On Saturday, Jan. 14, local community members gathered at the Little Saigon Creative to celebrate the Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Tết). The event was organized by Friends of Little Sài Gòn, an organization focused on centering Vietnamese culture and advocacy in the community. Mak Fai Kung Fu performed a lion dance and was followed up by a workshop where event attendees learned how to make bánh tét — a traditional Vietnamese Lunar New Year dish made with glutinous rice, mung beans, and pork wrapped in banana leaves. The workshop was led by instruction from Yenvy Pham, co-owner of Hello Em Cafe & Roastery and owner of Phở Bắc Restaurants; Trinh Nguyen, owner of Ba Sa Restaurant; and Theresa Cat Vu, founder and owner of Phở Bắc Restaurants.
The Seattle Martin Luther King Jr. Organizing Coalition celebrates “40 Years of Continuing King’s Mission”
by Susan Fried
After two years of being unable to use Garfield High School due to pandemic restrictions, the Seattle Martin Luther King Jr. Organizing Coalition took full advantage of access this year. On the 40th anniversary of the MLK March and Rally on Monday, Jan. 16, the coalition hosted a jobs fair, workshops, and a huge rally in the high school gym. The weather turned out to be beautiful for the thousands of people who marched from Garfield, with a brief stop at the King County Juvenile Detention Center, to Jimi Hendrix Park by the Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) where another small rally was held.
Despite a brief interlude of freezing rain and icy roads that made it difficult to travel around Seattle, people made it out to a variety of holiday events that took place around the South End. There were Christmas events, Hanukkah concerts, holiday markets, and Kwanzaa celebrations throughout the month of December. Children visited Santa, parents shopped for presents from local artisans and makers, and people of all ages enjoyed live music and dance performances.
The gym inside Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines reverberated with the sounds of family, friends, and fans trying to out-cheer each other during the Northwest Premier Junior Football (NWPJF) Cheer Competition. Six teams, including their minis (the youngest teams), competed for trophies and the pride of being the best cheer squad in the league: the CD Panthers, Benson Bruins, Renton Rangers, 5 Star, Jr. Huskies, and HEIR Academy.
Dozens of little superheroes, astronauts, princesses, ghosts, witches, and every other imaginable creature — and their parents — descended on Beacon Hill near Jefferson Park on Oct. 29 for the third annual T’Challaween — A South End Tribute to Our Heroes. The mile-long trick-or-treat event started at 18th and College and ended at Jefferson Park with numerous treat stops along the way. The South End Public Market’s “Moon Market” at Jefferson Park ended the celebration. In addition to the tent stops where volunteers handed out candy, several neighbors had created ingenious candy chutes and a swinging skeleton that distributed sweets to those brave enough to approach it.
After months of renovation, Skyway Park is now open to the public after a major capital project that added a new playground, installed a new mini-turf soccer field, refurbished the softball field, and upgraded the basketball court. King County Parks also installed a new pathway with security lighting and improved ADA accessibility.
On the evening of Sept. 20, an estimated 100 Filipino American activists and community members from BAYAN USA Seattle, Malaya Movement, International Coalition of Human Rights in the Philippines Seattle, Kabataan Alliance Washington, and the International League of People’s Struggle Seattle-Tacoma gathered for the 50th anniversary of martial law being declared in the Philippines by Ferdinand Marcos.
As the sun set over Elliott Bay, the pink and purple lights of the Seattle Art Museum’s Paccar Pavilion at the Olympic Sculpture Park began lighting the stage for the seventh annual Legendary Children event, Seattle’s summer-ending party celebrating the queer, transgender, Black, Indigenous, People of Color (QTBIPOC) Ballroom Scene. With the event’s first return since the pandemic began, the crowd was eager and engaged as artists of all ages took the stage.
Over the 25 years I’ve worked as a photojournalist, I’ve photographed Pastor Patrinell Wright and the Total Experience Gospel Choir literally hundreds of times. Pat and the TEGC seemed to be at almost every event I covered. They sang at the annual July 4 Naturalization Ceremony at Seattle Center, the gathering of Black families called the ROOTS Family Celebration, the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at Garfield High School — basically any meaningful event in Seattle, Pat and her choir were there.
After a two-year delay and several years of planning, Garfield High School (GHS) celebrated its centennial on Saturday, Aug. 27. Hundreds of graduates from classes representing the 1940s to the 2020s showed up to show their Bulldog pride. At mini reunions, classmates who hadn’t seen each other in years hugged, reminisced about their high school days, and talked about their lives since graduation. The joy and excitement people exuded from reconnecting with old friends was palpable.
