White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Jubilee Days is huge this year – on 16th AND 17th SW – and has just announced an appropriately huge music lineup:

White Center Jubilee Days, Monumental Undertaking, and Match + Gasoline present
WHITE CENTER JUBILEE DAYS 2017
Live Music on the Jubilee Days Main Stage
July 22-23, 2017

ABOUT WHITE CENTER JUBILEE DAYS MAIN STAGE
For the 2017 Jubilee Days festival, we are thrilled to be presenting a broad and dynamic main stage lineup featuring some of our favorite bands from around the Seattle area, including several bands based out of our very own White Center. The 2017 Main Stage will be located at 16th Ave SW & SW 100th St and there will be a rockin’ beer garden (21+, with proper ID required) running from noon-10pm’ish each day.

White Center Jubilee Days Live Music poster design by Dan Cunneen at Oranj Screen Printing & Graphic Design

MAIN STAGE LINEUP
Please see for more information about the bands, including links to their websites and Facebook pages.

SAT, JULY 22

HOBOSEXUAL – 8:30pm
THE BLACK TONES – 7:30pm
ACAPULCO LIPS – 6:30pm
SKATES! – 5:30pm
TOUGH TIMES – 4:30pm
DYNAMITE NUGGET – 3:30pm
THE DEAD LETTERS – 2:30pm
TWICE NICE – 1:30pm

SUN, JULY 23

DELVON LAMARR ORGAN TRIO (DLO3) – 7:30pm
THADDILLAC – 6:30pm
THE SPOILS (of Seattle) – 5:30pm

More Sunday lineup information coming soon!

(WCN photos by Patrick Sand)

The results are in and White Center has its new Unofficial Official Mayor – who happens to have run for an “official” political office before (State Legislature, 2010) – the namesake and proprietor of Mac’s Triangle Pub, Geoffrey “Mac” McElroy. If somehow you don’t know Mac, that’s him at the center of our photo above, with, left to right, Justin Cline, a stand-in for Floyd Dog (dogs aren’t allowed at the White Center Eagles HQ), Christine Spencer, and Brian Cooper. Big crowd for the Jubilee Days benefit dinner at which the voting results were announced:

Definitely a White Center who’s-who there tonight – not just the candidates! Look for more fun stuff in advance of Jubilee Days; the festival itself is happening July 19th-July 23rd this year.

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.

That’s a minute of the 20-minute fireworks show that delighted Jubilee Days-goers in Steve Cox Memorial Park tonight. It was also opening night for the carnival at the park:

Carnival’s on through Sunday.

The street fair happens Saturday and Sunday, and that’s only part of what’s happening all weekend, including entertainment (see the schedule here).

The White Center Jubilee Days festival kicks off Wednesday (July 13th). That’s the first night of the carnival at Steve Cox Memorial Park (scheduled to open at 3 pm Wednesday), which is also where fireworks are scheduled that night at dusk. Full details on the festival – including next weekend’s street fair – are at jubileedays.org.

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.

This year’s Jubilee Days festival is about to gear up, with big events Wednesday – the fireworks show at dusk at Steve Cox Memorial Park, where you’ll also find the five-day carnival starting the same day. Also from the WCJD website – the main-stage schedule, and the family-stage schedule for the festival’s two biggest days, next Saturday and Sunday (July 18-19).

Biggest day of White Center Jubilee Days is today – and even if for some reason you’re not going, you should be aware of the traffic effects. Today, according to the WCJD website:

*Street fair on 17th between 100th and Roxbury (music schedule here)
*Car show (100th at 16th), 11 am-4 pm
*Parade, traveling north on 16th SW from SW 112th to 100th, 2:30 pm

And of course the carnival continues at Steve Cox Memorial Park, starting today at 11 am. Have a great day!

Just a reminder – as of mid-afternoon today, the White Center Jubilee Days carnival is on, and at dusk tonight, it’s the fireworks show.

The carnival continues through Sunday; other Jubilee Days info is on the official website.

