Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 7, July 2004

Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

Summer festivals abound in North End

By JAMES BUSH

Would you like to inspect a street full of classic cars and hot rods? Want to sail your milk carton barge to victory on Green Lake? Feel like a parade? Hungry for seafood?

All these experiences and more will be available this summer in North Seattle.

The following are some of the upcoming events:

Greenwood Car Show

The Greenwood Classic Car and Rod Show on Saturday, June 26, will transform nearly 20 blocks along Greenwood Avenue North, from North 72nd Street to North 90th Street, into a parking lot lined with classic cars of all ages, shapes and descriptions.

The car show will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. The event's main sponsor is Union 76, which operates six stations in North Seattle.

While the cars will be displayed along Greenwood Avenue, some of the event's other attractions, including food and crafts booths and the entertainment stage, will be held in locations just off the neighborhood's main drag, due to construction and bus routing issues, says Farell Hogenauer, event manager.

An array of craft vendors will be set up in the Safeway parking lot (at Greenwood Avenue and North 87th Street) to provide a mini-street fair; a food court will be hosted by Allegra Print and Imaging along Greenwood Avenue between North 83rd and North 84th streets. An entertainment stage just north of the food court will feature sets by the the Fabulous Bel Airs (10:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.) and the Greenwood All-Stars (12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.)

Greenwood's Fire Station #21 will get in on the action with a free lunch (donations accepted to benefit local non-profits) from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and kids' tours of the fire station and fire trucks from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The station is located at 7304 Greenwood Ave. N.

But what's a car show without the cars? One of the more than 500 autos on display will be David White's 1937 Chevrolet Master Deluxe Business Coupe (last year's second place winner in the pre-1939 stock car division). White has had a car on display (before the Chevy, he had a 1963 Porsche 356 coupe) in the Greenwood show for about the last 10 years.

White says he also has a 1955 Chevrolet pickup, but it's not ready for display just yet. He calls the balance between his day job and his hobby of fixing up old cars "the yin and yang of life. I do high-tech computer stuff at work, then go home and work with wrenches," he says. "I balance off the high-tech stuff with grease and skinned knuckles."

Vehicles will be honored in several divisions, including best stock car, best sports car, best classic antique (pre-1935), best muscle car and best convertible.

Milk Carton Derby

Human-powered vessels constructed of milk cartons will ply the waters of Green Lake on Saturday, July 10 as Washington Mutual presents the Seafair Milk Carton Derby. Races will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (vessels will be launched from the southwest shore of the lake).

The boats will compete in five categories: racing (with adult and youth divisions), open, military, commercial, and showboat (for boats built for display alone). More than $10,000 in prizes will be awarded. For more information, call 728-0123 or go to www.seafair.com.

Tivoli/Viking Days

The annual Tivoli/Viking Days festival will be held at Ballard's Nordic Heritage Museum on Saturday, July 10 and Sunday, July 11. Starting with a 9 a.m. Swedish pancake breakfast on Saturday, the festival will feature singing, dancing, crafts, food, and authentic demonstrations of Viking life. A barbecued salmon dinner will be served Saturday evening from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. (festival closing time).

Sunday events will start with a 10 a.m. Swedish pancake breakfast, with the festival continuing until 5 p.m. Admission to the festival is free. Museum admission is also free both days of the Tivoli celebration. The Nordic Heritage Museum is located at 3014 NW 67th St.

For more information, call 789-5707.

Wallingford Kids Parade

Seattle's oldest parade for children, the Wallingford Kiddies Parade, will celebrate its 55th year on Saturday, July 10 at 11 a.m. This year's parade theme is "Kids: Then and Now." Families, groups, sports teams, and other organizations are invited to dress up and participate in this free event. Groups should register in advance, but kids can show up on the day of the event. A decoration area with ribbons, streamers and other items to decorate your bicycle is located at the starting point, North 45th Street and Bagley Avenue North, says parade organizer Steve Trautman.

The Seafair Clowns will be the special guests at this year's Kiddies Parade, Trautman adds. "They're going to be there en masse because they're having their annual Seafair Clowns family event in the neighborhood that same day," he says.

Also on July 10, Wallingford's annual Summer Street Fair Festival will take over Wallingford Avenue between North 45th and North 43rd streets from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Featured will be live music, crafts, food and fun.

For more information on either event, call the Wallingford Neighborhood Office at 632-3165.

Ballard Seafoodfest

Seafood will be served at the 30th annual Ballard Seafoodfest on Saturday, July 24 and Sunday, July 25, but that's hardly the whole story.

"The kids activity area is a whole lot bigger than it's ever been," says Cindy Payne of Payneless Promotions. "We're closing a whole another section of Market Street for that." Also featured at the two-day event will be the Garden Art Market, craft booths, seafood vendors, the La Senoritas Beer Garden, and two entertainment stages (main stage and family stage). Among the mainstage highlights will be performances by Laura Love (Saturday, 6 p.m.), Reilly and Maloney (Sunday, 1:30 p.m.) and Wylie & the Wild West Show (Sunday, 5:30 p.m.). Also returning will be the traditional lutefisk and watermelon eating contests (Family Stage, Saturday, 2 p.m.) and the fashionable Couture Coverall Contest (Mainstage, Sunday, 2:45 p.m.)

The hours for this free event are Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For more information, call 784-9705 or go to www.seafoodfest.org.

Greenwood Parade

The 54th Annual Greenwood Seafair Parade will be presented Wednesday, July 28 at 6 p.m. The parade starts at Greenwood Avenue North and North 95th Street, continuing south on Greenwood before turning west onto North 85th Street. This year's grand marshal is Grant Goodeve, host of KING-TV's "Northwest Backroads" show and former star of the TV series "Eight is Enough" (he portrayed eldest son, David).

This year's parade theme is "There's Life on Greenwood." The parade will feature the Very Important Kids