West Seattle, Washington
24 Saturday
Earlier this week, we brought you the first look at the program for West Seattle Summer Fest, the street festival in The Junction coming up July 11-13 (two weeks from Friday!). Of course, the program doesn’t reveal every little detail of the fun, or the food – part of which will be good chow for a good cause. Eric Radovich from BlueStar, a Summer Fest sponsor, tells us about a food booth that hopes to score enough cash to kick off their fundraising program to get new jerseys for the West Seattle High School football team. The ones they’ve been using are more than five years old, and “tired” to say the least. 70 jerseys will cost about $5,000. So football players and parent volunteers, possibly cheerleaders too, will staff a food booth at Summer Fest. The players, in fact, will be taking a course this Saturday at the West Seattle Eagles‘ HQ to qualify for food-handler cards (the course has been on our Events page for a while and is open to the public if you know anyone else who needs to take it). They’re hoping the food booth will bring in at least $1,000 in “seed money” to get the jersey drive — which Marc Patnode is heading up — rolling; they plan to serve chicken sandwiches on French bread, chicken Caesar salads, ice-cream novelties, and soft drinks at the booth, so look for them when you’re hungry/thirsty at Summer Fest.
Josh Sutton from the West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) sends that photo with a big thanks to Nucor — it’s from the company’s annual golf tournament for about 150 staff, vendors and customers, over the weekend at Washington National in Auburn. “This year, they decided to make it a fundraiser, and chose the YMCA as their charity,” Josh explains — with more than $30,000 raised. “We’ll be using funding to support our various youth programs like child care, day camp, academic support, and teen programs.” The photo shows the winning foursome: Weylin Thompson from Mulvanny G2 Architects, Nucor summer Metallurgical Engineering intern Anthony Perugini, and Nucor’s Craig Anderson (who organized the tournament) and CJ Shin. The foursome had a 9-under-par 63, and there’s a P.S. from Josh: “2 Y execs won the longest drives – Sue Camou Arrant and Marcia Isenberger. Must be the power of a good workout.”
That photo is courtesy of the West Seattle Soccer Club, which wants you to know that fall registration is under way – full details and deadlines at the WSSC site; the age groupings are detailed here. Board member Tim McMonigle tells WSB the league is growing so fast, they may have to expand to use South Park field, and they are looking forward to the Hiawatha renovation work later this year. Meantime, we have a girls-softball update too:
That’s the West Seattle Thunder 16U team, now in celebration and fundraising mode – coach Dan Baker explains why:
The West Seattle Thunder 16U fastpitch softball team won the Sea-Tac Metro Championships this past weekend, qualifying them for a trip to the National Championships in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The team will be holding a fund-raising carwash to help pay expenses for the trip. The carwash will be held at Swedish Automotive (35th Ave SW & Webster), this Saturday, June 14th, 10 am-4 pm.
On behalf of West Seattle Little League, Alki’s Cami MacNamara e-mailed WSB to let you know:
West Seattle Little League has completed regular season play. Congratulations to the Minors division (ages 8-10) Diamondbacks and the Majors division (ages 10-12) Orioles for finishing in first place! Tonight, End of Season (EOS) Tournament play begins for the Minors at Bar-S Field (6464 SW Admiral Way) at 6 pm and runs through June 10th. Majors take the field on Friday, May 30th also play through June 10th. The winner of each division will move on the the District 7 Tournament of Champions on June 13th-16th, hosted by the South Highline Nationals at City Hall Park in Normandy Park. Come down to Bar-S and enjoy the fun! To view the complete tournament schedules, go to westseattlelittleleague.com.
Here’s a map to Bar-S; here are photos from the season-starting Jamboree two short months ago.
