West Seattle, Washington
18 Monday
(WSB photo from 2008 Sustainable West Seattle Festival)
The full website is now up and running for the 2nd annual Sustainable West Seattle Festival (which is sponsoring, and co-sponsored by, WSB), coming up Sunday, May 3, in The Junction, 10 am-3 pm. You can see the schedule here – the Duwamish Tribe will open the festival again this year, and speakers immediately afterward include Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott; there’s a long list of schedules, workshops and panels, including one that’ll feature your editor here (Local Media Panel: “Communities as Contributors, not Readers” – as we put it, WSB doesn’t have “readers”; you’re a collaborator). We’re also among dozens of organizations and businesses that will have tables or booths, all listed here – at our table, you can be among the first to get a free copy of the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day map, which will go public that day (tomorrow’s the deadline to sign up a sale for WSCGSD – westseattlegaragesale.com). The Sustainable West Seattle Festival’s official website starts here.
(2007 Mudhoney photo via Flickr, by DaigoOliva)
With less than three months to go till West Seattle Summer Fest — the huge three-day street festival in The Junction — a big-name music act has signed on: Dave Montoure from West 5 and the West Seattle Junction Association confirms that Seattle’s own Mudhoney (which has at least one member with WS ties) will headline the first night of the live music slate, Friday night, July 10th. Some other big changes/improvements are on the drawing board for this year’s festival (July 10-12) too, with details to be made public soon. By the way, if you’re a vendor, performer, artist, or food seller, you can find applications for Summer Fest at the festival website.
(Westenders Scooter Club representing! Just part of the 2008 Sustainable West Seattle Festival)
Also just out of the inbox, word that Sustainable West Seattle is taking applications for vendors and sponsors through March 23 for its second annual Festival, 10 am-3 pm Sunday, May 3rd, in The Junction. Last year’s first-ever SWS festival was a huge hit. Go here to get the application and find out more. (They’re looking for volunteer help for the festival too – call Stu Hennessey at (206) 767-9366 or volunteer@sustainablewestseattle.org)
That’s a quick clip of one of the hottest tickets at last year’s West Seattle Summer Fest, Green Pajamas, and we’ve pulled it out of the archives to let you know that application forms are now available online for bands that want to play in this year’s Summer Fest. So are applications for prospective food and craft vendors. The forms are all linked from the Summer Fest home page, which you can find here; the festival’s set for July 10th-12th. (We got first word of this at last night’s Southwest District Council meeting; more headlines from SWDC are coming up a bit later.)
Who says pumpkins have to be orange? Those creations were made by kids attending the Fauntleroy Community Association-presented Fauntleroy Fall Festival this afternoon – which enjoyed a terrific turnout by all accounts, with lots of other activities spread across three venues, Fauntleroy Church and YMCA (both WSB sponsors) and the schoolhouse; volunteers helped get people safely back and forth across the street:
Behind the schoolhouse – pony rides:
More scenes from the Fauntleroy Fall Festival, including a video clip from the Seattle Civic Concert Dancers‘ mini-performance of their fall ballet “Magical Doll Maker,” just ahead:Read More
From Kim Petram, e-mailing about the Fauntleroy Fall Festival, coming up Sunday, October 19th, 2-6 pm, at Fauntleroy Church/Schoolhouse/YMCA:
This will be the 6th year of our free community festival. It has grown tremendously and this year we are expecting more than 1,200 people to attend.
There will be many of the favorite activities returning including the climbing wall, pony rides, pumpkin painting and lots of community performances and music. The wood project for the year will be a fun airplane to build and the main craft project will entail designing and painting the Metro bus stop kiosk panels for Fauntleroy.
More details to come – posters and signs will be up soon in the community.
Currently we are looking for volunteer support to fill a few slots still remaining. If you can volunteer 2 hours on the day of the event we would love to have you! Please contact terry@fauntleroyucc.org to sign up.
