curated by Vee Hua 華婷婷
by Amanda Ong
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is this Monday, Oct. 10, a day to recognize the Indigenous peoples on whose land Seattle was built, and to come together and celebrate them and their cultures.
Continue reading How to Celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the South Endby Elizabeth Turnbull
As the days finally warm up and the summer months are in full swing, various programs across the city are helping to provide positive activities for youth and families to make the summer both more enjoyable and safer. Here are some of the programs and activities available to South End youth this summer.
Continue reading Summer Events and Programs for Youth and Familiesby Ronnie Estoque
This Saturday, June 11, the 2nd Annual Father’s Day Kick Back will be taking place at Rainier Beach Community Center and will feature a kickball game between youth and adult attendees. The event will be providing free food and live music from local DJs, family vision boards, and table discussions and share-outs to encourage conversations around learning more about the importance of understanding family dynamics.
Continue reading Father’s Day Kick Back Celebrates the Journey of Fatherhoodcurated by Emerald Editors
by Ari Robin McKenna
Following an early afternoon shooting in October 2020, where almost 70 shots were fired and five people were hit with bullets on the dead-end street between Hutchinson Park and Emerson Elementary School, neighbors were on edge.
For some, it set the tone for the nervy pandemic months that followed, the violence echoing across Hutchinson Park and its playground. Community members in this slice of Rainier Beach pined for a playground and park that reflected their hopes for public, communal space to ease the isolation of the pandemic. The Hutchinson Playground is also the playground for Emerson Elementary School students and neighborhood children, a place for play and learning.
Continue reading What Led to an Impending Hutchinson Park Overhaul: An Advocacy Storyby Mark Van Streefkerk
This Saturday, Aug. 28, BAZZOOKAFEST will transform Beacon Hill’s Jefferson Park into a free music and film festival featuring a packed all-BIPOC lineup. Musicians include indie folk headliner Kimya Dawson, pop punk artist Haley Graves, alternative rockers King Youngblood, pop singer-songwriter CarLarans, five-piece femme band Razor Clam, dance pop trio Mirrorgloss, and soulful rock band Stereo Sauna. POC members of drag collective BeautyBoiz will perform, and once the music’s over, a screening of short films submitted by BIPOC filmmakers will take place. As if you needed another reason to attend, the event will also feature a pop-up market featuring all Black and POC vendors.
BAZZOOKAFEST is all-ages and open to all. The festival starts at 3 p.m. and goes till about 10 p.m. Masks are required.
by Andrew Engelson
A community garden planted at Jimi Hendrix Park by the activist group Black Star Farmers is still growing lettuce, pumpkins, cucumbers, and other produce despite recent demands from Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) that activists remove it. Planted about two months ago, the garden is part of a network of six food plots across the South End designed to draw attention to the need for equitable use of public space, environmental equity, and the lack of access to fresh food near Communities of Color.
On Thursday, July 8, staff from SPR arrived to remove the garden but left the site when several activists surrounded the shed and garden plots.
Marcus Henderson, the creator of Black Star Farmers, was behind the effort to plant a garden in Cal Anderson Park during the Capitol Hill Organize Protest (CHOP) in the summer of 2020. Since then, the group has now expanded its activist efforts throughout the South End.
“The privatization of public space is a huge issue,” Henderson said in an interview with the Emerald. “The system has evolved to prevent mistakes, but now it’s so cumbersome and huge that these spaces are not being utilized because the processes to access them are over-managed. We’ve also very much focused our public spaces on recreation and not actually sustaining our community.”
Continue reading Community Garden Still Rooted in Jimi Hendrix Park Despite City’s Demands to Leaveby Ben Adlin
South Seattle families looking for a safe place to splash around this summer might want to skip Seward Park. Lifeguards abruptly disappeared from the park’s swimming beach on Wednesday, and Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) says staffing shortages mean they’re unlikely to return anytime soon.
Before the change, lifeguards had supervised the beach seven days a week — from noon to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends. The service began late last month and was set to extend through early September.
Now, however, the park will be without lifeguards completely.
Continue reading City Closes Seward Park Swimming Beach, Keeps Seven Others Opencurated by Emerald Staff
During the recent heatwave, on Monday, June 28, 2021, the National Weather Service (NWS) station at SeaTac recorded 108 degrees Fahrenheit — the highest temp on record for Seattle.
The highest temp ever recorded in Seattle prior to Sunday, June 27, 2021, which is the day we broke the last record (with a 104-degree reading at SeaTac), was a balmy 103 recorded in 2009. This year, roadway pavement even expanded and buckled in some places due to the heat in Seattle, nearby, and elsewhere in the state, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Continue reading NEWS GLEAMS: Record-Setting Heat, West Seattle Bridge Repair Developments, and More!