Polar bear loose in The Junction! Well, not so loose, really – Sustainable West Seattle unleashed the bear as a reminder of its first-ever Sustainable West Seattle Festival next Sunday, 10 am-3 pm in the Wells Fargo parking lot @ 44th/Alaska (here’s the WSB in-depth preview from earlier this week). Other less-furry members of SWS were working the crowd at the nearby West Seattle Farmers’ Market, including Gary Lichtenstein, who’s the person you can e-mail (energy@sustainablewestseattle.org) to find out how to help at next weekend’s festival (they’re still looking for more volunteer assistance). Two more West Seattle weekend scenes ahead — sports and scenery:Read More
(May 2007 photo of the plywood that covers the Colman Pool windscreen during the offseason)
Exactly one month from today, it’s the first 2008 day of operation for Colman Pool at Lincoln Park, one of the city’s two outdoor pools. Colman Pool will be open weekends only from May 24 till 7-day-a-week operations start June 14. Starting soon after that, it will be busier than usual, because West Seattle’s other pool — Southwest Pool, east of Denny Middle School — is scheduled to close mid-June through late September for three months of work.
School budgets don’t cover everything needed for extracurricular activities these days; they barely can cover the academic basics. So students need a whole lot of community help … and with that in mind, tonight we are sharing pitches from two local high-school baseball teams:
CHIEF SEALTH HS: Its baseball team has a spaghetti dinner/auction coming up May 2. This year, though, they’re having a tough time coming up with donations for the auction. The event raises most of the annual $ the team needs, so they’re really hoping the auction-donation drive turns around. If you can help, e-mail Coach Policarpio at edpolicarpio@seattleschools.org.
WEST SEATTLE HS: We mentioned this fundraiser a few weeks ago, and now the sales are really ramping up: The team is selling discount tickets to the June 3 Mariners/Angels game — $10 for view reserved (half the usual price); $2 of that goes to the team. You can order up to 25 tickets in an online process that starts with e-mail to groupmanager@mariners.com (be sure the subject line mentions West Seattle HS), or more by calling Stephanie at (206) 518-3879 – if your group has 40 or more, its name will be on the scoreboard during the game.
WANT TO RENOVATE WITH CAMERAS ROLLING? The new show “My Big Amazing Renovation” on HGTV is looking for prospects, for shooting in Seattle, and inviting West Seattleites to apply. Read the whole pitch they sent to the Admiral Neighborhood Association mailing list.
LOCAL BAND IN IT TO WIN IT: Josh writes to say that Westerly, an “alt-country” band with West Seattle ties, is in the Famecast.com online talent competition and hoping for your vote – check out their video here (click the “in contest” link to vote).
GAME TIME IN SUNRISE HEIGHTS: Saturday night, the Sunrise Heights Neighborhood Association invites you to its annual Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Night at the OLG School hall; but call today to let ’em know you’ll be there: 206-932-2949 or 206-938-8760.
FREE BASEBALL: We mentioned this the other day – now game time is hours away — West Seattle High School plays Kennedy HS at Safeco Field tonight in the annual High School Baseball Classic, 7 pm, admission free. (And WSHS is selling half-price tickets to a June M’s game as part of its participation, with its baseball program benefiting from part of the proceeds; go here to find out how to buy those tickets.)
FROM THE WEST SEATTLE FOOD BANK: Remember the Bruce Springsteen ticket auction to benefit WSFB? Eve Holt from the Food Bank e-mailed to say each pair of auctioned tickets went for $800! And when The Boss played KeyArena, a donation bin set up by WSFB volunteers collected more than $1,000 in cash and checks. You’ve got another chance to help WSFB this Saturday — we’ve mentioned before that because of the Feinstein Challenge, donations made now to the West Seattle and White Center Food Banks help them qualify for matching funds — this Saturday at Metropolitan Market in Admiral, WSFB will be accepting food and $ donations (the weight of food figures into a calculation for matching funds, too). And don’t forget, tickets are on sale for WSFB’s “Instruments of Change” fundraising dinner 6 pm May 1, with music, a Dessert Dash, and more (full details here, including reservation info).
FROM THE MARINERS, ON BEHALF OF WEST SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL: West Seattle High School is playing at The Safe this Thursday night as part of the High School Baseball Classic — 7 pm, facing Kennedy High School. Admission is free and you’ll be able to park in the Safeco garage for $5 (and if you want to come early, it’s a doubleheader starting with Lakeside vs. Mercer Island at 4 pm). In order to participate, teams have to commit to a fundraising campaign involving selling tickets to a future M’s game, and as part of that, you can buy tickets for the June 3rd M’s-Angels game HALF PRICE! by going to this page – $10 for “view reserved” tickets that are usually $20, and $2 of the price goes to WSHS.