Gotta love a festival with a 20-foot-high inflatable pig over the barbecue stand. Lots of food options at the West Fest Fall Family Festival (WSB sponsor), happening now through 10 pm, then again tomorrow 10 am-10 pm, at Holy Rosary (42nd/Genesee – look for all the activity NORTH of Genesee), and much dining was under way when we dropped in briefly:
There are also games, bouncy rides, and indoor offerings too — bingo in the gym, with coffee and other autumnal beverages available for purchase. Despite the clouds, it was relatively pleasant during our passthrough. Live music should be under way by now; the schedule is listed in this WSB preview.
Now that you’ve recovered from last weekend – time to start planning what to do when this week is over. This week, Holy Rosary‘s annual community fun festival — West Fest — is sponsoring WSB to make sure you get the word about this big West Seattle celebration marking the start of fall. As Holy Rosary’s West Fest announcement puts it: “There’s something for the whole family. School grounds will be host to an arts and crafts fair, live entertainment, kids games, inflatable rides, bingo, food and other family activities.” You can buy discounted wristbands for the rides right now at Curious Kidstuff in The Junction, $13 (doesn’t include kids’ games, soccer shootout, speed pitch, haunted house or cake walk); whatever’s left will be sold at West Fest while supplies last for $16. Meantime, there’s quite a live music lineup for Friday night and Saturday afternoon/evening (with some dance and even a talent show mixed in!):
FRIDAY:
6:00 pm to 7:30 pm – “House Broken” – rock band
7:30 pm to 10:00 pm – “Funband” – rock bandSATURDAY:
12:00 pm to 12:45 pm – “Tara Academy of Irish Dance” – dance troupe
1:00 pm to 1:45 pm – “Blue Tones” – rock band
2:00 pm to 2:30 pm – “Regicide” – rock band
2:45 pm to 4:00 pm – “Dennis Fender with Adam Bishop” debuting music from his new CD release “Walls” – Christian Rock band
4:00 pm to 5:00 pm – “West Seattle Idol” talent show hosted by Jim Dever
5:00 pm to 6:00 pm – stage quiet
6:00 pm to 7:00 pm – “Full Life Crisis” – rock band
7:30 pm to 9:15 pm – “Tupelo” rock band
West Fest happens at Holy Rosary (42nd/Genesee; here’s a map) 6-10 pm Friday and 10 am-10 pm Saturday; check out the official website here.
First — Luckie sends three pix from the Arts-in-Nature Festival‘s second and final day at Camp Long today, before the deluge:
Luckie was up on Schurman Rock to get that photo of the dome set up as part of the Nature Consortium‘s annual extravaganza. Next, kids working on, well, art in nature:
Final pic – an unwelcome guest at the festival – Luckie says a Camp Long naturalist found it in one of the park ponds and told her that “it’s a non-native species that is partly responsible for driving out the native frogs. Nobody knows how it got there—possibly, someone slipped it into the pond. The naturalist noted that releasing a non-native species such as this one opens a Pandora’s box of possibilities, which are seldom good”:
The Nature Consortium does a lot more than put on this festival; restoring the West Duwamish Greenbelt is its main mission, and you can join the effort in a work party almost every weekend (watch the West Seattle Weekend Lineup and greenseattle.org). Second Camp Long-related note tonight: We just got a news release about what sounds like a HUGE volunteer effort at Camp Long on September 20th – up to 500 volunteers fanning out to work in the park. Here’s the full announcement:Read More
Marco kindly shared that photo from the final hour of the first day of the Nature Consortium’s Arts-in-Nature Festival at Camp Long — that’s Pyrosutra (you won’t be surprised to hear they’re now heading off to Burning Man), accompanied by the Yellow Hat Band (and note Schurman Rock in the background). The festival continues today, 11 am-6 pm, with another rich array of art and, well, nature – here’s today’s schedule. $5 donation requested for admission.
