Tag Archives: Community Events

Community

PHOTO ESSAY: T’Challaween 2021 — Another Outstanding Celebration of the South End!

by Emerald Staff

After weeks of hiding stubbornly behind gray skies and frequent downpours, the fall sun lit up north Beacon Hill in a golden brilliance for the second-annual T’Challaween parade on Saturday, Oct. 30. 

This year, the South Seattle Emerald’s signature event “T’Challaween — A South End Tribute to Our Heroes” saw even more impressive turnout than its debut last year. Community turned out in droves in stellar costumes to catch candy and celebrate South Seattle.

The T’Challaween 2021 costume parade started again on the Beacon Hill Stay Healthy Street at South College Street but this year ended at Jefferson Park where festivities continued with live music and entertainment. The Emerald partnered with the Artist’s Way to livestream the event. Artist’s Way founder Shaina Shepherd cohosted the stream along with Nikki Barron, and they brought local performers like Da Qween, The Pazific, and Smokey Brights who made beautiful music in the sunny park for live audiences and those who couldn’t attend in person. The livestream was produced by Blazin’ Space, kittenteeth, and Ground Control Recording.

The South End Public Market — a project of Beacon Arts — also set up shop in the park. Hyper-local artists and craftspeople sold their goods, from lovely jewelry to charming crocheted creatures and ink-printed artwork. You can catch the South End Public Market again on Saturday, Nov. 20, at Day Moon Press, one block south of Jefferson Park on Beacon Avenue South.

The success of T’Challaween 2021 was made possible with generous support of sponsors: The Station, Beacon Arts, Boon Boona Coffee, Amy’s Merkato, Victrola Coffee, Jefferson Advisory Council, the ACLU-WA, Alaska Airlines, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and Safeway.

We look forward to celebrating with you all again next year, South End heroes!  

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Arts & Culture

All That Jazz: The Life and Legacy of Ernestine Anderson

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by Kathya Alexander

Ernestine Anderson was just 16 years old when she announced to her parents that she was going to leave Seattle and go on the road to sing with a big band. She’d only recently moved to the city from Texas and was attending Garfield High School. Two years later, when the Johnny Otis band came to town, she made good on her promise, leaving Seattle in 1946 to eventually live in New York, Switzerland, and other cities throughout Europe during an illustrious six-decade career, during which she recorded more than 30 albums. But, no matter where she lived, her heart always pulled her back to her family and the city she loved. 

Seattle’s Central District in the 1940s and ’50s was a jazz mecca. Fellow Garfield High School alum, Quincy Jones, described it as “screaming around the clock.” Both Anderson and Jones performed with Garfield’s jazz band and in various clubs on Seattle’s Jackson Street. Music journalist Paul De Barros’ book, Jackson Street After Hours: The Roots of Jazz in Seattle, has become the standard historical text on the Central District of Seattle and the jazz scene that was going on during the 1940s through the early ’60s. But Anderson felt she needed to make it elsewhere before she would be recognized professionally at home. 

“There were a lot of clubs in the Central area of Seattle: The Black and Tan, The Rocking Chair, and a whole bunch of other[s],” said Eugenie Jones, jazz singer and coproducer of “Celebrating Ernestine Anderson,” a series of community events being held this month to honor the life and legacy of this incredible Seattle icon, who died in 2016.

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Arts & Culture

24-Hour Asian American Play Festival Aims to Diversify Asian Stories in Theatre

by Amanda Ong

The oldest Asian American theatre group in the Pacific Northwest will put on a 24-hour play festival this Saturday, Nov. 13. Pork Filled Productions’ Resilience! An AAPI 24-Hour Play Festival will showcase seven 10-minute plays, conceived, written, rehearsed, and performed all within 24 hours. Each play will be put on by a team of distinguished Asian American writers, directors, and actors. The online production will be livestreamed on Youtube. 

Pork Filled Productions was founded in Seattle in 1998 as an Asian American sketch comedy group dedicated to blending community activism with theatre. While their genres have expanded in years since to include science fiction, noir, fantasy, steampunk, and more, they have continued their mission to imagine fantastical universes informed by diverse perspectives. 

Resilience! was conceived by senior producer Kendall Uyeji in response to the surge of Asian hate crimes and the #StopAsianHate movement in the spring of 2021, particularly after the shooting of six massage parlor workers in Atlanta, Georgia.

Uyeji said he felt he wanted to do something to help raise the profile of the movement. “We want to write about the now,” he told the Emerald. “And the best way to write about the now is to literally have [playwrights] write the night of and then produce it the next day.”

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News

PHOTO ESSAY: MLK60, Honoring the Legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

by Susan Fried and Phil Manzano

Seattle celebrated the 60th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s visit to Seattle over the weekend in song, recognition, and celebration. 

The three-day event, held by the Northwest African American Museum (NAAM), hosted Dr. King’s oldest son, Martin Luther King III, at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, where America’s civil rights leader of the 1960s stayed on his only visit to Seattle.

Saturday, Nov. 6, at Garfield High School where Dr. King spoked to packed audiences 60 years ago, NAAM announced the first group to be inducted into the Circle of Elders, “exceptional Black community leaders over the age of 75 who have led and won victories in the struggle for civil rights, social equity, and opportunity in Seattle’s Central District and greater Pacific Northwest.”

Other events included a prayer vigil at Mount Zion Baptist Church featuring local clergy and culminated in King III’s keynote address at the University of Washington. 

“Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s most inspirational affirmation was hope for a better tomorrow and a brighter future for everyone. It was that hope that mobilized the Civil Rights Movement, and it is that very same hope that continues to shape efforts today to create Dr. King’s vision for a more equitable society,” states NAAM’s MLK60 website.