As the Mariners play their home opener at Safeco Field tomorrow afternoon, fans will notice something new in the food zones: Garlic Jim’s (WSB sponsor) is now The Official Pizza of the Seattle Mariners. You might have heard this already, since the official word trickled out a couple weeks ago, but you probably haven’t heard the backstory, which involves West Seattle Garlic Jim’s owner Ryan Reese (celebrating his store’s 1st anniversary, by the way, congrats!): Ryan tells WSB he and a friend went to a game about this time last year and noticed that while the food vendors were generally local (Ivar’s, Kidd Valley, etc.), the pizza came from Papa John’s, which is based in Kentucky. Since Garlic Jim’s is headquartered in Western Washington, Ryan thought it would be a great fit at Safeco. He talked to corporate HQ in Everett; Ryan says they considered it a long shot but thought it worth making a pitch. So he checked with the M’s and discovered the pizza contract was in fact up for bid, and that GJ’s could get in on the process. They set up a meeting at The Safe; Ryan fixed pizzas at his restaurant in The Junction and took them over before he and others including Garlic Jim’s CEO Dwayne Northrop met M’s brass. Like runners moving around the bases, things advanced from there, and starting tomorrow, you’ll find Garlic Jim’s Pizza at The Safe. Ryan says the 200 level will offer pizza by the slice, and it’ll be mini-pizzas at the 100 and 300 levels. By the way, this isn’t the only Garlic Jim’s baseball involvement — after we published a West Seattle Little League pitch for team sponsors a few days ago, Ryan signed up to sponsor a WSLL team. (Don’t miss WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham‘s great pix from yesterday’s WSLL Jamboree; see them here.)
Wintry chill couldn’t keep West Seattle Little League players and families off Bar-S Playfield today for the annual season-starting Jamboree. WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham got tons of great shots:
At center right in the group of photos above, that’s the “Voice of the Mariners,” West Seattle resident Tom Hutyler, on hand to announce players and teams. In the group of photos below, at upper right you see former Mariners and Oakland A’s outfielder Dave Henderson pitch in the first ball, along with one lucky Little League player. Matt writes: “Players and coaches, from T-ball to Majors, ran onto the chilled field as fans and parents hailed their grit”:
Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.
We brought you news about sign-up season for West Seattle Little League and other area sports leagues some weeks back. Now – it’s game time! WSLL is celebrating its 50th anniversary, having started in 1958. And it’s got two major events in the next few days – here’s the official announcement:
TONIGHT: West Seattle Little League will hold our annual Parent Meeting this evening at 7pm at West Seattle High School Commons. The meeting will cover information and events for the upcoming season, including updates on plans for the $100,000 grant received this summer from Boeing and the Mariners. All families that are currently registered are encouraged to attend. Uniforms will be distributed to players. This is a great opportunity to meet your teammates and we will also hold a raffle for fun prizes!
SATURDAY: Please join West Seattle Little League’s season kickoff at our annual Jamboree! The event is held at Bar-S Field ( 6464 SW Admiral Way). Players are to arrive at 10 am. At 10:30 am, teams will be introduced with a ceremony following at 11 am. Exhibition games will begin at 11:30 am. To see the full schedule of games, tee ball through majors, go to www.westseattlelittleleague.com/jamboree.html. This event is open to the public. Our Snack Shack will offer full service throughout the day.
Sponsors are still needed for the 2008 Season. If you are interested in sponsoring a team, please contact us through our new and improved website: westseattlelittleleague.com.