You can’t miss that big white tent, with balloons and bright-pink signs, set up right now outside West 5 in The Junction. Till 6 pm, West Seattleite Tracy Dart – 33 years old and fighting breast cancer – is there raising money (goal: $1200) with her teammates in the upcoming Breast Cancer 3Day (September 12-14), which she’d registered for, even before her diagnosis. Check out Tracy’s custom T-shirt:
The slogan refers to breast self-exams, which is how Tracy caught her problem in time to be diagnosed in Stage 1. In addition to taking donations (from southbound drive-by traffic behind their tent too!), they’re having a small silent auction in nearby Coffee to a Tea with Sugar tonight, 7-9 pm. We got a quick video interview with Tracy about how her fight’s going and the fact this isn’t the first 3Day for her and her crew:
Now, on to Morgan Junction:
The bright yellow Seattle Humane Society Maxmobile is in the West Seattle Thriftway parking lot till 3 pm, your chance to adopt a new pet. (Remember, everybody loves puppies and kittens, but the adult pets are tougher to adopt, yet can offer a whole lot of love … we have two cats adopted as adults from shelters.) One more sighting, back in The Junction:
Lisa Corbin with the West Seattle-based Nature Consortium is tabling at the Farmers’ Market (continuing till 2 pm today) to remind everyone about the Arts in Nature Festival that NC is presenting at Camp Long next weekend. We’ll take a closer look in the days to come; you can get a sneak peek right now online — the full schedule is posted here.
HI-YU COMMUNITY BRUNCH: You loved the Concert in the Park (WSB coverage here); you cheered the Junior Court Coronation (WSB coverage here); you saw the Hi-Yu entry in The Parade (part of the contingent shown above); this morning, keep the Hi-Yu Festival party going at the Community Brunch, 9 am-noon @ American Legion Post 160 (36th/Alaska), $6 adults/$3 kids.
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET FRESH SHEET: Also in The Junction, it’s Farmers’ Market day. We link to the fresh sheet here every Sunday morning for your pre-shopping convenience. Here’s the latest.
WEST SEATTLE GARDEN TOUR: 9 am-5 pm. Self-guided tour, so go where you want, when you want – with the map you get for the price of admission. Here’s where to find tickets (locations include West Seattle Nursery, which, by the way, has a brand-new website).
And then there are festivals …
JUBILEE DAYS: Thanks to “Trick” for sharing that photo of one of the street-fair-staple (you saw them at West Seattle Summer Fest) nuns, from day 1 of the Jubilee Days street fair in White Center (map and more info here), continuing today.
MEDITERRANEAN FESTIVAL: Hiawatha plays host to belly-dancers and much more for day two of Medfest today, 10 am-8 pm. More info here.
That’s just the start. Click here to go directly to the Sunday section of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup to see what else is up today/tonight – like the Pencil Me In For Kids car wash!
While we’re covering (and participating in) the West Seattle Grand Parade, we’ll be able to update Twitter via mobile phone (as we did while watching the 4th of July fireworks from Alki), so updates, parade-related and otherwise, will appear here:
(LIVE COVERAGE OVER NOW, SO THE TWITTER WINDOW IS GONE)
The space above this line shows our four most recent updates. Doesn’t look like there’s a way to go to the archives from there but the Twitter “what am I doing” box halfway down the right sidebar does access archives via the lower-right arrow (if necessary).
THE ROUTE: At 10:30 am, from the purple marker to the lower green marker, the Kiddies’ Parade travels southbound from California/Genesee to California/Edmunds. At 11 am, between the two green markers, the Grand Parade travels southbound from California/Lander to California/Edmunds:
WHAT YOU’LL SEE: More than 70 entries, including floats, marching bands, clowns, the Seafair Pirates (who are in a class of their own) – and at the start of the parade, two motorcycle drill teams that perform a block or two at a time, Seattle Police followed by Vancouver (B.C.) Police. Very different styles, and at the end of the parade route, the Seattle officers usually come over to the sidelines to watch their Canadian counterparts.
HOW LONG IT’LL LAST: Lots of variables. Count on about two hours. The traffic restrictions could be in place till about 3 pm at the latest.
WHO PUTS THIS ON: American Legion Post 160 in The Junction presents the Grand Parade. While it is a major highlight of the peak time of the West Seattle Hi-Yu Summer Festival, and Hi-Yu has a unit (float, royalty, volunteers) in the parade, it is not officially presented BY Hi-Yu. The Kiddies’ Parade is presented by the Rotary Club of West Seattle.
