(QUICK LINKS: Music lineups … vendor list … food and drink … Kids Zone info)

6:04 PM: At West Seattle Summer Fest, the crowd has grown steadily, especially now that the workday is over. Main-stage music continues – here’s the second band of the day, Chico Detour:

That’s their song “Crying at My Party.” As main-stage music continues, The Big Dark Corner is just getting going at California/Alaska by KeyBank, a new space this year – programmed by West Seattle’s The Big Dark Records. And you have a wide variety of choices for dinner and drinks – The Porch in the lot behind KeyBank, stands on that side of SW Alaska, some vendors on newly pedestrian-only SW Oregon, the beverage garden by the main stage ..

… and of course all the year-round local venues, many with outdoor cafés. Coordinators say it’s gone smoothly so far. Updates to come!

6:25 PM: That’s Leonard Jarvey and The Sock Monkeys, opening the night at The Big Dark Corner. Still to come there tonight – Sad Dad Autumn at 7, Across 35th at 7:30. Meantime, over in the Kids Zone, the foam party’s back this year:

7:39 PM: A bit of Zookraught and their dance-punk sound on the main stage:

And Across 35th has a throng at The Big Dark Corner – video:

8:20 PM: Vendors are wrapping up for the day, since the festival’s official end time – not counting music – was 8 pm. Here at the Info Booth, most everything’s rolled up too, except our table, and we’re packing up shortly (after one more band – added, here’s that video of Blackie:)

The night wraps up with Alien Crime Syndicate at 10 pm.

ADDED 11:45 PM: Thanks to WSB contributor Jason Grotelueschen for clips from the night’s last two main-stage bands – Caitlin & Brent with the Passenger String Quartet:

And Alien Crime Syndicate:

P.S. Thanks to the many kind people who stopped by our table to say hi – we’ll be back tomorrow, starting at 10 am.

(QUICK LINKS: Music lineups … vendor list … food and drink … Kids Zone info)

1:59 PM: West Seattle Summer Fest 2026 is officially on, as of less than an hour ago, in The Junction. We’re here on the west side of the Info Booth, just north of the Walk-All-Ways intersection, and this is also where you’ll find West Seattle Junction Association volunteers to ask about merch, plus community nonprofits and city departments – right now the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor) is here, as is the city Office of Housing (here primarily to talk about services available to low-income homeowners). As noted earlier, it’s not just about visiting vendors, but also a chance to learn about year-round businesses, like Fitness Together West Seattle:

FTWS is a WSB sponsor, based here in The Junction; another sponsor is here in The Junction this weekend, West Seattle Coworking, which has two regular locations, 9030 35th SW and 3703 California SW:

Main-stage music starts at 4 pm (up by the Post Office as always) – here’s the schedule for today/tonight:

4:00 Ghost Fetish
5:00 Chico Detour
6:00 Thee Deception
7:00 Zookraught
8:00 Blackie
9:00 Caitlin & Brent w/ the Passenger String Quartet
10:00 Alien Crime Syndicate

Lots to see in the hours till then – for example, you can talk to authors at the Author Event Network booth:

3:33 PM: Popular question every Summer Fest, “where are the face painters?”

On the raised midblock crosswalks again this year! Meantime, if you’re checking out food and drink, be sure to venture into The Porch, in the lot behind KeyBank and The Missing Piece:

Lots of places to sit on that side of SW Alaska (west of California), too. And an IMPORTANT REMINDER: vendors are serving with reusable dishes and cutlery – please return them to the bins when you’re done! … While walking the south block of the festival, we noticed another place to ask quetions about a big project – Sound Transit has a booth:

Mainstage music starts up soon!

4:34 PM: Ghost Fetish is playing on the main stage right now -(update – here’s video:)

The Big Dark Corner, in front of KeyBank, starts its lineup at 6 pm.

4:55 PM: One of the hits of the festival so far – the Fourth Emerald Games “Pokémon thing,” as a couple of people who just came by the booth described it.(It’s a free scavenger hunt, listed in our local-biz roundup.)

5:22 PM: The weather’s been very pleasant today – 70ish, sunny. We’re about to switch over to an evening report but first …a dog enjoying the pool outside Next to Nature:

The crowd’s picking up big time … and we’re up getting some video of the second mainstage band; that’ll be in the evening report.

