It's here! Fremont month has arrived! Yeah! A whole month to celebrate all that is Fremont.
Granted, it counts out more like Fremont Week and a Half, if you must be precise. However, being exact really isn't very Fremont.
The celebration leaps to a brisk start with the 5K Fremont Fun Run/Walk which turns 21 this year. Organized by Pro-Motion Events (www.promotionevents.com or 729-9972), the race takes place on the night of Friday, June 10, with a portion of proceeds raised going to the Fremont Public Association (FPA).
Before the big race, the Dex Media Briefcase Relay staggers off. The Fremont Chamber of Commerce invented this colorful spectacle after they erroneously decided to participate in the 1985 Fun Run.
Big mistake. Running a business is different than running a 5K.
Out of necessity comes genius, and they found a more cooperative approach: a relay race.
Our relay baton? A briefcase, provided by the team, with a phonebook inside - now provided by Dex Media.
Runners wear work attire on top, running gear on the bottom. Participants in the relay may run the Fun Run at no extra charge, and all enjoy a post-race celebration at Adobe Plaza, with food, drinks, prizes, music and a beer garden.
In year's past, the Fremont chamber handed out race prizes at its Picnic in the Park. The 20th-annual picnic takes place on June 15 and features candidates for Seattle City Council answering your questions. June may sound early for candidates but for the chamber, it's proven the best time for small-business owners to educate candidates on their issues.
Held at Gas Works Park every June, the chamber also distributes last-minute advice to make the most of the coming weekend's debauchery.
The Fremont Street Fair, as presented by the FPA, jump-starts the summer season for our neighborhood.
In its 34th year, the fair gathers the best aspects of Fremont: art, spirit, sharing, celebration, shopping, eating, drinking, performance, dancing, debate and art cars. Most of all, this grass-roots community celebration raises funds for the FPA.
The FPA began in 1974 in Fremont, then one of Seattle's most economically devastated neighborhoods. We've both grown and thrived. It now offers almost 30 programs to assist low-income individu-als and families throughout King County.
For more information about FPA's invaluable work, visit www.fremont public.org.
Two other events take place during our street fair (held this year on June 18 and 19).
One, the spectacular Solstice Parade, takes to our fair streets through the unbelievably creative work of the Fremont Arts Council (FAC).
Launched at noon on the Saturday of the Fair, the parade winds from First Avenue Northwest down 36th Street until it turns on Fremont Avenue to 34th Street to Gas Works Park.
Every year provides something different, distinct and defying description.
Find a place to watch for yourself, then consider a stroll in its wake to Gas Works for a picnic at 1:30 p.m. and a pageant at 3:30 p.m.
To get involved, give the FAC a call at 547-7440.
The other, the Seattle Art Car Blowout provides eye-opening and mind-expanding diversion all fair weekend, with a caravan along Leary Way on Sunday morning. These movable works of art come from across the United States and Canada.
Seattle Art Cars, a loose coalition of art car-ists, puts on the event. "We bring smiles and laughter wherever we go, defusing road rage and, by our very presence, reminding people to lighten up," according to the web site at www.seattleartcars.com.
After the Fair, the party continues.
On June 25, the Fremont Outdoor Cinema opens, courtesy of Wing-It Productions and Fremont Sunday Market, with Class President Night and the film "Napoleon Dynamite."
Still showing in the parking lot at North 35th Street and Phinney Avenue North, this year's lineup promises popular classics and modern blockbuster films every Saturday night of summer.
Check out the schedule at www. fremontoutdoormovies.com.
Back in 1982, we never saw this broad selection of stuff going on. We certainly didn't have the Sunday Market, Friday Brown Bag and Sunday Ice Cream Cruises by Seattle Ferry Service or Music in the Sculpture Garden at History House. We had the street fair as the single focal point of our community year.
Back then, we enjoyed one weekend of the year when people visited our admittedly seamy district, and only then did many local businesses and craftspeople have an income.
Along came the Fremont chamber, champions of the fair and anything else that might encourage customers to shop Fremont once a year - or more. The group admittedly invented "Fremont Month" in a desperate attempt to make more out of the FPA event.
On this base, our community built a foundation. With each event, a crowd gathers. Slowly, all Fremont learned to share the energy and expand it. With it, we now ride throughout the summer.
Choose your own passion, and please, come celebrate Fremont with us in your own way.
Kirby Lindsay lives, works and celebrates in Fremont, but she does not run. She welcomes your comments at fremont@oz.net.
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