IF YOU’RE READING THIS BEFORE 10 AM, TWO WAYS TO BE PART OF IT: All kids are welcome in the Kiddies’ Parade; sign up starting at 9:45, California/Genesee (purple marker on the map above). Everyone who’s ever done volunteer work is welcome to join the West Seattle Volunteers Grand Parade Marching Unit (walking the route between a Mini-Cooper), gathering at 10 am at California/Lander (top green marker on the map; more info – and freebie incentive! – here), call 206/293-6302 if you can’t find us.
NEWS DURING THE PARADE: We’ll be setting up an entry atop the WSB home page with the capability for short updates via Twitter, as we did on the 4th of July, so that we can keep you up to date even while we’re covering the parade inside and out.
Seen from the ferry Sealth between Fauntleroy and Vashon just before sunset – Mount Rainier with a cloud cap. Meantime, a final shot from West Seattle Summer Fest as we departed – the start of an evening full of shutting down and packing up:
Junction streets were set to reopen late tonight; next scheduled closure, California SW next Saturday midday for the West Seattle Grand Parade, south of Admiral to south end of The Junction; our parade countdown starts in the morning.
(adding frequent updates, including photos, at the bottom of this post – scroll down!)
(that whimsical chair’s on sale at the Art Dive tent, just north of Oregon, artist is Alicia Hopkins, mnahopkins (at) aol.com)
Our third and final day of frequent updates from the WSB Summer Fest HQ in the official Information Booth (come say hi, right in the Walk All Ways intersection at California/Alaska) starts shortly. Our team member who’s first on the scene reports things are getting busy already. The booths are scheduled to be open till 7 pm tonight (fixed typo from earlier – it is SEVEN, and the music continues till then too). More to come – you can find all the official info (including the music lineup) here. 11:58 AM UPDATE: Read More
We didn’t make it back for a decent Street Dance photo-op after all, but that video shows about :30 of the Saturday Knights, Saturday night’s most-inquired-about act at the Info Booth. Live music today runs 12:45-7 pm; full list here – in our music-lineup preview last month, festival organizers recommended Capping Day and Green Pajamas as Sunday highlights (Carrie Akre‘s on the schedule too). Also today, we are going to have a ringside seat for Kids’ Karaoke (same place the Lion Dancers performed today, middle of California/Alaska intersection), 11:30 am-1 pm, 2:30-4 pm, hosted by Matthew Darling. And a vendor recommendation: WSB’er Diane Vincent recommends Frog Hollow Coffee, offering 10 flavors of iced coffee in the block between Alaska and Edmunds. West Seattle Summer Fest gets going for the day at 11 am – see you then!
(adding frequent updates and new pix through early evening – scroll to the bottom of this post)
That’s “Sonic Pezz” from the Rat City Rollergirls, at their dunk tank next to Shoofly Pie Company on the east side of California, north of Oregon. Meantime — three hours till the Street Dance – we’ll be here in the Information Booth at least till 7, then back to cover the Street Dance. Evening music interest is revving up, if the questions we’re getting here at the booth are any indication. Just had a lesson in “you never know who’s within earshot” — a booth visitor was asking some questions about West Seattle development, and where public input comes into the process, so we were giving a Cliff’s Notes explanation of the Design Review process – and then found out that Southwest Design Review Board member Deb Barker was standing barely inches away. (We didn’t misspeak about anything, Deb assures us.) Also dropping by moments ago: Michelle Edwards, former Hi-Yu Festival royalty (and daughter of Jim Edwards, who’s involved in tons of cool things from the West Seattle Big Band to next week’s American Legion Post 160-presented Grand Parade – we’ve got the list of entrants and we’ll post a few notes a little later). 5:27 PM UPDATE: Ryan Reese from Garlic Jim’s Pizza (WSB sponsor) is here talking with us and the Chamber folks now; our booth still has some shade on the east side. When WSB’s Patrick the Sales Guy brought back the RCRG dunk-tank pix you see above, he quipped, “The Rat City Rollergirls say it’s so hot, they’re now self-dunking!” 5:48 PM UPDATE: Not all the food booths are in the “food court” zone on the west side of Alaska – local venues along the street have stands too, like Husky Deli, where we caught owner Jack Miller working with the condiments:
