West Seattle, Washington
10 Wednesday
(High Point Community Center video by Tracy Record for WSB)
All five of West Seattle’s city-owned community centers planned egg hunts this morning, as usual – and so far, we have coverage from three of them. Top video, the tweens hitting the field at High Point Community Center – took them less than three minutes to round up the eggs, despite the relatively small size of the group (other age groups went after eggs at different spots around the site – including the playground and the tennis court). Meantime, hundreds lined up outside Hiawatha Community Center in the Admiral District:
(Hiawatha Community Center photos by Jason Grotelueschen for WSB)
And .. off they went!
Yes, Mr./Ms. Bunny was on hand at Hiawatha too – with photo ops galore:
While over at Alki for a non-Easter story, we spotted some Alki Community Center egg hunters at Whale Tail:
(Photo by Patrick Sand for WSB)
Aside from a teen hunt tonight, that’s it for the big egg hunts – but some local churches are offering them for kids in conjunction with Easter Sunday services; check the WSB West Seattle Easter page for the list.
Intrepid egg-hunter Louisa was happy to show off part of her bounty during the West Seattle Thriftway egg hunt this morning. As usual, since this is the first big one of the day, excited families lined up outside:
And once inside, it was “aisles of smiles”:
Where’s the Easter Bunny, you ask? In a video clip we will add later this morning, along with another photo or two. First, we’re hopping back out, to cover the community-center hunts (full egg-hunt list here). ADDED 12:15 PM: Here’s the video, as happy hunters enter the store:
Minutes later, big smiles all around:
And the store’s Twitter feed just carried a message of thanks.
(WSB photo from Southwest Community Center’s April 2010 egg hunt)
This is the big day for egg hunts, and most are happening this morning. If you haven’t already seen the schedule on the WSB West Seattle Easter page, here’s the lineup:
THRIFTWAY: West Seattle Thriftway (California/Fauntleroy/Morgan) is having its traditional annual Easter Egg Hunt!! The fun begins at 9 am but the line forms early! Kids aged 1-10, please.
LIFE CARE CENTER: Easter egg hunt at Life Care Center of West Seattle (4700 SW Admiral Way), 9 am, with golden prize eggs, drawings for prizes, pastries/juice/coffee, free
COMMUNITY CENTERS: Egg hunts at these West Seattle-area Community Centers for children ages 3 – 11 at 10 am, FREE.
Alki Community Center, 5817 SW Stevens (get there early! coffee, juice, muffins at 9:30 am – also, ages 0-11 welcome)
Delridge Community Center, 4501 Delridge Way SW
Hiawatha Community Center, 2700 California SW
High Point Community Center, 6920 34th SW
South Park Community Center, 8319 8th Ave. S.
Southwest Community Center, 2801 SW Thistle (also a pancake breakfast, 8:30-10:30 am, $4/person, and bike-helmet sale)
Please come early to find the hunting area for your age group, and remember to bring a bag or basket for the eggs you find.
EASTRIDGE @ LINCOLN PARK: 6,000 Easter Eggs in Lincoln Park, 11 am. Eastridge Church invites the community to its FREE Egg Hunt. The annual Easter activities for families and children includes an egg hunt with thousands of candy-filled Easter eggs, face painting, train rides, inflatables, prizes, and more! This children’s event is free and the community is invited! Eastridge Church Seattle Campus is located on 39th Avenue SW in West Seattle.
TEEN EGG HUNT TONIGHT: Teens Only! Southwest Teen Life Center (at Southwest Community Center, 2801 SW Thistle) Late Night Flashlight Egg Hunt for ages 13-19 at 9 pm. FREE Bring a flashlight and your sense of adventure–we’ll be searching for eggs. Find the most and win a prize!
You might have wondered whether Alki Community Center would have an egg hunt this year, since city budget cuts slashed its staff and operating hours. The answer, from the ACC Advisory Council, a resounding YES! So it’s been added to the listings on our special Easter 2011 page of egg hunts, church services, and brunch notes. And Kathleen Scanlon from the council shares some extra information:
First of all, although the hunt starts at 10 am sharp, we would encourage folks to get there early to find their age group (and because in years past it is over by 10:05!). We will also be serving Starbucks, juice and muffins starting at 9:30 am and ages 0-11 are invited to participate in the hunt.
The center is at 5817 SW Stevens, adjacent to the south end of Alki Playfield and the east side of Alki Elementary.