The mysterious contributor “Rock Steele, Man About Town” sent photos (thank you!) from last night’s revelry at West Seattle’s official WSU-fan bar (we would say “Cougar bar” but that can have a different connotation), Redline Music and Sports (35th south of Avalon). Washington State has made it to the “Sweet 16” round of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament thanks to the victory these scarletcrimson-and-gray diehards were cheering — according to the official WSU Athletics website, first time the Cougs have gone this far since 1941! The Cougs’ next match is 4:30 pm Thursday vs. North Carolina.
Not only is sale season (as noted earlier this morning) under way, so is fundraising-car-wash season. Above, you see a quick snap of the Seattle Rainiers 14U team‘s car wash that’s happening till 4 pm today at Complete Auto Repair on the west side of 35th at Holden (map here, but you can’t miss ’em; stretched out over about 2 blocks in both directions are some of the most enthusiastic sign-wavers we’ve ever seen). And the sun’s out just in time!
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Cindy McComish:
West Seattle YMCA’s Dolphin Swim Team Wins BIG!
34 swimmers, ages 7-18, representing the West Seattle YMCA won the First Place trophy for mid-sized YMCAs in the Northwest Division Swim Championship last weekend, Friday March 7th through Sunday, March 9th. The West Seattle Dolphins traveled by chartered bus to compete in Gresham Oregon at the Mt. Hood Community College Aquatic Center. The swimmers are coached by Rod Rombauer, Jen Parker, and Sarah Heerhartz. This meet against swimmers from Idaho, Oregon, and Washington state precedes the National Meet being held in Ft. Lauderdale in April. The West Seattle YMCA Dolphins will be sending 5 qualified swimmers with high hopes for fast strong races.
Cheered on by families and friends, a partial list of our swimmers’ medal counts (those achieving first, second, and third place times) include: 6 by Amanda Thach, 5 by Melissa Oishi, 5 by Tommy Thach, 4 by Sarah Ameny, 4 by Maddy Morgan, 3 by Gabby Hanna, 2 by the relay team of Amanda Thach, Melissa Oishi, Maddy Morgan and Mariah Crocket, 1 by Jordy Hanna, 1 by Karen Woodworth, 1 by Lindsey Hage, 1 by Sean Tento, 1 by TJ McComish, and 1 by the relay team of Lindsey Hage, Karen Woodworth, Angela Gagliarda, and Elsa Luthi.
As an integral part of the aquatic programs at West Seattle YMCA our team sponsors for this year are Zatz Bagels, Charlestown Street Café, Renaissance Desserts, Morgan Street Builders, Millennium Kids Creative Center, Merrill Gardens of West Seattle, and Staithe Marine Services.
The West Seattle YMCA Dolphins Swim Team seeks to provide a quality competitive swimming experience to the youth of the Seattle area and is USS sanctioned. We serve over 80 youth swimmers from 17 schools. We value swimmers of all skill levels and abilities and work toward developing each swimmer’s potential. While many of our advanced swimmers compete at regional and national events, the majority of our swimmers are at the intermediate and beginning levels. For more information on our programs please contact coachrod@swyswimteam.com.
Our standard disclosure: the West Seattle Family YMCA is a WSB sponsor. By the way, you can find out more about the Dolphins at their website here.
Over the past few months, we’ve brought you advance notice of registration season for several West Seattle-based youth-sports groups, and now it’s time for one more: The Southwest Athletic Club (SWAC) will host early-registration sessions at Westwood Village for football and cheering this Saturday and three other Saturdays this month and next. Here’s what they want you to know:
Registration will be held on four Saturdays (March 8th and 15th, and April 5th and 12th) from 11 am to 1 pm at Big 5 Sporting Goods in Westwood Village.
The Southwest Athletic Club (SWAC) is a West Seattle-based nonprofit organization with the purpose of teaching youth teamwork, discipline and self-esteem through participation in youth football and cheer activities. They serve youth between the ages of 7 and 14, providing a safe structured and positive environment that stresses dedication, teamwork, and sportsmanship, which teaches as much about life as it does football and cheer. Practices start on August 1st with weekly games starting the third weekend of August. Practices and home games are held at the Southwest Athletic Complex at 2600 SW Thistle.
