Along Pike Place, every Wednesday, the Meyer family sells lush, local organic fruits and vegetables; the Suwanchote family handcrafts sculptures daily on-site from wire and colorful tubing.Selling along Pike Place is the origin of the 98-year-old Market tradition of "meet the producer," a tradition continued by 311 farmers and craftspeople, including the Meyer family, of Stoney Plains Organic Farm, and Chatnarong and Nayana Suwanchote, of Trisons sculptures.
It's vacation time! You may have 'real' travel planned or you may be vacationing right here in paradise; going away only in the sense of shifting and relaxing your routines to rest and enjoy your surroundings more. Either way, summer maintenance is fairly easy for container gardens.There is no hoeing or soil cultivation needed, precious little weeding, only occasional detrimental bugs to manage, fewer diseases to worry about and minimal clean-up chores to fuss over. There are only two tasks requiring summer vigilance; watering and fertilizing, but these are critical.
This summer, Sol "Solly" Amon celebrates 49 years at the helm of Pure Food & Fish, the Market's only walk-in specialty fish stall. This landmark makes him one of the Market's longest continuous merchants, but he began working in the Market years before that. Born in July 1929, Amon grew up in the Market. He was first photographed here around the tender age of four. A Seattle Times photographer snapped a photo of him proudly standing in a seemingly-giant orange crate.His dad, Jack Amon, began working in the many fish markets of Pike Place in 1910. Through the years he was a partner at American Fish, Philadelphia Fish, Pike Place Fish Co. and at Pure Food & Fish.
The PDA is interested in your opinion about how to use the pergola at the north end of the Pike Place Market, changing it from its faded glory as a former trolley stop to an attractive portal welcoming folks to the Market.The pergola is a roofed steel structure located at the junction of Pike Place, Western Avenue and Virginia Street, north of the day stalls. Pockets of rust mar the green steel poles that hold it up, and its roof is faded. A lone piece of railing is where benches used to be.
"Pale golden translucence with a rosy pink blush; their flesh is crisp and very sweet."These plump, sweet fruits go fast once they arrive at the market. So, you may want to buy now. I've read a description that Rainier cherries "sparkle gold and blush like the rays of a Northwestern sunset." It's true! Pop these cherries into your mouth and bite down for the burst of intense honey-sweet flavor. Rainier cherries ripen after Bing and other red cherries, so perk up your appetite with the ruby-red classics first. Have fun with a big bowl of cherries in your lunch, or add them to surprising salsas, or feature them in summery desserts. Then, serve Rainiers freshly rinsed and icy cold. Au natural, they are a simple, sublime pleasure. When the Rainiers are gone, all is not lost... next look for the later 'reds.' Anytime, ask your green grocer for a recommendation of the day.
Return of the Pedestrian CountAfter a four-year hiatus the Market Pedestrian Surveys returned last year to compile more or less accurate visitor numbers. These surveys make it possible for the Market to trumpet the annual visitor counts with some factual back-up data, short of selling and counting tickets. The most recent counts seem consistent with the traffic patterns of the past, even with the increase of more than a quarter million cruise passengers docking nearby. Pike Place Market still hosts more than 40,000 people on the best summer days and less than 20,000 in the dark of winter.These surveys provide some pocket change for the Seniors who do the counting at eight standard corner sites. Passages feels there are four entry points not covered and one counting site that should be relocated. There is no counting site on lower Post Alley. This entry from the South once yielded over 900 daily entries when Harbor Steps was assessing its building plans to the South. Similarly, the open entrance from the South Arcade into the Economy Atrium misses another steady trickle of visitors. The entrance to the Pine Street Stairs on Western is not a counting site, but surely many still enter the Market through this forlorn doorway, Lastly, the elevator off Western deposits a steady supply of Market shoppers.
So this is summer.....and what have we here....(silently hum the song, to the tune of John Lennon's "So This Is Christmas," as you read through this, really go it, if you think you can handle it..) Another winter over and the busy season just begun. The sun it is a shining and the fish it is a flying, without any fear. So this is summer.Summer season started with the 33rd annual Market Festival - a huge, mellow success (all the super-turbo hyper hippies seemed to gravitate toward Folk Life). Attendees happily enjoyed the "just rightness" of it all. The Market Foundations inaugural oversight was grrrrreat!!! People paraded around, poked about and piled through, drinking in the unique sights and sounds of the Market in accelerated motion: more performers, more food, more people, more cruise boats, more, more, more...with more to come. Kudos to Marlys, Michele, Erica, James, Rainelle and all the fabulous foundation folk who worked so hard to make it all work! Woo hoo!Throughout June it seemed everyone turned up at the Market at one time or another: The Opera Man, the human video game man, the cowboys, celebrities, cruise boat couples, a balloon-blowing-clown from Florida; the Cat Man, Japanese tourists photographing the oldest Starbucks, that one guy who walks around talking loudly to himself in the mornings; Horse-Drawn-Carriage Guy, the ducks, the dazzling dancing Diamonte, magicians; Midwesterners seeing fish fly for the fist time, Boot Boy, Plankton, my brother, a several-hundred-person Utah Choir and you! (Keep humming)
Maya Soleil busts out the Pan-African rhythms at Kirkland's ninth-annual Kirkland Summerfest, held on July 8, 9 and 10.
