June 2011

Whenever the Washington Huskies rowing crew wins the world championship I know Gregory Heights resident Guy Harper will be dancing in the street because he was stroke for the Huskies in 1954 when they won the national trophy.

They won again last week and I asked him to send me a photo of his historic Husky triumph. He did. He sent us a picture of him in his rowing shorts. He is wearing horn rim spectacles. We were surprised since we did not realize wearing glasses was a requirement for setting the pace on a crew boat.

I have had some adventures in boats that did not garner any trophies but a lotta years ago I took three of our boys for opening day fishing at Lake Fenwick near Midway. Our 8-foot dinghy was too small for all of us so I rowed by myself while the boys stood on a big log jutting out into the lake. I made a quite a stir among the other fisherman until I got into trouble.

The kids saw the whole disaster.

I was leaning over the side of the stinking boat. It started shrinking when I was not thinking. I lost my mesh onion bag with our peanut bitter samiches when my blinking body slid overboard.

When the tornado hit Joplin, Missouri in May, the 13-year-old niece of Ray's Chef Peter Birk was home alone, hiding in a closet when the roof was ripped off and the house collapsed around her. Her mom  (Birk's sister) was frantically trying to get home from a church event down the street. 

Fortunately, Birk's family is all safe but they've lost their home and now have to get down to the hard work of cleaning up and rebuilding.

"My sister and mother are doing fine," Birk said in a phone interview. "They have a roof over their head for as long as they need it."

Birk said he found out about the tornado an hour after it hit his hometown.

"My first thought was "OK, we've been through this before"," he said. "But then I turned on the news and learned about the severity of things. The first phone calls that went out were to see if everyone's OK."

Mike Chase, Chef of Tuxedos & Tennis Shoes is also from Joplin, Missouri and his family, too, has been devastated by the tornado.

Together, Chase and Birk are hosting a fundraiser tonight to raise funds for two organizations, as suggested by their families - The American Red Cross and Joplin Humane Society.

The Ballard High School DECA is creating a fully customized Monopoly-style game that celebrates Ballard.

Titled Ballardopoly, the game will become available for sale in the fall and will be distributed throughout the community.  Proceeds will support BHS's ever-growing DECA organization, which will possibly become the largest in Washington next year with over 150 students.

DECA is an international student marketing association that promotes leadership development and helps students to gain valuable business experience through competitions and interacting with the business community.

"For a number of reasons, including nutrition and non-compete policies, our store does not generate enough revenue to support our ever-growing program," said DECA Advisor, Jill Zawatski.

"This semester, I challenged my Marketing students to devise business plans to drive more revenue to support our DECA program. Maarten Monhemius, an exchange student from the Netherlands, developed the idea of a custom Monopoly game that celebrates the Ballard community. The rest of the class loved the idea, so we decided to run with it."

Maritime Pacific Brewing Company is making a "minor" change to its Jolly Roger Taproom to its admission policy. Starting Friday, June 17, the Jolly Roger Taproom will be open to all ages.

Having had a 21 years-and-over policy in place since the Taproom opened in 1997, this will be a big new step for Maritime.

The rationale behind this change is simple. "Over the years, a lot of former patrons have married, started families or now have friends with families and have since had to rule out The Jolly Roger Taproom because of the age restriction. With this change, we feel we can reopen the doors that were shut to a lot of our friends as we welcome all ages to the Jolly Roger," according to the Brewing Company's staff.

"So, in this spirit, we wish you a particularly Happy Father’s Day from the crew at Maritime Pacific Brewing Company and the Jolly Roger Taproom."

Maritime Pacific Brewing Company and the Jolly Roger Taproom is located at
1111 N.W. Ballard Way. For more information, visit maritimebrewery.ypguides.net.

For weeks I’ve been hearing mysterious references to “birds” being fabricated in Ballard and then shipped to Alaska. The birds are actually three dimensional sculptures of Northwest birds in migration; each one hand crafted in aluminum to become part of a public art installation in Juneau’s new airport terminal.

