White Center Now: The blog about White Center

If you don’t already have your ticket(s) for this – hurry! It’s a fun(draiser) for White Center’s Jubilee Days festival:

Who will become the first Unofficial Official Mayor of White Center??

Join us on April 1, 2017, at the White Center Eagles for the election of the first-ever Unofficial Official Mayor of White Center!

The Mayor of White Center will be elected via “campaign donations” raised by each candidate. The final election will be held on Saturday, April 1, 2017, and the winner will be determined by the number of “votes” (i.e. dollars) raised in their name. All proceeds go to support the production of White Center Jubilee Days.

The final candidates for Mayor of White Center are:

• Justin Cline
• Brian Cooper
• Floyd Dog
• Donnie “D” McDermott
• Geoffrey “MacDaddy” McElroy
• Christine Spencer

To “vote” for your favorite candidate by contributing to their campaign, go here.

The April 1st Election Fundraising Event at White Center Eagles will feature:

• Prime Rib Dinner!
• Door prizes!
• DJ Plantkiller!
• Mayoral Debates!
• Last-chance voting and announcement of the election winner!

Tickets are $35 each, and include dinner, or $250 for a table for eight people. Come join us for an exciting election night in White Center!

April 1st White Center Mayoral Election Fundraiser

Saturday, April 1, 2017 – 6 pm

White Center Eagles, 10452 15th Ave SW

Tickets, voting, and more information available at jubileedays.org.

This year’s dates for Jubilee Days, by the way, are July 19-23.

Start your weekend in a big way – at the White Center 5K. It takes off from White Center Heights Park (7th SW/SW 102nd) Saturday morning, with this schedule:

7:30 Doors Opens to the public
8:45 Warm-Up Activity
9:00 Racers Begin
9:10 Walkers Begin
10:00 Entertainment, Race Winners Announced

If you missed out on online registration, here’s what you’ll pay to sign up right before the race:

0-6: Free
7-18: $30
19-59: $40
60+: $30

Your race fees benefit three local nonprofits:

White Center Community Development Association
YES Foundation of White Center
White Center Food Bank

And when it’s all said and done, you’ll find the Saturday race results here.

Photos by Leda Costa for White Center Now

Learning can be fun! Just ask the young riders who helped inaugurate the new White Center Bike Playground in Dick Thurnau Memorial Park today – a place to learn how to ride safely, and joyfully.

Cascade Bicycle Club, the YES! Foundation of White Center, and White Center Community Development Association made it happen – you might recall the community planning meeting back in January. Today’s party offered music, snacks, and some giveaways during the party, including one announced by Senior Director of Education Shannon Koller, with a winner jubilantly raising her hand:

Cascade Fleet Coordinator Stephen Rowley helped riders with some adjustments:

The celebration included a Duwamish Tribe member with a song of gratitude:

And King County Council chair Joe McDermott pointed out that while this is the first bike playground in the state, it certainly won’t be the last:

The stars of the show though were the riders:

It will evolve – and those who showed up for the party shared ideas for what else it should include:

Cascade’s Koller told WCN that they hope to have people at the park on the weekends to loan bikes and helmets, to “set up some of the rodeo signs we put out today, do some teaching, potentially do learn to ride if folks are interested in that. Eventually we hope to have summer camps here. We’ve got some high school ride clubs that are nearby, the Major Taylor Project would come out and practice all of these right of way scenarios. It really is for all ages and abilities.”

P.S. If you’re wondering where to find the Bike Playground – Kathy Dunn from West Seattle Bike Connections offered a detailed explanation of how to get there: “If coming from 16th Ave SW, turn east on 107th, go past the White Center Library to 12th Ave SW, jog right one block in front of Mt. View Elementary School, then left at the stop sign onto 108th. Proceed 2 blocks to 10th SW, turn right. Entrance to Dick Thurnau Park is on the left. turn left into the parking lot. The Bike Playground is entered from the very north end of the parking lot where the tennis courts used to be.”

Just out of the WCN inbox – the lineup for this year’s Rat City Recon, a music-and-more festival planned for September 17th at Southgate Roller Rink:

If you wanna rock, you gotta roll down to White Center for the 4th Edition of RAT CITY RECON! All the Recon action will be happening at Southgate Roller Rink. Eleven bands on three stages.

Rat City Recon and Monumental Undertaking present

RAT CITY RECON 2016

Saturday, September 17, 2016 – 6 pm-2am

Southgate Roller Rink, 9646 17th Ave SW

$10 at the door, or advance will call tickets available (here)

21+, valid I.D. required

THE BANDS:

Pink Parts
ex-Licks
Githyanki
Tough Times
Slow Elk
The Grindylow
Rat City Ruckus
Glose
Wild Powwers
Stallion
Heiress

Beer & cider available in beer garden outside and indoors at the bar; event is 21+, VALID I.D. REQUIRED!