7:14 PM: A highlight of West Seattle Summer Fest Eve 2026 so far – Walk-All-Ways became Dance-All-Ways right after Jennifer Cepeda‘s DancePowered dancers put on a show:

The main stage on California between Oregon and Genesee is where you’ll see full slates of live music Friday and Saturday, and the Farmers’ Market pn Sunday. Tonight is also West Seattle Art Walk night – Dolly is crocheting outside VAIN:

Carmen Leslie is the guest artist at Verity CU:

(added) Carolyn Autenrieth is showing her work at CAPERS Home (WSB sponsor):

Many Junction food/beverage venues already have their outdoor cafés set up:

It’s a night to just hang out and/or wander with your friends:

Or if you feel like sharing your opinions, SDOT has a table in front of KeyBank until 8 pm with info about the new Junction parking study we reported on last week (with an online survey that’s open until July 27):

Right across SW Alaska, a line waited for tonight’s special sold-out performance by The Head and The Heart at Easy Street Records (free to buyers of the ESR-exclusive vinyl).

More on that later (in a separate story)!

9:54 PM: Some other Summer Fest Eve live music – we happened onto Aurora Ave at the KeyBank corner (which will be The Big Dark Corner, a performance space programmed by West Seattle’s own The Big Dark Records, during the festival):

And here’s a bit of The Disbarred Owls‘ set at the Elliott Bay Brewing festival café:

Check in here often during the festival – we’ll be on site for the duration, with lots of updates, info, photos, as it unfolds.

The barricades are up, and California Avenue SW is clear of motor vehicles in the heart of The Junction:

These lanes [map] won’t be empty long – it’s time to start setting up for West Seattle Summer Fest, which officially begns at 1 pm tomorrow – not just the vendor booths, stage, and Kids Zone, but also the year-round businesses’ sidewalk cafés, and more. Summer Fest Eve will also feature music and art, as previewed here last night, so we’ll be there this evening to report on what’s happening.

While West Seattle Summer Fest features many visiting vendors, the year-round West Seattle Junction merchants are at the heart of the festival – which started decades ago as a “sidewalk sale” for businesses, and continues as a festival presented by the merchants’ association. We’ll again be reporting on Summer Fest on-site all weekend, based at the Info Booth, and we want to be sure we don’t miss chances to spotlight local businesses – so if yours is having a Summer Fest sale, special, giveaway, activity, etc., please tell us about it so we can mention it! westseattleblog@gmail.com or text 206-293-6302 – thank you, and we’ll see you at Summer Fest on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!

(WSB photo, 2025 Admiral Block Party)

Before we get back to West Seattle Summer Fest previews – we just received the music lineup for next month’s Admiral Block Party! It’s expanding this year to start with acoustic music on Friday afternoon/evening and then the full day/night of music on Saturday. From the Admiral Neighborhood Association, which organizes the Block Party:

Friday, August 21st, Acoustic Mainstage

3 pm – Ashton Wecker
4 pm – Self Doubt
5 pm – Ben Bruce
6 pm – MoonGirl
7 pm – Acoustic Crisis
8 pm – close – local DJ

Saturday, August 22nd

11 am – WS Ukelele Players
12 pm – Sad Dad Autumn
1 pm – School of Rock
2 pm – Troy Aylesworth
3 pm – Billy Rosewarne
4 pm – The Royal Oui
5 pm – Not Dead Yet
6 pm – Bad Honey
7 pm – DAD Band
8 pm – NOVACHROME

And don’t forget, the ANA has another big music event ahead, the three-concert AMP series, starting next week. Back to the Block Party, one more message: “We are nearly out of vendor spots. There are 2 weeks to go to join us or when everything is full. People can go to this link to join us!”

We are now just two days away now from the peninsula’s biggest party of the year, West Seattle Summer Fest in The Junction! We’ve been spotlighting some of what’s new this year, so right now we’re going to shine the light on Teen Night, a ticketed event this Saturday – here’s how festival organizers at the West Seattle Junction Association explain it:

Calling all teens (and parents who love seeing their kids have an unforgettable time) — this is the night you don’t want to miss during Summer Fest 2026.

Parents, you can feel good knowing your teens are in a safe, welcoming environment while you enjoy the Main Stage music and beverage garden from 8-9:30 pm on Saturday night, July 11th. We have four fun programming choices sure to thrill your teen.

• Mario Kart Race by 4th Emerald Games. Teams compete against each other for first place.
• Escape Room by Surelock Escapes – 13th Floor. Haunted tales and lost treasures. *Room shakes under controlled environment and may cause slight unsteadiness*
• Escape Room by Surelock Escapes – Spell Struck. Hidden mysterious woods and witches. *Players must climb a flight of stairs, and be able to bend/crawl*
• Board Games by The Missing Piece. A variety of your favorite board games along with snacks

$48 per teen – TICKETS HERE

More Summer Fest previews to come – including Summer Fest Eve tomorrow night after the streets close for setup!