The end of the 4th of July weekend is just the start of the rest of our summer. White Center Jubilee Days is just a week and a half away, starting Wednesday, July 16th, with the carnival opening at 3 pm at Steve Cox Memorial Park, hours before the fireworks show. The carnival continues daily through the end of Jubilee Days on Sunday night, but in the meantime, you can enjoy the Street Fair on Saturday and Sunday (July 19-20) and the Parade on Saturday (2:30 pm July 19th), among other events. More previews to come!

Just found out about that video by Blair Johnson from White Center-neighboring Highland Park – he included some of the Jubilee Days carnival rides on Wednesday night, and then the fireworks show. Great memories – thanks!

The fog hadn’t burned off yet when we stopped by the White Center Jubilee Days street fair earlier today – so Deano the Clown‘s bright makeup and costume really stood out against the gray sky. Another standout element, as always: The volunteers who put in so much time and effort to make your community a better place, like White Center Food Bank board member Jun Tay, photographed at the WCFB booth:

And the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, whose booth was anchored by NHUAC members Liz Giba and Pat Price, along with Bob Price, when we visited:

Also on hand – robotics students from the Evergreen campus demonstrating their frisbee-flinging robot in the KeyBank lot:

Jubilee Days entertainment continues until 6 pm today. This is the 90th edition of the festival!

White Center Jubilee Days 2013 wraps up today with the street fair continuing and the parade at 11:30 am. Do note that means 16th SW will be closed between SW 100th (end of the parade route) and SW 112th (the start) for a while. Today’s full list of events is on the Jubilee Days home page – starting with the White Center Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast at 8 am at Holy Family.

Three White Center Jubilee Days notes this morning:

CARNIVAL STARTS THIS AFTERNOON: 3 pm, Steve Cox Memorial Park. The hours for the full five-day run are listed on the WCJD website.

FIREWORKS TONIGHT: Dusk, also at Steve Cox Park.

BUS REROUTES: Sunday brings the Jubilee Days parade, and that means temporary reroutes that day for Metro Route 120 and Sound Transit 560.

The White Center Jubilee Days carnival starts Wednesday at Steve Cox Memorial Park, and by midday today, the Davis Shows Northwest trucks were there, with some of the festive, brightly colored ride components in view.

The carnival opens at 3 pm Wednesday (July 17) – lots of info here. And Wednesday night brings the Jubilee Days fireworks show at dusk, also at Steve Cox Park.

We’ve received another letter referring to the recent Jubilee Days-related controversy. This is from White Center business owner Justin Cline:

Yesterday a representative from Jubilee Days Board came in with the intentions of unburning some bridges. I think this is a wonderful start. Here is what I would like to see Jubilee Days do to rebuild some bridges.

Involve the community. All the smaller fairs in the area make it a point to include local businesses and art groups, not just take their donations. The Cambodian Festival, The Fair at Sacred Heart, and the various festivals and fairs that the WCCDA host throughout the year manage to bring in our local ethnic restaurants as vendors. Jubilee Days has the same guy selling hot dogs and Elephant Ears year after year. The parade has almost no local involvement. Instead groups from Eastern Washington and farther are paid well to march in our parade.

Thank the people that made your festival happen last year. Most of the people that put on the auction last year didn’t even get a mention in your program. Most of what they heard were complaints from the board. Is it a surprise they are not willing to help again? If you made some earnest and sincere apologies, I am sure it would go a long way.

Make good on the promises you made last year. Put up banners for all the businesses you forgot to last year. Put in the ads you forgot to print. Refund the money you took from Southgate Roller Rink.

Finally, elect a new President. Mike McGrath’s complete disdain for local business and the community in general is not doing you any favors. Last year when asked why he was blocking of the entry way to the Southgate Roller Rink. He said, “F**k them. I don’t have time for this. I am not here to make businesses happy, I am here to put on a festival.”