Food vendors – Sweet Lou’s Wings, more TBA

If you want to roller skate: $4 skate rental fee or bring your own; everyone skates at their own risk

Public transportation/ride share: Metro buses 60, 120, and 128; Car2Go home area ends one block north of Southgate Roller Rink at SW Roxbury Street, so you can park and walk easily to the venue

Recon 2016 is sponsored by: Full Tilt Ice Cream, Mac’s Triangle Pub, Match+Gasoline LLC, Noble Barton, Proletariat Pizza, Rat City Bikes, Rat City Records, Southgate Roller Rink, Zippy’s Giant Burgers

It’s been more than a month since we first told you about this – and tonight’s the night!

King County Parks and the White Center Community Development Association invite you to Steve Cox Memorial Park tonight to see “El Gallo Con Muchos Huevos,” free!

More info here; the movie starts at dusk at the park (1321 SW 102nd), but you can arrive as early as 6:30 pm for games, music, food, and fun.

Happening right now at Greenbridge Plaza (9800 8th SW), hundreds of people are at the annual White Center Promise Celebration, which includes an early-back-to-school backpack giveaway.

Fun activities too:

This is all happening until 7 pm.

King County Parks and the White Center Community Development Association invite you to mark your calendar for this:

That’s the trailer for “El Gallo Con Muchos Huevos,” which will be onscreen at Steve Cox Memorial Park (1321 SW 102nd) at dusk on August 6th (you can arrive as early as 6:30 pm), as this year’s “Cine en el Parque/Movie in the Park.” Free! Enjoy games, music, food, and fun. Here’s a look at last year’s first-ever event:

See you at the movie!

It’s a springtime tradition in White Center – the Cambodian New Year Street Festival in White Center, presented by the Cambodian Cultural Alliance of Washington. It’s happening today (Saturday, April 30th), 10:30 am-5 pm on SW 98th, between 15th and 16th. Admission is free and a big schedule of music, dancing, and other entertainment is planned. Here’s the schedule, from CCAW’s Facebook page:

See you there!

Rain or shine, storm or calm, it’s Halloween, and more than 20 White Center businesses promise to have candy for trick-or-treaters starting at noon. See the list here. And at 1 pm, Kimya Dawson performs at Full Tilt Ice Cream!

The annual Street Fair at Holy Family Church and School starts at 11:30 am today and continues through 8 tonight, then on Sunday from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. On the west side of the church, 20th SW will be closed south of SW Roxbury, and that’s where you’ll find vendors, entertainment, and more. No charge for admission – but bring $ for food/drink and raffles, among other things.

ADDED 4:38 PM: Stopped by for a few photos! Above, that’s Gabe Alisna from Dignity Memorial. Below, a familiar sight on the Holy Family grounds:

We also found the Seattle Fire Department’s Engine 11 visiting – popular with kids:

Tonight’s the night!

King County’s full announcement with details:

Grab your blanket, low-backed chairs, and your friends and family and take in “Película Bajo las Estrellas” or “Movie Under the Stars,” at King County’s Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center on the evening of Saturday, Aug. 22. The event will open at 6 p.m., with the movie starting about 8:30 p.m. Don’t forget to bring your own seating.

King County, with support from White Center Community Development Association will screen the popular comedy “El Padrecito.” Similar to the popular outdoor movie series King County Parks hosts at Marymoor Park, this fun, family-friendly outdoor movie event will also include live entertainment and food trucks.

“Our outdoor movie nights at Marymoor are extremely popular, so we decided to broaden the opportunity for this fun experience to more of our community,’” said King County Parks Director Kevin Brown.

While there is no cost to attend, a food donation to the White Center Food Bank is suggested.

The movie will be shown in Spanish with English subtitles, and offers a chance for King County and community partners to share information with Spanish speaking residents about the programs and services available to them.

Steve Cox Memorial Park is at 1321 SW 102nd St in White Center.

Entertainment is provided by Los Relucientes del Norte and Seattle’s Mexican Folk Dance Group the Joyas Mestizas. Food trucks include: The Mayas Restaurant and Fiesta Time Catering Mobile Mayan food truck.

While the Jubilee Days street fair continues, three events of note today (Sunday, July 19th), one part of Jubilee Days, two that are separate:

WHITE CENTER KIWANIS PANCAKE BREAKFAST: 7:30 am-1 pm at Holy Family School (9615 20th Ave SW), come have breakfast for $7 – kids 5 and under eat free. You can also purchase drawing tickets at the breakfast for special baskets, with the proceeds benefiting a variety of local nonprofits. Bring diapers for the WestSide Baby drive, too!

JUBILEE DAYS PARADE: 11 am, watch the parade as it heads northbound on 16th SW from SW 112th to SW 100th.

