July 2012

If you missed out on the casting call in Ballard last Sunday, it's not too late to be considered for the Norwegian dating show, "Sons of Norway." The show is still taking video applications until Sunday, July 8.

Contestants must be of Norwegian descent, at least 20, single, and live in the Seattle, WA or San Francisco, CA areas.

Four Americans will go to Norway to try and find true love. Cameras will follow them in Reality TV fashion as they pick and choose among a selection of people who they want to date.

Chosen participants will travel to Norway twice. Shoot dates are sporadic between October and December, 2012. Shoot time will be a total of about 9 days in America and 2 separate weeks in Norway. All travel related expenses will be paid.

Sons of Norway will only air in Norway.

For more information on how to apply, visit the "Sons of Norway" website.

The Seattle waterfront's Great Wheel turned on its color display for the first time on the 4th of July, just and the Family 4th at Lake Union got underway.

The lighting system, composed of hundreds of thousands of LED lights, can be programmed into thousands of different patterns and presentations. Each individual light can display a broad range of colors, which can change in less than a second, creating endless possibilities for visual effects.

The show on the Fourth of July was appropriate to the holiday displaying red white and blue often but also spirals, geometric displays and multiple patterns. In the future, the Seattle Great Wheel will be lit up for different occasions, such as holidays, special events and sporting events.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, fresh berries are our reward for surviving the long, wet, dark winter. When the strawberries are in, you don’t want to eat anything else. That’s why I was so happy to see hundreds of hard, bright green berries in my garden in May. I watched them like a hawk and dreamt of a scrumptious harvest.

Researchers have developed special “everbearing” strawberry varieties, but I think the old-fashioned kind that bear fruit in June are still the most flavorful. At least for the month of June, and often July, don’t buy California berries. Instead, search a farmers’ market or ask your grocer for local berries. They will beat the taste of any that are picked green and schlepped up to Seattle in a truck.

Strawberries are high in antioxidants, vitamin C and folate and are a fair source of fiber and potassium, which help kidney and heart health.

My favorite way to serve local berries is European-style. Just fill a bowl with sliced berries, top with a small dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with brown sugar. It doesn’t get any better. Here are some other delicious ideas.

Strawberry Pie

Pastry for 1-crust pie, baked

July 8 UPDATE: Some are expressing disappointment in this year's firework's show on Angle Lake. You can read a statement just released by the Angle Lake Shore Club by clicking here.

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Original story:

In keeping with tradition, Angle Lake's waterfront residents and guest revelers lit red flares along their boat docks at about 10:00 p.m., prior to watching the annual Independence Day fireworks show there which began just after 10:30 p.m.

While the colorful, 10-minute display that lit up Sea Tac's aquatic elbow was intended to be a spectator event, many ignored the legal ban and set off their own mini-shows of privately-purchased roman candles, bottle rockets, and other fiery things that go boom in the night from their own backyards.

The Highline Times conducted a mini-survey and found that about one in three were taking Thursday off of work.

UPDATE WITH SLIDESHOW: CLICK ON PHOTO FOR MORE.

The sun may have been the big star in today's 4th of July Parade in Burien as the bright rays, and community pride, heated up the downtown with marching bands, energetic dance teams, elaborate floats and vintage autos under the bright hot rays.

Local community members will recognize familiar faces among the many organizations and elected officials that participate.

This year, the Grand Marshall of the parade was John Feeney, recipient of the Burien Citizen of the Year award. He is a mentor in Highline’s New Start program, as well as a volunteer at several elementary school reading programs.

The parade began at 3 p.m. at Ambaum Blvd. S.W. and S.W. 149th St. The route headed south on Ambaum, east on S.W. 153rd St., north on 4th Ave. S.W. then west on S.W. 152nd. St.

The Boeing Company, the Burien/White Center Rotary Club, Highline Amateur Radio Club, Highline Medical Center, CleanScapes and Republic Services sponsored the parade.

