Festivals/Annual Events

The Memorial Day Service at Forest Lawn began under cloudy and intermittently rainy skies but as it got underway, the sun broke through
and the 40 to 50 people in attendance were able to hear Seattle Opera Mezzo-Soprano Melissa Plagemann sing the "Star Spangled Banner" and American Legion Post #160 Commander Chris Shea speak.

CLICK THE PHOTO TO SEE MORE IMAGES FROM THE EVENT

Shea talked about his own service in the Navy as a submariner, about America, and about the meaning of service.

As the service took place, many people came to the cemetary to honor loved ones, some who never served in the military, some who did.
Adjutant Commander of Post #160 Walton E. Delong said, "I'm a retired Navy man, and my father was in the First World War, my brother was in the Second World War another brother served too," and he emphasized his family had indeed served their country. Leroy Bernard, also of Post #160 said, "This is a great day for all of us."

Pam Thompson was there to honor her father, Howard Bell, It also happened to be his birthday. She said, "He was in both the Army and the Navy, he did both services," fighting in World War II and Korea.

Saturday, June 12 the 5th Annual Morgan Junction Festival will take place offering live music, crafts, vendors and lots of food since Bite of Morgan is back. The event will run from 11am to 7pm at 6415 California Avenue S.W.

People will crowd into Morgan Park & the parking lots of Beveridge Place Pub and Zeeks/Feedback Lounge for the event.

There is limited parking for the festival. If you plan to go it is recommended that you take a bike or bus. The location is served by Metro routes 22, 54, 128 and Sound Transit Express 560.

The Bubbleman will make an appearance from 5:15 to 5:45 and music will be provided by the following bands:
Kenny Mandell Jazzworks
Hal Merrill
Moe Prevencher Project
Sweet Secrets
Bill Wolford's Head
Slags
Burley Mountain Band

Event schedule:

10:30 am Kenny Mandell Jazzworks, Middle School Student Band , Jazz

11:20 am Kenny Mandell Jazzworks, Adult Student Band, Jazz

12:00 Noon Hal Merrill, Jazz on Pedal Steel Guitar

12:30 pm Moe Provencher Project, Americana/roots

1:15 pm Najma, Belly Dancer

1:45 pm Sweet Secrets, All Ages Rock

2:30 pm Chalk Contest, Drawing contest on sidewalk art frames

The Westwood Village Street Fair was blessed by a sunny day and a big turnout on Saturday May 22. The crowds came to take part in the dog show, hear music, tour business booths and see the treasured northwest legend J.P. Patches.

CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT

The event featured inflatable carnival rides, face painting, a magician, a fashion show, plus live performances from the Red Hot Blues Girls and The Memphis Radio Kings.

They held a free hourly raffle with prizes ranging from gift cards for Westwood Village Stores including a diamond pendant from Wyatt’s Jewelers.

The event began at 11AM with the 1st Annual Westwood Village Dog Show with great prizes such as Puppy Vacations, Doggy Spas, grooming certificates, and gift cards.

Entry to the event, rides, and participation was FREE.

Westwood Village is holding their 2nd Annual Westwood Village Street Fair Saturday, May 22, 2010. The event will feature inflatable carnival rides, face painting, a magician, a meet and greet with famous northwest clown JP Patches, a fashion show, plus live performances from the Red Hot Blues Girls and The Memphis Radio Kings.

A free hourly raffle with prizes ranging from gift cards to your favorite Westwood Village Stores to a diamond pendant from Wyatt’s Jewelers.

The event begins at 11AM with the 1st Annual Westwood Village Dog Show with great prizes such as Puppy Vacations, Doggy Spas, grooming certificates, and gift cards.

Entry to the event, rides, and participation is FREE.

Visitors to Ballard on May 17, and there were many of them, could be forgiven for thinking they had been transported to another time and place. Men and women walked Market Street in traditional Scandinavian outfits, waltzes played on an accordion drifted from Bergen Place and Norwegian flags waved from every flag-able surface.

Ballard's annual Syttende Mai celebration took over the neighborhood, starting with crafts and lunch at the Nordic Heritage Museum and culminating in the parade, with its thousands of participants and onlookers.

Ingrid Chamales, who recently moved to Gig Harbor from South Dakota, was checking out the Nordic Heritage Museum with her husband for the first time on May 17.

Her parents are from Norway, and she said she decided to make the trip from Gig Harbor for the festivities because she read about it in a Sons of Norway magazine.

