSB is YOU – without your presence, your collaboration, your ideas, your news tips, your event announcements, your photos, there wouldn’t be much here. Meantime, we’re also monitoring the SWS Twitter feed, from which this photo of the “backyard chickens” booth comes:
Over at the main stage next to us, CoolMom is about to put on a puppet show.
11:50 AM UPDATE: Pete Spalding, president of the West Seattle Food Bank board, just stopped by. (added later, here’s a photo of Pete in the WSFB booth)
He told us Friday night’s Instruments of Change fundraiser WSFB was a smash hit – sold out, more than 200 people, former Mayor Norm Rice gave a great speech, and the “dessert dash” led by County Council Chair Dow Constantine raised $11,000. (Pete adds that WSFB served more people last month than in any other month in its history.) Constantine just spoke here at the festival:
Also here – Mayor Greg Nickels:
12:52 PM UPDATE: Just back from the media panel, with Kery Murakami from Seattle Post Globe (former P-I employees who started up a new news site), Chuck Taylor (formerly of crosscut.com), and Jonathan Lawson of Reclaim the Media. Great discussion – and thanks to the folks who came to listen (Yes Magazine was tweeting it – see highlights at twitter.com/yesmagazine):
Thanks to Jake for that photo of us on the panel – from left, Chuck, Kery, me (WSB editor TR), Jonathan – next photo is our iPhone snap of the audience area:
We thought we’d added this earlier but apparently not – some of what else is happening in The Junction – the Skillet trailer at Seattle Lutheran High School (we’ll be checking after today whether it’ll be back next week – this was on a trial run basis):
They’re there till 2 pm, and there are some menu changes from what’s online – including a pulled pork sandwich instead of the fried spaghetti sandwich. And if you’re walking that way from the heart of The Junction, drop by the Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) courtyard for the Furry Faces Foundation plant sale to raise money for animal rescue – they’re there till 4 pm.
Now back to the Sustainable West Seattle Festival – here till 3 pm in and around Wells Fargo in The Junction (44th/Alaska, across from the Farmers’ Market) – two stages with panels and performances, lots of great places to learn about living sustainably.
1:51 PM UPDATE: Just talked to Gene, who’s tweeting today for @sustainablews – check out that Twitter feed not only for festival notes, but also some photo links. Meantime, more of our photos – WSB sponsor Clean Air Lawn Care is here (that’s owner Adam):
And of course, lots of different ways of getting around, sustainably:
The Westenders Scooter Club is one of dozens of exhibitors here. Meantime, we’re almost out of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day maps but the map will be online late tonight/early tomorrow, in printable and clickable forms! And we’ve had many more great conversations – political candidates have stopped by our table including mayoral candidate Michael McGinn and West Seattle-residing City Council candidates Dorsol Plants and David Ginsberg.
3 PM UPDATE: The festival’s ending, though some festivalgoers are still lingering as things wrap up – we have some folk music over at the main stage – festival coordinator Brian Allen‘s running around pointing participants to an afterparty:
Congratulations to Brian and everybody at Sustainable West Seattle for putting on another huge, successful, fun festival. We’ll be jumping back into the news stream. Look for a followup report later tonight with more photos and video from today’s festival. P.S. Stu Hennessey (Alki Bike and Board), another of the Sustainable West Seattle leaders working hard on the festival, stopped by to say they want to say again how much they appreciate the local business support in this area for and during the festival. And speaking of business support, we mentioned earlier that WSB sponsor Clean Air Lawn Care is here – spotted a couple more of our sponsors along the way – Mural Apartments (just about open, across from Jefferson Square):
And also, Envision Homes:
Some of the people who stopped by to talk with us asked what they can do to support the continued growth of 24/7 community news, information and discussion at WSB – our #1 request, support our sponsors; close behind, keep sharing your news tips, photos, announcements, stories, etc. – you can reach us any time, a variety of ways – all listed here (but most importantly, make sure our number is in your cell-phone list so you can call if you have an urgent sighting or question – 206-293-6302). More photos and video from the festival later!
It’s the next big festival of the pre-summer – and it’s happening tomorrow at 
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