With one week to go till Easter, we have published, and added to the site navigation (the tabs under the sunset photo in the header), the new WSB Easter page, with three groups of listings: Egg hunts (most are next Saturday, but not all!), church services (including Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday), and a few Easter brunch notes from local restaurants. Still a work in progress, so if you are involved with, or know of, any activities/services/brunches that are NOT on the page yet, please send us the info so we can add it! editor@westseattleblog.com – which also is where you are welcome to send word of Passover activities in West Seattle, since that holiday starts at sunset Monday; we are including Passover events in the regular Events calendar.
Got a note very early today that the fabled green stripe of Admiral’s 41st SW, near Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor), has been refreshed, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day 2011 – so we had to send leprechauns over to get photos – including the shamrock at the end (in the 1900 block – here’s a map).
In case you’re not off tomorrow and forget it’s a holiday (Presidents Day) – there are some changes. 
Metro will be on reduced weekday service; the King County Water Taxi and its shuttles won’t be running at all (West Seattle OR Vashon); most government offices/facilities are closed, as are most (if not all) banks. Most state liquor stores, however, are open. If you’re going someplace in the city with metered street parking, tomorrow it’s free. Schools are closed (many, including all Seattle Public Schools, have the whole week off). But if you have Monday trash/recycling/yard waste (etc.) pickup, Seattle Public Utilities says everything is normal tomorrow (no changes for Sound Transit or state ferries, either).
Many people spent this MLK Day as they spent previous ones – volunteering in ways big and small. Some joined in organized events; some came up with their own, as did Annabelle Allen, Hayden and Anne Wainwright, and Molly Allen: Sharing the photo, Mark Wainwright described their efforts as an “impromptu … Day of Service,” explaining:
They picked up a bunch of trash along California from Charlestown to Hinds. Great work, kiddos! (And thanks to the moms, Jane and Shana, for the encouragement!
A reminder tonight about schedule changes tomorrow for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day holiday: There’s no King County Water Taxi service, West Seattle or Vashon (no shuttle buses, either). Metro buses are on a “reduced weekday” schedule – check here to see if your route is affected. Though most government offices and services are closed (including Seattle libraries and Parks facilities), recycling/trash/yard-waste services are on regular schedule, if you have Monday pickup. It’s a “free parking” day for other parts of the city with pay stations/meters. Most state liquor stores are open. Last but not least – schools and banks are closed.
From left, Zoe, Darrian, Autumn, and Shawna will be happy to help you divest yourself of your drying-out Christmas tree today – get it out before the game! Till 2 pm, they’re at the Masonic Hall parking lot, 40th/Edmunds, for the West Seattle Rainbow Girls‘ fundraising tree-recycling event. $5 donation suggested. (Yes, you still have a couple more days for free city pickup or dropoff, but this is the only in-West Seattle dropoff event we know of!)
(WSB video from the light show’s opening night on November 27th)
The traditional 12 Days of Christmas are almost over. And here’s one last bit of holiday news. Jim Winder from the Helmstetler Family Spectacular light show by the Charlestown water tower – westseattlelights.com – has sent an update on this year’s fundraising, and a request before the holidays get too far in your rear-view mirror. First, the update:
The fantastic people of our West Seattle Community (and beyond) gave the following:
West Seattle Food Bank: $431.00 and 1066 lbs of Food
Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation – $381.00
Pushing Boundaries – $391.00
Brian Teachout – $500.00
And now, Jim’s request – he’s looking for video and photos you might be able to share, as part of something he’s putting together for next year:
I would like to gather up two things:
1) Pictures/videos of dads playing Santa Claus … of course the funnier the better!!
2) Pictures/videos of kids getting their pictures taken sitting on Santa’s lap…would even love some black and white pics from yesteryear…
They can send them to me at pics@westseattlelights.com.
And Jim promises he’ll have video from this year’s spectacular show up soon. Things just got busy.