Partners for the event were the city of Burien and the Southwest King County Chamber of Commerce.

Shaya Calvo, Sydney and Sally Calvo all love their dog Maisy, a border collie, who originally came from Kalispell, Montana as a rescue dog. "She was in a kill shelter and they were going to put her to sleep the next day," Shaya said. A vet tech drove from Seattle to Montana that night to pick her up before she was put down, and brought her back to Seattle.

"When we got her she was so malnourished that she was running and put her foot in a hole and her leg snapped. That was when she was one, and now she's almost 14 years old," Shaya explained.

They describe her as a "great frisbee dog who is totally loyal."

Maisy gets a raw food diet from Natural Pet Pantry in Burien. "She's a meat lover," said Sydney.

A "master at removing the squeaker from toys," Maisy's favorite place is McLendon's Hardware in White Center where she goes, "almost every weekend." She's become something like the store mascot according to the Calvos.

The Calvos also take Maisy to Super Happy Fun Dog for doggy day care where she has gone for ten years.

By David Rosen

What do decorated bikes, families and friends, and dressed up kids have in common? If you guessed it was for the West Seattle 4th of July Children's Parade, you're correct.

Today marked the annual 4th of July parade whose route runs from 44th Ave SW down Sunset Ave SW across California Ave SW and finishes at Hamilton Viewpoint. Attendance was down significantly this year with an estimaged 600 people in attendance compared to last year's approximately 2500.

Sherry Chun who has been running the parade for the last 5 years told the West Seattle Herald, " What makes this parade so fantastic is the people, but especially the kids " This parade originally started 18 years ago by the Kane family. It started out small as just a neighborhood event and has grown into a West Seattle parade event.

Other people among the crowd were King County Council Member Joe Mcdermott, Rodger Scholten who sang the national anthem, pus the Princesses and Queen for the 2012 Hi-Yu festival.

By David Rosen

Don, a handy-man from the West Seattle Junction Association sets up American flags every year on the fourth of July in the West Seattle Junction from SW Oregon St. to SW Edmonds St. He has been doing this for about 9 years now since he has been a member of the Junction Association for about 10 years.

This year he asked for the help of volunteers to help him put up the flags due to some health issues. Members of the Seattle Police Department were out with him this morning setting up the flags. The flags will be up from 7:30 am-6:00 pm. Each business along the flag route paid for their flag which was a one time fee of $50.00.

UPDATE; SLIDESHOW, Click on photo for more

A free family event returned. The "2nd Annual Lucha Libre en la Calle" was held Saturday, July 7, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Cloverdale and 14th Ave. S. in the South Park neighborhood of West Seattle.

For the uninitiated, "Lucha Libre" is a popular Mexican cultural phenom, professional wrestling with popular "athletes" donning colorful, expressive masks and leotards, taunting and tossing opponents through the air to the delight of their fans. It can get rough and tough in the wrestling ring, but any wrestlers that did get hurt on Saturday suffered superficial injuries.

According to Catch the Culture, a South Park neighborhood blog, “ECOSS (The Environmental Coalition of South Park) and South Park Arts are (tag) teaming up to bring Lucha Libre in the Street back to South Park this Summer! … As an organizer of the event Bill Pease had no idea if it would fly. But, when he heard those fans booing, cheering, laughing and gasping he knew we had a hit!"

The next White Center Business Mixer is set for Tuesday, July 10 and on the agenda are ways to:

• Improve the business district
• Advocate for business issues
• Create mutual support among businesses

Also up for discussion are:

• Networking - Mix and mingle with other business owners
• Intro - Celebrating business collaboration in White Center (Mai, TEO Restaurant & Cafe)
• Community Announcements
• White Center Chamber website update
• Peer activity

The meeting will run from 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. at TEO Restaurant & Cafe, 9650 14th Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98106

Light dinner will be provided courtesy of TEO Restaurant & Cafe

For more information or to request a translation, please contact Mikel Davila at mikel@wccda.org or 206.694.1082.