And of course, the festival’s full of kids burning off energy – like the Junction Jam skateboard zone by Wells Fargo at 44th/Alaska:
Just realized we never posted this video clip from first thing this morning (9:30-ish) when Mayor Nickels and wife Sharon stopped by to say hi to Patti Mullen of the West Seattle Chamber, with whom we’re helping staff the Info Booth:
6:09 PM UPDATE: OK, tonight’s hot music act is clearly The Saturday Knights – more than a few people have stopped by the Info Booth (where we’ll be till about 7; the rest of the Info Team has cleared out) to ask when and where they’re playing. (Answer: South stage, at California/Edmunds, 6:45 pm. Beer gardens at both ends of Summer Fest, by the way). Forgot to mention yet another notable visitor from the past few hours — Scott from Central District News, one of the few other serious neighborhood-news sites in the city (Scott was one of the other guests during our KUOW appearance a couple weeks ago) – he joked he’s here to check out the neighborhood-festival competition. 6:45 PM UPDATE: More scenes from today – first, the rock-climbing “wall” that’s part of the kids’ fun zone on Alaska east of California:
Another local vendor we’ve spotted – these are the glass clams from Avalon Glass Works, whose proprietor Shannon Felix has a booth here:
And one more scene of the amazing lion dance/martial-arts demo we mentioned in our first update.
More Summer Fest updates to come … with the street dance tonight, The Junction will jump well into the night. 7:12 PM UPDATE: Spare battery’s about to die, we’re going home to switch gear out and come back for the big dance. More later, including a couple other non-Summer Fest events we covered today.
(frequent updates, including photos and video, added at the bottom of this post throughout the afternoon)
If you want to see the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival float up close and personal before the Grand Parade (one week from today; want to join the marching unit that WSB is part of? here’s how – and watch WSB later this weekend for some advance scoop on parade highlights) — it’s on display toward the north end of West Seattle Summer Fest today, just north of Oregon. Buy a “Luna Park” Hi-Yu button and support the festival, whose volunteers put on so many fun events each summer (Concert in the Park at Hiawatha, with West Seattle Big Band, is coming up Tuesday night). Not far from the float, you’ll find the first-ever Summer Fest Art Dive tent:
Again today, we’re with West Seattle Chamber of Commerce reps in the Information Booth (California/Alaska, heart of the “Walk All Ways” intersection) – stop by and say hi if you have a moment (and answer the informal survey we’re taking, with questions including “where are you originally from?” and “does West Seattle need a hotel?”. We’ll continue posting new pix, info, sightings, etc., all day as we did yesterday; already today, Mayor Nickels stopped by the booth on the way to the Ercolini Park dedication (video later; see the previous post for a photo from Ercolini), Peter Wolf from Neighborhood House stopped by to chat about the upcoming groundbreaking for the new center in High Point, and shortly afterward, High Point Neighborhood Association president Andrew Mead happened by. 12:25 PM UPDATE: We managed to catch up with “The Velvet Bulldog” (from the WSB Forums) during her volunteer shift at the West Seattle Food Bank booth, where you can buy $5 raffle tickets for some great prizes (including 2 unrestricted R/T tickets on Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air; the raffle ticket itself is good for discounts at Elliott Bay Brewery or Christo’s on Alki) – that’s her with the dark hair, with Barb Bollero, Elva Dodd, and Dee Hayward. The WSFB booth is on the east side of the block between Alaska and Edmunds.