99+ percent of the hundreds of people who crowded West Seattle’s downtown-facing shore on New Year’s Eve were there to watch the fireworks. And then – there was the Marker Buoy Dive Club. For the first time in a few years, club members arranged an underwater champagne toast in the popular diving spot Cove 2 off Seacrest Park. As a former club president, Paul Riggs, explained, “We have done this in the past, but not the last couple of years as the tides have not been favorable for the event, entering at Seacrest Park at extreme low tide at night with 80+ pounds of gear is tricky.” The club set up a tent outside Alki Crab and Fish at the pier and arranged a video feed into the tent so the celebration could be viewed without going underwater. They also planned to put it all together as a video for YouTube – and the results, above, have just been published. The underwater action starts in the fourth minute; it’s interspersed with the Space Needle fireworks a bit later in the video. If you don’t make it to the credits at the end – Jim McGauhey put together the video; he and Randy Williams were also the underwater photographers. Meantime, Paul tells us the next big event at Cove 2 is on January 15th, as part of the Seattle Aquarium‘s octopus census.
We noticed “West Seattle Christmas tree recycling” is the most popular Google query pointing people to WSB this afternoon, so we’ll repeat the information we published last weekend: If you’re deciding what to do with your tree now that the holiday season is ending (yes, we know, the Epiphany is yet to come), you have three main options here. First, curbside pickup continues through January 9th, as long as you follow the city rules (and if you live in a multifamily building, your rules may vary). Second, you can take it to the transfer station, slightly different rules. Third, you can take it to the Rainbow Girls‘ fundraising tree dropoff event one week from today, 9 am-2 pm Saturday, January 8, in The Junction – details here, along with one bonus: How to recycle your old holiday lights, working or not!
That scene requires a slight amendment to a classic line, so let’s just say: “Elvis has left the water.” The King was part of the sizable crowd – more than 100 – who dove right into 2011 with the West Seattle/White Center Polar Bear Swim about half an hour ago at Alki. Most were in and out in a matter of seconds, as our video shows:
For some, it was a party:
And for some, a victory:
The water was warmer than the air, which was still just before freezing when the “swimmers” took the plunge at 10 am.
Hello again, and happy 2011. Some of the basics for this holiday Saturday – Metro‘s on a Sunday schedule. No mail; banks are closed; no trash pickup, and the transfer station’s closed; city libraries are closed; these parks facilities are closed. As for coffee/grocery stores/restaurants: Please note that what follows is NOT the same type of list we published for Thanksgiving and Christmas – for this holiday, rather than call every establishment in West Seattle to find out their plans, we tried an online experiment, checking businesses’ websites, Facebook pages, and/or Twitter accounts (and any other online sources). Many did not have easily findable “holiday hours” info online, but here’s what we did turn up (certainly others are open, and if you know of any firsthand, please comment or let us know and we’ll add):Read More
Driving along Harbor Avenue just before the Space Needle fireworks at midnight, we noticed how many photographers were interspersed with spectators – and we have a few of their views to share. Above, a time-lapse from David Rosen of SlickPix Photography; next, one of the views provided by Cheryl Nellis of Cnellis Photography:
Last but not least, this is just for fun … Junior Member of the Team wielded the camera for the first five minutes of 2011 at Seacrest, while we idled the car in Harbor Avenue traffic (note to self, if deciding to watch fireworks from Seacrest, go get spot early). Some fireworks, some revelry, some cheering, shaky but if you like slice of life, here you go:
Happy 2011!
“We’re gonna let the neighbors know it’s New Year’s Eve!” With that promise from Highland Park Action Committee chair Dan Mullins, this year’s Not-So-Silent-Night Parade strolled across SW Holden and onto a winding mile-long loop route. Not quite the same route as the first-ever version last year – not the same weather as last year, either; it was rainy then, but this time, clear and cold, with ice patches like this one in the street (luckily everybody kept to the sidewalks):
Neighbors along the way called out “Happy New Year!” to greet the parade:
And at the end, like 2009 – after Mullins exhorted everyone to “give yourselves a hand!” – a brief fire ceremony offered a chance to tell the old year goodbye:
What burned? Neighborhood greenery, predominantly rosemary like last year, “maybe some thyme,” we heard somebody say. And then, the 60-plus participants were invited inside for cookies, cider, and a jovial 4-plus-hour start on 2011.
(Photos by Ellen Cedergreen for WSB)
On New Year’s Eve, every new hour brings the new year somewhere in the world. At Providence Mount St. Vincent this afternoon, residents, staffers, and volunteers were probably the first in West Seattle to ring in 2011; they did it on Parisian time – 3 pm Seattle time. The party included a prize wheel, and the winners included resident Melly (top photo). Another big feature – karaoke, with volunteer Mike Fox belting out a lively version of the French song “Louise“:
Other popular numbers included “Dust in the Wind” and “Hallelujah“:
Most government offices are closed today; city libraries close at 6 pm. Metro remains on a “reduced weekday” schedule. Trash (etc.) pickup is on a regular schedule today, but not tomorrow. Mail is delivered today but not tomorrow. Banks are open today but not tomorrow.