BURGER-EATING CONTEST: Love Zippy’s Giant Burgers? How many could you eat at one sitting? Pay $15 to enter and get a chance to win $100. Just show up at Zippy’s in White Center (9614 14th SW) at 1 pm to sign up – there’s room for 20 contestants, and you have to be 18 or older – and then gear up to chow down at 2 pm.

The big festival weekend is here and that means it’s street fair time for White Center Jubilee Days – 17th SW south of Roxbury – while the carnival continues at Steve Cox Memorial Park. See the stage schedules on the official website; it’s not just music – for example, the Highline Bears plan a demonstration on the main stage at 2:30 pm.

You’re invited! Just in from Mount View Elementary:

Mount View Elementary will host a carnival for the school on Friday, June 12th to celebrate the academic success of the students, to raise money for our sister-school in Honduras, and to support the school’s PTA. There will be face painting, bouncy houses, games, the circus, and MANY awesome raffle prizes! Please come and celebrate TWO fantastic causes!

When: Friday, June 12th, 4-6 pm

Location: Mount View Elementary, 10811 12th Ave SW

Coming up this weekend in White Center:

How can robotic technology help people and communities in ways it has not yet? How might a mobile app help solve a common problem? What goes into building the speediest drag racer? Can you build a robot sumo wrestler? What does STEM mean to our youth today? All these questions and more will be answered by elementary and middle school students at the TAF Expo this Saturday.

The TAF Expo is an annual end-of-school-year exhibition event celebrating the accomplishments of TAF students. Kids and families who are curious about STEM learning opportunities in Southwest Seattle and want to see a sampling of what TAF and #STEMbyTAF are all about, are encouraged to attend. This year’s Expo is on Saturday, June 6, 10 am-1 pm, at TAF’s headquarters, Bethaday Community Learning Space, in White Center (605 SW 108th St.).

Here’s what you can expect to see at the Expo on June 6th:
• Youth Inventions: innovative STEM solutions developed by 6th-8th graders from the White Center region
• STEM Project-Based Learning at Mount View Elementary exhibition with 3rd-6th graders
• Youth robotics competitions by 4th-6th graders: robot drag race, a fancy robot “catwalk” revue, and TAF’s ever-popular Sumo Wrestling Robot tournament!
• Peer youth coding workshops led by young women from Girls Who Code
• Hands-on STEM workshops for young children, provided by Pop-Up Science, a Seattle-based nonprofit mobile science museum
• More information about TAF Programs in White Center and beyond
• Food, prizes, FUN!

Lunch will be provided. This is an all-ages family event; children who are not currently enrolled in TAF programs must be accompanied by an adult. White Center area youth who are currently in 5th and 6th grade, who may be interested in our middle school STEMbyTAF Labs program, and their families are especially encouraged to attend. This is TAF’s seventh annual end-of-year Expo, and our third one at Bethaday Community Learning Space. A flyer for the event is attached. Email sarahw@techaccess.org for more information, or call 206-725-9095×102. Learn more about TAF at www.techaccess.org.

It’s been an annual tradition for 13 years – the Cambodian New Year Street Festival, closing a block of SW 98th between 15th and 16th, and tomorrow’s the day (Saturday, April 25th). 10:30 am-5 pm, you’re invited to enjoy music, dance, contests, games, and more, free.

(WCN photo from 2014)
Saturday morning brings the third annual White Center 5K, and even if you’re not signed up already, you can be part of it! Though online registration is over, you can sign up on site starting at 8 am (the 5K starts at 9) at White Center Heights Park (7th SW/SW 102nd). Local nonprofits are the beneficiaries.

From a post in the forum of our partner site West Seattle Blog:

To potential craftspeople and farmers: Several businesses in White Center are looking to begin a fun, eclectic Sunday Market on 16th Ave SW beginning on April 5th. Participating businesses would allow individuals with locally produced crafts or foods to set up booths in front of their stores from 10 am to 5 pm on Sundays. This is going to be a beautiful year, and we want to bring the fun down to a new and improving Rad City. Please contact Chris at 3604738393 or Prisilla at 2068327625 if you are interested in participating.

The Rainier Roller Girls are bouting at Southgate Roller Rink on Saturday, vs. Faster Pussycats. And it’s not just a chance to see roller derby – the announcement also says:
“There will be an amazing bake sale with treats from Stuffed Cakes, Chaco Canyon Organic Cafe, and Mighty-O Donuts. There will be a Storm Trooper photo booth and many Star Wars characters from Garrison Titan and Alpha Base! A super-fun old school punk rock night of roller derby you won’t want to miss! And 10% of proceeds go to Wild Felid Advocacy Center of Washington!” See the Facebook invite here.

School’s still out and boredom could be rising. Southgate Roller Rink has been offering special afternoon skating sessions to try to combat that – and there’s another one today, 1-4:30 pm ($6.50 charge). The rink will be closed on New Year’s Eve and Day, so you’re running out of time to say you skated there in 2014; there’s one more afternoon session planned, on Friday, January 2nd.