Random note – following up on one of our stories from yesterday – Junior Member of the Team was off buying some sunscreen in Jefferson Square; he ducked into the Starbucks and (no, we didn’t ask him to do this) asked “Is this store closing?” and they said “Yes.” Future journalist, perhaps. 12:45 PM UPDATE: Dave Montoure from the festival-presenting West Seattle Junction Association just stopped by to tell us about the results of an impromptu veggie-hotdog-eating contest on the South Stage: Manny from Georgetown Brewing Company won, putting away 6; close behind with 5 1/2 was Marcus from West Seattle-based Schooner Exact. 12:50 PM UPDATE: A lion-dancing group just went by, from Belltown Martial Arts – down one side of California and back up the other, and now they’re performing right in front of us – here’s a photo from their first passby:
Video later (the show’s continuing – martial-arts demo now.) 1:45 PM UPDATE: Just talked with Alan Harrison from ArtsWest, who reminded us of something that Forum members had discovered — a season-ticket special that’s only being offered during Summer Fest weekend — buy a season ticket this weekend and you get a free ticket to “bare,” plus a $10 gift voucher. On the east side of the same block as ArtsWest, you’ll find Furry Faces Foundation, whose Teri Ensley is famous for the fabulous “F-Cubed” plant sales, among other things:
2:08 PM UPDATE: Lt. Smith and Sgt. Strand (seen in yesterday’s coverage) are back – just reunited another lost child with parent(s) – now they’re “14 for 14.”
That’s a better clip of the West Seattle High School cheerleaders we showed briefly earlier, rooting for the football team’s sandwich/salad booth — raising money for new uniforms (as previewed here last month). The WSHS booth is right across Alaska from Easy Street, just yards away from the official West Seattle Summer Fest Information Booth, partly shown in this photo featuring your editor here (not even remotely to be confused with a cheerleader) in the process of posting some of yesterday’s multiple updates:
Team WSB will be back in the Info Booth – center of the “Walk All Ways” intersection – with the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, all day, 10 am till 7 pm-ish. (Thanks again to the many wonderful people who came by Friday to say hi.) Meantime, back to the more interesting attractions; WSHS is not the only school with a presence at Summer Fest. Pathfinder K-8 is presenting a kids’ craft area near the inflatables to the east of us on Alaska:
(The grownups shown in that video clip are Junction Association executive director Susan Melrose and Pathfinder K-8 principal David Dockendorf.) Free face-painting and cookies there, too! Nearby, Curious Kidstuff is offering a place with fun stuff for little ones to play with – MargL sent this photo of her two-year-old checking it out:
But Summer Fest is for all ages – look closely at the inscription on this guy’s shirt (thanks to Rasmus Rasmussen for the photo; check out his site at theprint.dk):
Of course, we have to say a few words about the food. For one – there’s the semi-official food zone on Alaska west of California, where the aforementioned WSHS football players’ fundraising sandwich/salad booth holds down the east end – their coach, Davis Lura was spotted sampling the fare:
At the north end of Summer Fest (near the Twilight-presented Art Dive), Trisha from Red Cup Espresso showed off those “frozen donuts” we mentioned on Thursday night — and treated us to one (not really frozen by the time we brought it back to the Info Booth, but it was still a truly cool treat):
As mentioned in our earlier coverage, even if you came to the first day of Summer Fest, you’ll find added features today — like the pet zone by Next to Nature and the skateboard zone by Wells Fargo (both detailed here). Music starts at 12:30 (lineup here), and then there’s the Street Dance, 8 o’clock tonight. Plus – besides chatting with everyone who stops by our booth, we’ll also still be collecting answers to a short informal survey – including “where are you from BEFORE West Seattle?” (if applicable) and “do you think West Seattle needs a hotel?” … See you in The Junction!