Been outside tonight? All we can say is, brrrr. It’s in the 20s and the car tops were icing over by 9 pm. On the other hand, great stargazing. And according to the National Weather Service, this is what you can expect tomorrow night, too – so if you’ll be outside watching the Space Needle fireworks from West Seattle shores, or anyplace else outdoors, make sure your NYE fashion choice includes major insulation. (And if you’re still looking around to see what’s happening, remember our list – ranging from bar parties to church services.)
ADDED 12:15 AM: Our partners at the Seattle Times have published a preview with some behind-the-scenes info about the eight-minute Needle fireworks.
(New Year’s Eve 2009 photo, courtesy of Jillian)
Just wanted to note, with two days to go, that you can find a list of West Seattle New Year’s Eve/Day events on the WSB West Seattle Holidays page – not just restaurant/bar events, but also everything from New Year’s Eve bowling to the Highland Park parade to the Polar Bear Swim. Know of an event that’s not on the page? Please let us know so we can add it – thanks!
Today’s a little too blustery to haul your tree out to the curb, but in case you’re thinking ahead to the post-Christmas cleanup, here are your options for tree recycling, from the West Seattle Holidays page – plus an opportunity to recycle old holiday lights, too:
FREE TREE RECYCLING VIA THE CITY: For Seattle Public Utilities solid-waste customers, they’ll pick up ornament-free/flocking-free trees curbside on your regular collection day provided you follow the rules, or you can take yours to the transfer station in South Park (slightly different rules), both options available through January 9th – full details/rules here. (If you live in a multifamily building, your recycling rules may vary, so check with management if applicable.)
TREE-RECYCLING FUNDRAISER: If you want to drop off your tree without leaving West Seattle, but with the knowledge it’s helping a local youth organization, here’s an alternative. On January 8th from 9 am-2 pm, the West Seattle Rainbow Girls will be collecting trees in the lot outside the Alki Masonic Hall in The Junction, 40th/Edmunds, $5 suggested donation.
RECYCLING YOUR OLD HOLIDAY LIGHTS: West Seattle-based Fleming’s Holiday Lighting is collecting used (or unused/unwanted) holiday lights through mid-January to raise money for the Moyer Foundation. This is a regional effort with three local dropoff spots are Wyatt’s Jewelers (WSB sponsor) in Westwood Village, The Artistic Framers, and McLendon Hardware in White Center.
Last night, we mentioned today’s “Boxing Day” sale at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market (with Market Bucks available at the info booth while they last), which continues till 2. Here’s what else we’ve found regarding after-Christmas sales around West Seattle and vicinity. First, from WSB West Seattle Holiday Shopping Guide sponsors:
*Funky Jane’s Consignment: 25% off everything in the store, through January 2
*Wyatt’s Jewelers: $25 off in-store purchase with WSB Holiday Shopping Guide coupon, good through this Friday (12/31)
*TouchTech Systems: Also through Friday, $50 off MSRP for MacBooks
*Budget Cuts: 12 prepaid haircuts for $99 – deal available through Friday
(Also from the guide, salons Illusions Hair Design and Envy on Alki have New Year’s Eve hours in case you need last-minute pre-party hair help.)
Other sales we’ve found:
*West Seattle Fabric Company (per Facebook): Noon-4 pm Sunday, 30% off all holiday flannels, cottons and Minky.
*CAPERS (per website): 11 am-5 pm Sunday, ornaments half-price
*West Seattle Cellars (per promotional e-mail): Starts noon today, runs through Friday. 15% off everything (20% for club members).
*Many Moons Trading Company (per Facebook group mail): Noon-5 pm Sunday, 50% off
*3.14 Bakery in White Center (via Twitter): All frosted Christmas Cookies 50% off today and Monday.
(added 3:11 pm) West Seattle Nursery (via Twitter): All Christmas merchandise 50% off “while supplies last.”
Having an after-Christmas sale, or know of one, not already mentioned here? Add a comment or e-mail us – thanks!
| 1 COMMENT