Just four days until West Seattle’s biggest party of the year fills the heart of The Junction with sights, sounds, shopping, sips, food, fun, and thousands of your neighbors at West Seattle Summer Fest – Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (July 10-12). Among this year’s new features – an expanded roster of ways to avoid going thirsty! As always, the Beverage Garden will be up by the main stage, on California north of Oregon. New this year, check out The Porch – an all-ages food and beverage zone on SW Alaska west of California, with beer, wine, cider, and hard agave (all offered at the beverage garden too – the menus for both areas are here). You’ll also be able to enjoy beverages as well as food from The Junction’s year-round restaurants/bars, many of which will have sidewalk cafés – see that list on that same page too. And a free way to stay hydrated is available too – water-refill stations – see the locations on the festival map above, and bring your water bottle (or look for Summer Fest merch). The festival officially starts at 1 pm Friday, but you can get a preview by wandering the streets after they close at 4 pm Thursday, the night that’s become known as Summer Fest Eve. See you there!

Time to start daily previews of West Seattle Summer Fest, happening next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – July 10 through 12 – in The Junction! (And of course you’re invited to start wandering the streets Thursday, July 9, for what’s become known as Summer Fest Eve, when the streets close so setup can begin!)

This year’s festival will have almost 200 vendors (listed here), a Kids Zone with the return of the foam party as well as a new water slide, two days/nights of main-stage live music (and three days of street-corner music, reusable cups and dishes, sidewalk cafés for your favorite year-round restaurants and bars, the Oregon/California intersection included in the festival zone for the first time, bike parking, pet pit stops … It’s West Seattle’s biggest party of the year and you’re invited. We’ll get into some specifics in the previews to come.

Dancer Navya Ramesh was one of today’s first main-stage performers at the Arts in Nature Festival, happening right now at Camp Long (5200 35th SW). But performances are just part of what the festival’s offering all day and into the evening, rain or shine:

Inside Camp Long’s legendary cabins, you’ll find “immersive installations” like the one above in Cabin 8, the “wind phone” from Sonic Switchyard – you can use the “phone” to leave a message for someone you cannot speak to, inspired by a memorial practice from the Fukushima tsunami. Recorded messages are played over speakers in the cabin. Then there’s very short range “Camp Long Radio” in Cabin 9.

And numerous community organizations – from environmental to educational – have reps to chat with you in the meadow:

As we type this, the sun is emerging, so it’s a great day to get out and go to the park; the Arts in Nature Festival, presented by DNDA, is on until 8 pm. See the festival lineups here

One of this weekend’s biggest events is the return of the Arts in Nature Festival, which DNDA is presenting Saturday at Camp Long (5200 35th SW) – free! Here are the music, performance, and art lineups:

Camp Long’s historic cabins will also host “immersive” art experiences during the festival, 10 am-8:30 pm Saturday (June 27).

Exactly one month from today – on July 10 – the peninsula’s biggest party of the year will get going, West Seattle Summer Fest, a three-day community celebration in the heart of The Junction. In the weeks ahead, we’ll have plenty of previews, but here’s one big change from years past: SW Oregon will be closed to motor vehicles between 42nd SW and 44th SW, just like SW Alaska (so California will be continuously closed to vehicles between SW Genesee and SW Edmunds). The West Seattle Junction Association – the business organization that presents Summer Fest and other Junction events (and that’s just part of what it does) – says that will make the festival even safer, rather than risking a clash between pedestrians and drivers when people are going to and from the north section of the festival zone, which is home to the main stage on Friday and Saturday and the Farmers’ Market on Sunday. Oregon will include more food and craft vendors, WSJA tells us, and they’re especially excited to have some food closer to the main tage. More previews ahead!

P.S. You can get in the Summer Fest mood early by getting tickets for the West Seattle Junction Rock Walk, now just nine days away – 5-9 pm June 19 – with beer, cider, spirits, AND wine providers participating – proceeds support Summer Fest main-stage music – tickets still available here!

(WSB photo from 2025 Admiral Block Party)

On a day like today, who can resist thinking about summer? The Admiral Neighborhood Association is looking ahead too and has opened vendor applications for this year’s Admiral Block Party. The date is Saturday, August 22, and the location is California SW north of Admiral Way. ANA’s Dan Jacobs tells WSB, “Our application for Vendors is open and beginning to fill up. Space is limited so jump in as soon as you can so you don’t miss out.” You’ll find the form on the Block Party’s main page on the ANA website.

This summer, the Arts in Nature Festival is making a comeback, for the first time post-pandemic! It’ll be one day – June 27 – at Camp Long, presented by DNDA. And with that news comes word they’ve opened their call for artists:

They’re looking for both performing artists – musicians and dancers – and artists who can provide an immersive art experience at Camp Long’s rustic cabins. You can get details and apply via dnda.org/festival.