(adding new info and photos frequently; keep checking the end of this post)
(video added 2 pm, WSHS cheerleaders rooting for the football players’ food both; updated clip shortly)
Junior Member of the Team and your editor here just arrived to join The Sales Guy — and the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce — in the Information Booth at the heart of Summer Fest. There’s a great crossbreeze along Alaska, and we’re facing north, so if you need a place to cool off, this is it — stop by and chat a moment, and if you can spare a couple of moments, we’re informally collecting answers on some important community questions including the Water Taxi’s future and whether West Seattle needs a hotel — plus we want to know “where are you originally from?” just for fun — Summer Fest T-shirts are for sale here at the booth too, “I LOVE WEST SEATTLE” BUMPER STICKERS!!! too … 1:43 PM UPDATE: Lots of great people have come by already. West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival is selling buttons – you can get a Hi-Yu program (listing activities including Concert in the Park on Tuesday and the Grand Parade a week from tomorrow) for free here at the Info Booth – Carol Winston from Hi-Yu stopped by to say hi and leave a stack of programs. WestSide Baby is nearby drumming up support for its upcoming “Stuff the Bus” diaper drive – here’s WestSide Baby’s leader Nancy Woodland:
We’ve also talked with Suzanne Kellar from the Seattle Opera Guild, which brings opera previews to West Seattle and elsewhere – she says the guild makes money off the sale of the Entertainment books that’ll be out soon – if you’re interested, e-mail her: srkellar@aol.com … More to come as the afternoon goes on! Good crowd here but not too insanely busy yet. 2:25 PM UPDATE: Free Jones Soda! On the east side of the street between Alaska and Edmunds. Also, police are here to help keep an eye on things – we got Sgt. Strand and Lt. Smith on camera:
2:46 PM UPDATE: Carol Johnston from West Seattle Senior Center just stopped by. She’s handing out flyers for “Rainbow Bingo: Hot Summer Nights” coming up August 22nd at the Senior Center — adding it to the Events page now! We’ve also chatted with Nancy Driver, who’s organizing the big September 13th cleanup along the Fauntleroy end of The Bridge, from Walking on Logs to 35th/Fauntleroy. As we wrote the other night – e-mail her ASAP if you think you’ll be able to volunteer for one of the biggest and most important West Seattle cleanup operations in a longtime: ndriver@quidnunc.net – she needs to have some semblance of a head count sooner rather than later, and she’s got some big organizational milestones coming up. 3:01 PM UPDATE: The Jones Soda freebies are so popular, Deni Tyler (shown below) told us they handed out 2,400 cans in the first 3 hours of the festival. We recommend “Fufu Berry.”
More freebies – Leslie Thomson (left in the photo below) from Dream Dinners (WSB sponsor) has been handing out lemon-bar samples:
3:42 PM UPDATE: A sample of music – 30 seconds of Verona, playing earlier at the South Stage:
4:01 PM UPDATE: Lots of nice folks we only previously “knew” via e-mail have stopped by to say hi. So glad to meet you all in person. We’ll be here at least another hour tonight, and we’ll also cover evening events even once the Info Booth shuts down – then we’re here starting at 10 am tomorrow. Also here tomorrow, among many others — the Hi-Yu folks tell us their Luna Park float will be on display tomorrow toward the north end of Summer Fest (around California/Oregon) — also we’ve heard from Furry Faces Foundation, which will be set up near Petco tomorrow and Sunday. That’s the same area where you’ll find the free Jones Soda; a rep from the promotional firm came by to tell us this is the first major event where they’re doing this – their goal is to give out a quarter million cans by summer’s end; they’re also proud to be the exclusive soda provider for the upcoming Seafair hydro races, and the Capitol Hill Block Party among other things. WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli stopped by to say hi and has since sent some photos — first one is the midday crowd via long lens (really, it’s not a total zoo, but there are lots of people here having fun), second one is what Christopher describes as “Tow trucks being kept busy by people defying No Parking signs along Oregon”:
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4:34 PM UPDATE: Two more pix. First, Tamar getting her face painted (Alvis left a comment wondering if we’d be getting the classic festival kids-with-face-paint pix, this is the best we could do for starters); second, one of the many artist vendors here – Christy Varonfakis Johnson of On Focus Photo, who has contributed photos to WSB before, posing with her husband, Jeremy, in their booth here at Summer Fest, where they’re selling her work:
5:14 PM UPDATE: Quarter past five and the info booth hasn’t shut down yet, so we’re still here. As we just mentioned in a response to a comment from “d,” the pet area that will be set up by Next to Nature tomorrow and Sunday sounds great – water, a wading pool for pets, a cool place for them to get their paws off the asphalt, and more – Louis from Next to Nature stopped by and was telling us all about it. Lora Lewis from Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) also stopped by the booth a few minutes ago and gave us the scoop that barista Blayne will be back in town next week sometime (he’s on the new season of “Project Runway,” which debuts Wednesday; here’s the scoop on the viewing party at Ginomai). Still a nice breeze blowing east-west on Alaska, where we are, and a great crowd but not too insanely busy – of course, the evening has just begun; live music will continue till about 9:15 tonight, but it’s not overwhelming if you’re not near the stages at the north and south ends – we really can’t even hear it from here in the central part of the setup. 5:47 PM UPDATE: Info Booth “officially” shutting down in a few minutes, we will likely stay here till about 6:30 posting updates. “Busy today for a Friday!” pronounced the Chamber’s Patti Mullen, with whom we’ve been sharing the booth today along with Chamber volunteers, as well as a volunteer selling Summer Fest T-shirts on behalf of the Junction Association. (Check back here tomorrow after 10 am for the “I Love West Seattle” bumper stickers that the Chamber’s selling, as seen in the photo below from earlier this year.)
