Please mark your calendars: July 7 - the 22nd annual Crown of Queen Anne Fun Run/Walk. This fundraiser needs your help. If we do not turn out the numbers for this event, the Seattle Police will not allow it to happen, except in some park, where their presence is at a greatly reduced level.
As a community, we are losing traditions and adding new ones - and as a dreamer I would like to add and keep!
Many, many thanks and kudos to the hard work and dedication of all the people who have brought a farmers market to our community. I am so eager to see and welcome the farmers on June 28. And now the work of making the farmers market a viable and exciting tradition in our community falls on all of our shoulders.
Yes, it takes time to carve out a new chunk of time in the 24/7 culture. It takes the farmers' time to bring their fresh product to our community, with no middleman in the process. Can't we honor their time with ours?
And besides, there is all that yummy freshness, smiles, good recipes and advice. Expensive? Yes - but no, not really. I remember recently having buyer's remorse over a $2.50 head of lettuce. I was fussing in my mind about how all of this buy local/organic/sustainable noise was tearing a hole in my pocketbook, despite my belief in all the issues. Then I tore apart the huge head of lettuce to wash it - and it just kept going on and on - and the center leaves were a soft buttery yellow color with red-orange freckles; I was working with a complex work of art. And yes, the taste and texture made for such a more interesting salad than I had had in a long time.
As we start a new tradition by celebrating and welcoming the farmers to our community, let us not abandon our old traditions, for our community has the breadth and depth to show that there is ample room for both.
Visit the Web site www.queenannehelpline.org/funrun.php to register for the July 7 Fun Run/Walk and see the schedule of events. You will also be able to register on July 5 and 6 at both the Upper and Lower Queen Anne Metropolitan Market locations, and also on the day (at an elevated fee of $33) of the event. At this time it is just important to get it onto your calendar. Of course the Helpline folks would love to see a great outpouring of support NOW.
Find an old-timer in your neighborhood and listen to the stories. Or when you are out running with your SUV-stroller or walking your dog, ask another walker if they have participated in the event. I can go on about the wonderful sense of community that the day provides, but other voices need to be heard. Yes, it is "small town" stuff, but don't we all have a soft spot in our hearts for that or those icons?
The $30 fee seems a bit stiff, and it does invade the Fourth of July holiday festivities, but ignore all that. If you have out-of-town guests, they will love it - sign them up. The Queen Anne Helpline has been a godsend for so many of the invisible members of our community. The Helpline's dedicated work needs to be fully supported today, as it has been in the past.
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