Happening today: Lupus 5K, plants/pets, gardening/beer, more

| How to help | Pets | West Seattle Farmers' Market | West Seattle religion

Among today’s highlights:

We got that video at a cheering station along Alki Ave during last year’s Walk with Us to Cure Lupus 5K — today, another sunny day for the fundraising walk, which starts from the Alki Bathhouse at 10, after check-in at 9 (more info here).

Also at 10, Furry Faces Foundation‘s plant sale/pet adoption event starts its second day at 3809 46th SW (map), continuing till 4 pm. Even more pets today, dogs and cats, and as of our visit around 2 pm yesterday, Riley (shown above with the Animals First Foundation folks) hadn’t found her permanent home yet. As for the plants? Vegetable starts and flowers, sun and shade, and if you’ve got questions, some great folks are there to help – like F3 leader Teri Ensley‘s mom Lila:

Gardeners who also enjoy beer and art have an event tailor-made for them at West Seattle Nursery – joining forces with Prost and Twilight for its first “Beer Fest” 1-5 pm, combining beer, gardening and art. Pretzels too, according to the WSN website. Part of today’s sales go to West Seattle Helpline in honor of the occasion.

Also today: In The Junction, as always, 10 am-2 pm is West Seattle Farmers’ Market time – here’s the link to today’s list of what’s fresh.

One more event of note: Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrating its new Pastoral Center with an Open House, all welcome, 9:30 am-1 pm (more info here; the new center’s on 35th just north of Myrtle – here’s a map).

GenHillOne May 17, 2009 (9:10 am)

Oh please let Riley find her people today…that face is awesome!

Alki Resident May 17, 2009 (10:28 am)

I hate the Lupus 5k. There is usually less than a 100 people involved, but they crank up the music and the mike so loud that if you are in your place and you live within a mile, you are can’t hear anything else. Forget listening to your own music, watching a movie … heaven forbid… sleep in in your own place. It’s louder than anything that occurs on Alki Beach all year. I really wish they’d have more consideration for the people that live here. If the music and announcements were just loud enough to reach the people standing within 50 ft of the area (which is all that is necessary), I might actually consider donating or walking myself every year. But now I just resent them. They are really creating negative publicity for their cause. I will never donate anything to this group.

WSN Helen May 17, 2009 (10:33 am)

Aww, Lila in the lilacs. That’s cute.

Well, there won’t be any Das Boot at the Beer Fest but it’s going to be a lot of fun and if successful I hope we have more to come. Hope to see you down there. The pretzels are quite delish.

WSB May 17, 2009 (10:52 am)

Alki Resident, we were just there covering the start of the event and they actually had 500 participants this year – just the third year they’ve done this and it’s grown each year. I’m sure the organizers would be interested in hearing your concerns, or if you have overall noise concerns about large events at Alki, they can be reported to DPD:
http://www.seattle.gov/DPD/Enforcement/Noise_Abatement/Filing_a_Noise_Complaint/default.asp
This is just the first of several 5K’s including the West Seattle 5K on May 31st.

Cami May 17, 2009 (11:26 am)

I just got home from the walk. It was great!

Alki Resident May 17, 2009 (12:45 pm)

Thanks, WSB. I’ve been here for a few years and I enjoy all the large events here on the beach. These guys have been ridiculously loud for two years. They are the only ones this loud. I have spoken with the organizer.

I can’t wait for the West Seattle 5k! Should be great.

Lola68 May 17, 2009 (12:45 pm)

Kudos to the wonderful staff and volunteers of ALR Walk With Us To Cure Lupus-the event was fantastic! The atmosphere was energenic, the music was fun and the weather was perfect (ok, so I know they can’t take credit for that one)! There was over 500 walkers this year all united for one cause, it was great. I wish my mother, who lost her battle with lupus in 2001 was there to share in the excitement of life.
Thank you to Laurie and her wonderful team

Alki Resident May 17, 2009 (12:46 pm)

Also, you may been told that there were 500 participants… but if you were there you saw only 100 or so like I did.

You must agree that the volume of the mike and music were excessive.

WSB May 17, 2009 (12:48 pm)

I’m posting video shortly.

Cami May 17, 2009 (1:13 pm)

I don’t think there were 500 people there. Crowd seemed more like 150.

WSB May 17, 2009 (2:05 pm)

I failed to attribute this in my previous comment but the 500 estimate was from Laurie Gray, organizer, when I spoke with her at the event management booth by the bathhouse after all the walkers took off. Doing a rough-count while watching the video I just posted in the official story (doing a head count as it happened wasn’t particularly feasible as I was standing precariously atop a picnic table), it looked like about 200. Maybe she was including pledgers, whatever, that isn’t the point of the story – which is simply to say “it happened” – so in the story, I use the term “hundreds” … TR

Just Me May 17, 2009 (3:54 pm)

As a person with this disease, I appreciate everyone that participated in todays event. And for the person who was so put out by the noise “tough it out, the beach is not your private yard”. It comes with the public territory.

Maybe next time it will be a benefit for your cause.

Cheers!

Cami May 17, 2009 (4:17 pm)

That’s great. Those that were there enjoyed a GREAT day for a walk and did so for a good cause. Thanks, Tracy!

Cheryl May 17, 2009 (7:07 pm)

We’re living just 1 block off Alki. We were home all morning & didn’t hear a thing.

100 or 500, Lupus is a disease that could use more support & PR buzz in general, so kudos to all who participated (walking, pledging, volunteers, etc.).

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