Last week I was on my way to see the birds and meet the designers at Denny Jensen’s studio in the Fenpro building on Market Street. Jay Craig, fellow “Bring the Ring Back to Ballard” committee member, was waiting by a side door to walk me back to the studio in the labyrinthine workplace. My hand was on the door knob. My cell phone rang. “Peg,” my sister said sobbing. “I think Gramp just had a stroke.”

How is that we can spend years wondering if we’ll receive a call like that and yet be knocked completely sideways when it comes? My sister was talking about our dad, rechristened “Gramp” by his four granddaughters. She was following the ambulance to the hospital, in another time zone.

By Stacey Riley

Summer is finally here…isn’t it? Seattleites really take advantage of the few sunny days we get while hoping for more on the way! True to our northwest style, we start gardening and sprucing up our yards for the sunny weather ahead. While you are at it, don’t forget about that porch!

If you are able and willing, a brightly painted front door is always eye catching and welcoming. Turquoises, purples, yellows and lime greens are just a few fun choices…or even the standard red. If you can’t or don’t want to paint your front door, there are many other ways to bring color to your porch.

Brightly colored plants, welcoming doormats and colorful seating are all interesting ways to smarten up your summertime porch. Painted pieces such as chairs, benches and tables can be matching or mismatched in a coordinated style. If you prefer metal furniture, find some fun patterned cushions and pillows. Outdoor fabric options have grown tremendously over the last few years so it should be easy to find something fun and inexpensive. Try www.homedecorators.com and look under their outdoor cushions and pillows link.

CLICK ON PHOTO FOR SLIDESHOW

Craig Parsley's 5th grade class at Schmitz Park Elementary School pulled off an hour production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to the delight of a packed auditorium. David and Marilyn Mears offered their professional coaching and direction to make the play a success. David adapted the play for the kids.

This was the ninth annual Shakespeare production for kids attending class 14 at Schmitz. There were 32 cast members listed on the program.

The West Seattle Herald caught up with Gabe Gilioli who portrayed Caesar after the play concluded. His younger sister, Virginia, played a role, and his father, Sandro, who attended the play, was born near Bologna, Italy. We were curious how Gabe managed to "play dead" so effectively while lying so long on the stage after the famous stabbing scene.

"It was really stressful because I was afraid I was going to move and someone would notice me and it would just be all over, said Gabe. "My eyes did open. I tried to stay as still as I could. It was really hard."

Anne Kennedy and Dennis Grace love their dog Haylee, who is a Jack Russell Terrier and this breed has a high energy reputation. So while she lives up to that, Grace said, "I've had people say that she doesn't seem as excitable or rambunctious as other 'jacks' but I think that's just because we exercise her and keep her well entertained. They have active minds and they need to be physically active or else they will do creative things with your couch."

They acquired her from a breeder in Spokane nearly three years ago.

Haylee is their second one of this breed. The first one was named Comet who lived to be more than 19 years old.

The couple often go on extended walks with Haylee around Alki and back up through Schmitz Park or to West Crest Dog Park near White Center where he can let her off the leash.
That's good for her because in most settings," She can't be off the leash. I don't think you can train the chase instinct out of them."

She has had obedience training and can sit, rollover and even shake hands if a bit weakly."It's like she's extending her flipper," Kennedy said laughing.

In their final meeting before a two-month summer hiatus, the White Center Chamber of Commerce covered a number of topics relating to current and future business in the unincorporated area. The meeting was held at Viva Mexico Restaurant (10601 16th Ave S.W.) on June 14.

White Center Business Guide coming soon
Nhan Nguyen, neighborhood revitalization program manager for the White Center Community Development Association (CDA), presented his work on a White Center Business Guide that will help new and existing businesses wade through bureaucracy and licensing, and find ways to obtain grants to help their business thrive. Nguyen said the guide should be available mid-August of 2011 and will provide an exhaustive list of contact information for government, non-profit and other resources that will help start-up White Center businesses clearly understand the necessary steps to open up shop.

The Northwest Paddling Festival, taking place June 25 at Jack Block Park has released the map for the events set to happen at the event.

To see a larger version of the map of events and the route of the Alki Paddling Challenge Race click the link above.

As the West Seattle Herald reported first, the beach in the park, which has been closed to the public since the park was built, will open to the public for the first time for the festival.