In 1915, a grocer named Bill Phalen had a vision: a spectacular celebration that would bring the whole Rainier Valley together. He also had a lot of friends and a great deal of energy, which is what it takes to make this kind of vision a reality. The first annual Rainier Valley Fiesta, held on June 25, 1915, started a tradition that continues with this Saturday's Rainier Valley Heritage Festival.
OTHELLO - The August 7 Rainier Othello Safety Association (ROSA) night out against crime centered on a neighborhood nook of well kept New England style homes, tidy gardens, and backyard swings. A giant inflatable dragon-shaped jumping toy blocked the convergence of South Orchard Street and Orchard Place as the toy monster's belly filled with children bouncing up and down with glee. Dozens more scurried about its feet in a chaotic flurry of miniature-bicycle traffic. Adults gathered around tables of ribs, salad, and potatoes chips discussing pets, kids, Mariners baseball and their deep concern for safety in a neighborhood, which South Precinct Captain Tom Byers described during the gathering as "part of Seattle's epicenter of crime."More pictures at this link:
Ganga, the lead singer with Kalass World Music Project performs at the Night Out on Aug. 7 in Hillman City.
Has anyone noticed the rapid pace with which Beacon Hill, Rainier Valley and Madison areas have been gentrified?As a real estate agent in the greater Seattle area, I have been watching older homes being bought by individuals and developers. These homes are then either modernized to luxury standards or, razed to make way for several new homes.I have seen some superb, classic homes, sold for pennies on the dollar because the owner did not have the resources to maintain the home.
Another election cycle is here, albeit a local one, but it will help gird us for the maneuverings of the crafty politicians on the national stage.Believe me, as a longtime, proud liberal, becoming a political cynic is depressing as hell. Years of listening to fast-talking politicians promising to "bring about real change," giving them my vote and watching them cave to the pressures of the job - applied mainly by the government bureaucracies and special-interest groups with deep pockets, whether industry or labor - has made me a touch skeptical.
The following statistics are based on a 2006 study conducted by the Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance.• Year opened, 1998• Total vendor sales, $673,518*• Average vendor sales per market day, $654*• Average vendor count per market day, 40• Food donated to food banks, 8,058 lbs.*• WIC farmers market checks redeemed, $27,154
>EBT Quest cards accepted at all Seattle marketsCOLUMBIA CITY - When I asked Farmer George Vojkovich - a long time Columbia City Farmers Market (CCFM) vendor - how poor people were supposed to afford his $5.25-a pound organic chickens, he said he gets more flack about his prices from Bellevue shoppers wearing $30,000 worth of jewelry than from South Seattle immigrants using food stamps.Huh?Vojkovich went on to explain that some of his best customers are immigrants from Africa and Latin America where people tend to "live closer to the earth" and know what good, quality food really is.
Shannon Thomas, executive director of the Seattle Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Community Center, is leaving in September to explore new challenges after four years at the helm of the Capitol Hill-based agency."It was my decision," Thomas said of the move. "It's just time for a change, personally, for me.Thomas is on her way to a well-earned vacation and, after that, she will aid the LGBT board in choosing an interim director. That will give the center's board of directors time to do a search for qualified candidates from which to pick a permanent director.
It looks like a set out of a Mad Max movie, full of slag and dust. With those high concrete ceilings supported by massive grey pillars and sheltering a post-apocalyptic swath of dirt, scrub and dusky recesses-and with the muffled hum of I-5 freeway traffic moving out of sight overhead-this sunless, vagrant wasteland separating the Capitol Hill and Eastlake neighborhoods is an unlikely site for a park in the Emerald City.
Every once in a while we all need to vent. Regular readers of this column can attest to my frequent championing of our neighborhood, even if it means slighting other neighborhoods in the process. (What some might label opinionated and critical, I label discernment and taste.)Nonetheless, a number of Capitol Hill phenomena have frustrated me recently, even though I have to admit they've probably existed for some time now. Perhaps it's the smell in the air that, in turn, lets you know the warm summer sunsets will soon yield to overcast dusks. (Contrary to T.S. Eliot's famous claim, August may be the cruelest month-not for what it contains but for what it portends.)
While attending to my daily business on the Hill I've had friends and acquaintances approach me to say thanks for writing a column or that they enjoyed hearing my ideas about a certain topic.Often my columns are centered on the notion of community, and how living on Capitol Hill allows for human interaction that might not be possible in a place like Woodinville, for instance.Because our neighborhood is so pedestrian-friendly, random encounters are natural occurrences.
You have seen the athletic dancing of the jitterbugs in old movies featuring swing bands and torch singers, but if you thought that kind of dancing was created in one afternoon by the likes of Arthur Murray, you are very much mistaken.The basic dance of the swing era was the Lindy Hop, which came out of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and '30s. One of the influential creators of the Lindy Hop will be here on Capitol Hill this week at the Century Ballroom.
MARY WILLIAMS, Rainier Beach"This event helps in a couple of ways; the neighbors get to know each other, it deters bad activity, at least while we're here and it helps dispel the myth that people want to be isolated; that they're afraid to come out of their houses. People want to connect."
PERFORMANCE: Four North End residents are directing and performing seven short plays through the Young Actor Institute of Seattle Children's Theatre Drama School: juniors Emily Golden and Murren Kennedy and sophomores Tallis Moore and Alex MurrayB>AUDITIONS: The Northwest Chamber Chorus is holding auditions for experienced singers of all voices to add at least six members. The auditions will take place at Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church, 7500 Greenwood Ave. N., on Wednesday, Aug. 22, from 6 to 9 p.m. and on Aug. 26 from 1 to 3 p.m.
Look up and look closely near the top of Fremont's 1953 rocket monument. It reads "Delibertus Quirkus" - Fremont's official motto that means "freedom to be peculiar." In this part of Seattle, anything goes and the unusual is welcome. To inform and educate people about this unique neighborhood, Northwest artist Roger Wheeler led a public art tour through the streets of Fremont on July 26. The tour, sponsored by the Fremont Historical Society, highlighted the history behind the artistic community's development and its evolution of uninhibited creative expression over the years.