He said this in front of me and several other people. Southgate donated thousands of dollars in money and in-kind donations, and all they asked was that their entryway was left open so they could participate in the street fair. Mike deliberately cut them out. Even after the festival was over, Mike made no effort to correct this. He has a long history of burning bridges in this area using this festival. Chase Bank won’t donate to you again because Mike promised them a booth and an ad, took their money and then did nothing for them. No booth, no ad. He did something similar to a local couple that donated money for a memorial. They got nothing. It is time to find a new director for your festival if you are truly going to take this into a new direction.

Do that this year, and then come back next year and we will talk about donating again. Until then I will continue to encourage people to avoid this fair.

Justin Cline

The opinions expressed in letters are solely those of the writers, not of WCN. Letters can be sent to whitecenternow@gmail.com.

On Monday, we reported local entrepreneur Vera Johnson‘s decision to change the name of the White Center garden tour she is sponsoring July 20th, after WC Jubilee Days asked her to do so, in a way that touched off a Facebook firestorm. Sara Sanford has followed up with an open letter to Jubilee Days organizers and asked if we would publish it. (Note that “today” in her letter refers to Monday.):

Dear David Krause, Greg McCorkle, Michael McGrath, Peter Mort, and Karen Padden,

Seven months after moving to White Center and immediately falling head-over-heels for the neighborhood, I had the opportunity to be one of three co-chairs for the annual Jubilee Days’ Spring Gala. It was truly a labor of love that ultimately gave me and the other volunteers the great gift of meeting vibrant generous community members we might not have encountered otherwise. Vera Johnson was one of these gracious humbling individuals.

In the midst of the chaos that typically accompanies community events and fundraisers, Vera Johnson – a stranger to me until then – found out we were in need of some last-minute miscellany. She and her employee threw together centerpieces and decorations and donated auction items to raise funds for the Jubilee Days event. After giving away her own time and materials, she refused a free ticket to the event and insisted on buying tickets for herself and several friends. I’m fairly sure that in the course of the evening we broke one of her vases and may have lost some decorations. She never cared. She thanked us for all our hard work and went on to run the Garden Tour that had been handed over to her at the last moment. I do not know all the behind-the-scenes that produced this garden tour – but I know the overall community impact was positive, as all events at her nursery have been.

Today, White Center Jubilee Days Board publicly posted a Cease and Desist letter to Vera Johnson on Facebook. They had already sent this letter to her in the mail, and she had received it Friday. She hadn’t even had an entire business day to respond before her name and business had been dragged through the mud by an organization she had assisted in the past. Again, I was not privy to all the behind-the- scenes action on this either – I just know that the overall impact on the community has been nothing but toxic.

As noted in the thread that ensued, there are endless ways to discuss where and how and why this was the poor choice.

There’s the technical/legal side of it all:

Read the rest of this entry »

By Tracy Record
White Center Now editor

Nine months after the last White Center Jubilee Days festival and three months before the next one, the local business owner who organized last year’s WC Garden Tour in connection with the festival says she’ll run a tour under a different name this time. This, after the Jubilee Days board went public with accusations via Facebook, and sent her a letter demanding that she stop using the name “White Center Garden Tour.”

We contacted Village Green Perennial Nursery owner Vera Johnson for comment after readers pointed us to this post on the Jubilee Days FB page, accusing her of focusing last year’s tour promotion on her business instead of WCJD. Festival organizers also published a cease-and-desist letter on the Jubilee Days website. Here’s how Johnson answered our inquiry:

The WC Garden Tour was started by Peggy Weiss 20 years ago (she and I are in direct contact). Peggy fully supports me taking over the garden tour, as an educational tool/experience and fun community event.

However, to avoid any community conflict, I’d prefer to be respectful to the people who the tour is intended for, which are the gardeners and tourgoers; I will change the name of my garden tour to the ‘Village Green Tour of Gardens’… in White Center’ and move forward towards a happy and joyous gardening season and look about the gardens we have already lined up, visiting the gardens, and connecting with the tourgoers.

The ‘Village Green Tour of Gardens’… in White Center’ will still take place on July 20th; all information will remain the same.

According to the Jubilee Days website, the festival is having its own garden tour on July 14th.