Chamales' husband was disappointed by the lack of lutefisk but said he would be back for the annual lutefisk-eating contest at the Ballard Seafood Fest.

Following are the winners from the 2010 Syttende Mai Parade. Winners may pick up their trophies at Union Bank (formerly Frontier Bank), located at 5602 15th Ave. N.W.

“Delibertus Quirkus” – the freedom to be peculiar – is the unofficial motto of Fremont, and at no other time does the sentiment play out more prominently than at the annual Fremont Fair, set to take place the weekend of June 19 and 20.

Produced by the Fremont Chamber of Commerce and held annually near the calendar Summer Solstice, the weekend festival draws families, freewheelers, young, old and everyone in between, all coming together to celebrate summer and Fremont and its unconventional culture.

As is tradition, the event will coincide with the much-loved Solstice Parade, organized by the Fremont Arts Council. The parade – famous for its wild and whimsical floats and spectacles – kicks off at noon on June 19 starting at North 36th Street and Leary Way and flowing through the heart of Fremont to end at Gasworks Park.

Highlights for this year’s Fremont Fair activities include:

• More than 300 shopping booths featuring colorful world imports and novel handmade creations, plus boutique shopping throughout the streets.

Overcast skies and a slight drizzle May 1 didn't keep Ballardites from flocking to the first-ever Ballard Urban Picnic, or BURP, where lines for some of the premiere street food vendors in the city were occasionally 40 people deep.

The Ballard Chamber of Commerce created BURP, which featured mobile food vendors, a beer garden, live music, inflatable bouncers, community booths and more, as a way to bring more community activity to Ballard Commons Park.

"We all thought we had this great park and it doesn't get as much use as it could," said Beth Miller, Ballard Chamber of Commerce executive director.

Miller said she thought this would be a small event that would be easier to organize than the multiple-day Seafood Fest.

While it was still easier than Seafood Fest, it was not easy, she said. They started out with an idea to have food vendors in the park for a day, then decided they needed entertainment, then something for children and all of a sudden there was a lot of organizing to do, she said.

Miller said the turnout at the event was great, especially because weather on May 1 is always a toss up.

The Ballard Chamber of Commerce is offering the Ballard Urban Picnic, or BURP, for the consideration of the neighborhood's collective stomaches.

BURP, which runs from noon to 9 p.m. on May 1, will cram Ballard Commons Park with a lineup of mobile food vendors, a beer garden with proceeds going to the Ballard Food Bank, live music, bouncy toys, skateboard demonstrations, community booths and an outdoor showing of Pixar's "Ratatouille."

Food vendors include Dante's Inferno Dogs, Anita's Crepes, Veraci Pizza, Skillet, Here & There and Parfait Ice Cream. The beer garden is being furnished by Maritime Pacific Brewery.

The Ballard Chamber of Commerce is looking for volunteers for BURP. Click here to sign up.

The Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce is celebrating the community’s various talents this summer as it honors The Coats, a local a cappella group with a national reputation, as the grand marshals of the 60th annual Greenwood Seafair Parade July 28.

The theme for this year is Greenwood’s Got Talent, Celebrating 60 Super Summers.

“I think with The Coats leading off our parade, we can focus on some of the great talent in our community and let them show their stuff in the parade,” parade chair Ann Woodward said in a press release. “Getting out there and performing, whether it is singing, dancing, fitness training, playing an instrument, gardening or whatever, is an excellent ways to exercise your mind and body, have fun and stay healthy.”

The Coats started their career on the street corners of Seattle, which evolved into a full-time international performance career. They have won national vocal competitions.

The Greenwood Seafair Parade takes place from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on July 28.

On Easter morning at Ballard Corners Park, half the assembled adults hid eggs while the other half restrained the eager egg hunters lined up along the sidewalk awaiting the start of the neighborhood-organized egg hunt.

The children were released in an egg-gathering frenzy, leaving the adults to chase after them with cameras and tease each other about which parents were offering too much help in their children's pursuit of eggs.

Six-year-old Olivia Jett, for one, said she prefers her Easter egg hunts without adult help.

"I'm good at looking," she said. "I'm a really good hunter."

Jalair Box, mother of six-year-old Jaya, said it is nice to have an event where all the neighborhood children who don't know each other can get together.

Ballard Big Picture is a column of scenes from around the neighborhood. If you would like to submit a photo for use on this site and in the Ballard News-Tribune, please send it to Michael Harthorne at michaelh@robinsonnews.com. Be sure to include your name and information about your photo.