Lee Newgent, the SWAC Board President, is proud of last season and looks forward to next season: “We congratulate last year’s participants on a very successful year, and we look forward to seeing them next fall.†Regarding new players, he added: “We also look forward to seeing any young people and their families who are considering participation in football and cheer at Big 5. Coaches will be on hand to meet the children and answer any questions parents may have.â€
The registration fee for cheer is $100 and football is $200. Early registrants will receive a SWAC water bottle.
More information about SWAC can be found at www.swaccougars.org
AdamOnAlki reported it in the comments late last night:
74-43 in favor of Squalicum. Great season, boys. You surprised and impressed us all!
And as David went on to add, the West Seattle High School boys’ first trip to the state basketball tournament in more than 30 years isn’t quite over yet:
(Today) they play Auburn (22-3) … They have the potential to finish in 5th place, if they can win 3 straight games. It’ll be tough but it’s not over.
Today’s WSHS-Auburn game is at 2 pm at KeyArena.
The state boys’ basketball tournament starts tonight, and West Seattle plays Squalicum (from Bellingham) at KeyArena at 9 pm. (Here are the brackets.) If you can’t go to the game but you want to follow closely online, it appears that’s possible through this site ($10 for tournament-long access).
Per the Times, the West Seattle High School boys’ basketball team fell short in their game against Seattle Prep this afternoon. And the Seattle Lutheran High School boys and girls didn’t make it to the final rounds of the tournament in Spokane. Nonetheless, we want to send out a hearty “congratulations” for the kids, their families, coaches, and supporters; good job! SUNDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Here are the brackets for the tournament WSHS is in; thanks to David for pointing us to that site where the Wildcats can be tracked through the next rounds. They play Squalicum at 9 pm Wednesday, KeyArena.
Thanks to Paul Cozens for the latest update:
In a hard-fought battle which went down to the last second, the West Seattle boys beat Cleveland 56 – 53 Thursday night at Bellevue Community College (BCC.)
West Seattle now plays Seattle Prep for third place in the Sea-King District. The game is at 3:00 PM on March 1 at BCC. Win or lose, the Wildcats are going to the state tournament!
Let’s see how many fans we can pack in the BCC gymnasium Saturday.
Go West Side!
The West Seattle High boys lost yesterday’s basketball game to Rainier Beach, 68-45, according to a brief mention in this Times roundup, which notes they play Cleveland next in this double-elimination round, 6:30 pm Thursday, also at Bellevue Community College.
First – just got word that West Seattle Little League is planning a “late registration” event tonight at West Seattle High School, 7-9 pm, room 212. Full details plus forms, at the WSLL website. Also, West Seattle Pee Wee baseball has a few spots left (find out more on their website). And a photo followup to last night’s post about big games this week for WSHS and Seattle Lutheran basketball teams — this morning, Walking on Logs (along the westbound Fauntleroy path off The Bridge) is decked out in honor of SLHS with a banner congratulating the “Sea Lu girls” (sorry we only had the cameraphone in tow so no zoom):
Some big games ahead this week for three of West Seattle’s high-school basketball teams — first, thanks to the proud Seattle Lutheran High School families who e-mailed WSB to say the boys and girls teams are both en route to the tournament in Spokane – here are comprehensive details from Mike and Stephanie Jensen:
On Saturday, both the boys and girls basketball teams from Seattle Lutheran High School qualified for the State 2B Basketball Tournament. This is the first time since 1987 that both boys and girls have qualified for the State Tournament in the same year. The boys team is coached by alum Jack Menashe while the girls are coached by longtime coach Bruce Carlson. The entire SLHS community (faculty, staff, students, parents and alum) are excited to have our teams headed back to the tournament representing the school and our West Seattle community.
The tournament starts this Wednesday in Spokane, and concludes on Saturday. It is a double elimination tournament. Here are links to the boys and girls brackets.
We also wanted to mention again that the West Seattle High School boys play Rainier Beach at Bellevue Community College tomorrow, 3 pm, after their big defeat of Bellevue last Thursday. (And if we’re missing any other WS schools in big tournament/playoff action right now, our apologies; please let us know and we’ll add to our coverage!)
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