The sun came out in July, just in time for Kirkland's annual Fourth of July parade.
Every Wednesday in summer, 350 families, most of them migrant workers from the Skagit Valley, line up at the food bank behind St. Charles Church. The banco de comida opens at 4 p.m., but by 3, the line already stretches across the parking lot, even on a cold, rainy day. The families wait for a grocery bag, or two, of food - all of it gathered, sorted and distributed by teens. About 30 Seattle youths give a week during their summer break to haul food up to Burlington and work as volunteers.Recently, I joined the 12- to 14-year-olds from St. Benedict's Catholic Church as they stood in the cold and rain and cheerfully distributed the much-needed supplies. Renee Lindstrom, youth minister at St. Ben's, has accompanied teens to the Youth Migrant Project for at least seven years.
Southwest Airlines may provide low-cost travel to its passengers, but its proposal to relocate its terminal to Boeing Field will cost Seattle neighborhoods and businesses immeasurably.The Dallas-based airline says it considers its impact on its airports' residential neighbors, yet it proposes to pay only $130 million, and that's for its own terminal, parking garage and accommodations for its own airport traffic.Even if the neighborhoods were to receive the same amount of money, it still wouldn't compensate for the resulting decrease in property values and the displacement of thousands of homes, businesses and jobs - no matter what the misguided Ron Sims says. The dozen businesses Southwest Airlines claims to displace include the Seattle-founded UPS parcel carrier, which only has about a dozen flights daily.
Talking Politics: In this first part of a continuing series by Chantelle Lusebrink, the North Seattle Herald-Outlook will introduce the North End candidates in this year's elections.Proving to be a formidable opponent after his 2003 victory against 20-year council veteran Cynthia Sullivan, current Metropolitan King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson is not a stranger to achieving large goals.Long before deciding to run for political office, however, Ferguson actively spent much of his time finding ways to help people around the country - first by volunteering with the Jesuit volunteer corps in Portland, Ore., where he helped tutor inner-city children as well as run emergency services, and then after law school, secured grants to represent the Yaqui Indians in Guadalupe, Ariz. "Each of those were very formative experiences and have largely formed my politics," Ferguson said.
Whether they're walking, running, skating, biking, socializing or exercising, Seattleites are spending plenty of time at Green Lake Park this summer.For those who wish to maintain their exercise routine, Green Lake is an optimal place to go. The Seattle Parks and Recreation website says, "The newly reconstructed, 2.8-mile path around the lake provides a perfect recreational spot for runners, bikers, skaters and walkers, and the adjacent 3.2-mile trail is ideal for joggers."
A black sandstone block with two bare feet carved in the top. A stone bench shaped like a giant ear. Green lawn over earth mounded into sharp hillocks. "Blocked Out," the new public artwork on the University of Washington campus, fuses sculpture with landscaping. The 2-foot-high block suggests an auction block on which people of color stood to be sold. It also works as a speaker's platform. The ear, covered with a multicolored mix of Northwest river rock, is a place to sit and listen, evoking in its many colors the spirit of diverse voices. The mounded earth - powerful sound or shock waves conveying the speaker's voice.Located between Suzzallo Library and Mary Gates Hall at the University of Washington, two classic Gothic-style buildings, "Blocked Out" inhabits new ground.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, centenarians (people living 100 years or more) are the fastest growing segment of the American population. The Washington state Office of Financial Management (OFM) states that in 2000, there were approximately 146 (30 male and 116 female) centenarians living in Seattle. The OFM office estimates that number to be higher today.With all of the advancements in technology, nutrition and medicine in the United States, it seems logical that our citizens are living longer. However, research shows there are more centenarians everywhere, in both more and less developed regions of the globe. According to the Administration on Aging, "In the United States, the 2001 Census Bureau estimated that there were more than 48,427 individuals over 100. "The United Nations estimates that in 2000, there were 180,000 centenarians throughout the world. By 2050, this number is projected to number 3.2 million...[with] 68 percent projected in the developed world," it continued.