7:02 PM UPDATE: Finally ready to fold it up, though events here are going to continue another hour plus. In addition to the official vendors with booths, there are folks working the crowd getting the word out about various endeavors, from political petitions to personal projects – among them, local musician Philip Mariconda (you may have seen him perform at C and P Coffee), who’s got a new album (Corporate Dysfunction; read about it here) – we asked him to pause and pose for WSB Cam:
Speaking of music … Coffin Break must be pretty popular … several people have just stopped by to ask which stage they’re playing on (answer: south stage, right now), and that’s the first band-specific question we’ve fielded all day. P.S. There are at least half a dozen Seattle Police officers here, and they have just reunited another lost child with his/her parent(s) – to quote one of the officers, “So far today we’re 8 for 8.”
Possibly into the 80s all three days. Official opening time, 10 am today (music starts @ 1:45). Much more coverage as things get going later; activities, vendors, more, listed here. We’re in the official Information Booth in the center of the Walk All Ways (California/Alaska) intersection, daily till at least 5 pm (photo above, taken this morning – that’s Dawn Leverett and Patti Mullen at left, from the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, which is running the booth, with WSB helping out).
Right in the middle of California SW between Edmunds and Alaska, less than two hours after the street closed for West Seattle Summer Fest setup tonight (and the festival itself tomorrow through Sunday), we got that video in the middle of the crowd that gathered outside Elliott Bay Brewery, as Garry “Bubbleman” Golightly enchanted an all-ages crowd. Kids and even pets will find new additions during this year’s festival (highlights are listed here). Elsewhere, we found signs of impending fun at the West Seattle Junction Association-presented annual extravaganza:
That’s a dunk tank that was delivered next to Shoofly Pie Company, awaiting its assignment; almost directly across the street, next to Red Cup Espresso, cool treats — frozen Mighty-O Donuts! — are promised for what the forecast suggests will be a warm weekend:
West Seattle Summer Fest kicks off tomorrow morning. Hours are 10 am-8 pm tomorrow and Saturday, 11 am-7 pm Sunday. Live music runs a little longer Friday and Saturday, and starts at 1:45 pm tomorrow; here’s the music lineup for all three days. Meantime, the next photo shows where you will find us, and an all-star lineup of folks from the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce:
That’s the official West Seattle Summer Fest Information Booth, right in the heart of the “Walk All Ways” zone at California/Alaska; at least one member of Team WSB will be there every moment it’s open, till at least 5 pm each day – please come by to say hi, and if you can spare a moment or two, we’ll have a few questions for you as we help the Chamber build an informal “community profile” – we’ll be posting them online too – everything from where you’re originally from (if you’re not a West Seattle native) to whether you think WS needs a hotel. By the way, the road closures for Summer Fest as set up tonight are as follows: Alaska from 42nd to 44th, California from Genesee to Oregon and then again from Oregon to Edmunds (west-east traffic is allowed through on Oregon). Temporary bus changes are detailed here. See you this weekend in The Junction; we’ll be posting numerous reports about the people, the events, the fun, the food, and more, as it all unfolds (and of course, other West Seattle news too!).
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