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Community

Where to Celebrate Diá de los Muertos in the South End and Beyond

by Amanda Ong

Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is a Mexican and Latinx holiday honoring those who have passed through celebration, dance, offerings, art, and food. Just following Halloween, Día de los Muertos is celebrated on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2. It is a joyful celebration and remembrance of family and friends who have died. Scenes of colorful flowers and dresses, skeleton painted faces, and decorated altars are all hallmarks of this holiday. 

This year, we rounded up an assortment of events in Seattle,  South King County, and beyond. Be sure to check them out for days of celebration, rich cultural traditions, and more. If we missed an event and you would like us to add it, please fill out our event form here.

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Arts & Culture

The Upcoming Seattle Erotic Art Festival Is the Feel-Good Event We All Need

by Laura LeMoon

Social worker and shame researcher Brené Brown has been quoted as saying that “shame needs three things to grow exponentially in our lives: secrecy, silence and judgment.” Sex throughout history is probably the singularly most powerful commonality between human beings. Despite this reality, sex remains one of the most taboo of all human subjects and experiences. 

While sex positivity may be a very new concept in America, many cultures in other parts of the world have long held progressive ideas about gender and sexuality. The United States, being a puritanical society founded on Christian religious zeal and white patriarchal hegemony, is not the leader we were raised to believe we are, especially in terms of sexual attitudes and beliefs. In many ways, our nation is just beginning to grapple with concepts such as equality, power dynamics, and consent in sexual interactions. 

The Seattle Erotic Art Festival (SEAF), being held Oct. 29 to Oct. 31 at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, will bring together those interested in sex positivity ideals as well as art enthusiasts to share in public processing of these concepts through artistic expression. 

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Community

Halloween 2021 in South Seattle: A Ghostly Guide to Local Events

by Emerald Staff

With the spookiest night of the year fast approaching, the South Seattle Emerald has gathered some haunted happenings around the South End here so you, friends, and family can spend a scary (and safe!) Halloween together. From pumpkin hunts to trunk or treats, there’s something here for all the ghosts, goblins, and ghoulies to enjoy all weekend long.

Check back to this post as we continue to add more events that we hear about! If we missed an event and like us to add it, fill out our event form here.

🎃🎃Last updated on Wednesday, Oct. 20.🎃🎃

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Arts & Culture

Wa Na Wari’s ‘Walk the Block’ Fundraiser Will Center Community Art Experiences

by Sarah Neilson

On Saturday, Oct. 16, from 3 to 6 p.m., Wa Na Wari will be holding its annual fall fundraiser event in a brand new way. Tomorrow, “Walk the Block” will be a pop-up Central District art walk of art installations, dance and musical performance, video, and food. The outdoor festival will showcase and celebrate the work of Black artists working in a multitude of mediums across a 0.8 mile stretch starting at Wa Na Wari and including neighborhood spaces like parks, gardens, and Black-owned homes and businesses. There will be food and drinks available for purchase, live DJs, and even “artbrellas” — umbrellas featuring work from artists Zahyr Lauren and Jazz Brown. 

Community is at the center of Wa Na Wari’s ethos. Specifically, the vitality and presence of Black art and creativity in the historically redlined Central District which, according to Wa Na Wari’s website, has seen a reduction of its Black population from 80% in 1970 to less than 10% today due to multiple waves of gentrification. Located in a fifth-generation Black-owned home, the space itself is stewarded by one of the four founding artists, Inye Wokoma, the grandson of Frank and Goldyne Green, who purchased the house in 1951. Despite the ongoing neighborhood displacement, Wa Na Wari and the people behind it are committed to decentering the narrative of erasure that often gets tied into discussions of gentrification.

“Showing the stories of people that made this neighborhood so great, are still making this neighborhood so great, is really important,” said Elisheba Johnson, Wa Na Wari’s curator and a co-founding artist, about Saturday’s “Walk the Block” event.

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Community

The Royal Room Announces Grand Reopening September 15

by Elizabeth Turnbull

After 18 months of closure, the South Hudson Music Project announced the reopening of the live music venue, The Royal Room, this Wednesday, Sept. 15. The reopening signals a reawakening of musical and artistic life in the South Seattle Area.

The Royal Room’s first event “Piano Starts Here” will showcase the work of great pianists, including Duke Ellington, Carla Bley, Cole Porter, Earl Hines, and others, all played by local Seattle-based pianists and improvisers. Local composer and performer Alex Guilbert is the host of the series. Tickets must be purchased prior to the event as they will not be sold in-person.

Events will continue through the weekend. On Thursday, Sept. 16, local jazz vocalist Elnah Jordan will perform. Jordan is an accomplished singer with a singing repertoire including gospel, jazz, blues, and R&B. 

On Friday, Sept. 17, people who want to welcome back live music on the dance floor will get not one but two opportunities to attend “The Royal Room Grand Reopening Dance Party.” Tickets will be available for both an early show at 6:30 p.m. or the late show at 9:30 p.m. Local musicians will be covering classic artists such as Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Lake Street Dive, Amy Winehouse, and The Staple Singers. 

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Community

Love Train Community Block Party Provides a Wealth of Community and Care

by Elizabeth Turnbull

On Sept. 11, families and community members young and old are invited to the Angel of Hope Engagement Center on 75th Avenue South where they can pick up free back-to-school supplies, play games, eat food, get COVID-19 vaccinations and flu shots, and even join in a dance with former Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin.

The event, which will take place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., promises to be a joyful and loud community moment, and Tony Benton of Rainier Avenue Radio will be there to capture it all on livestream.

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