Busy, busy day in the neighborhood: Summer Streets, Artwalk, Gumshoe, and a whole lot more

by | Aug 10, 2012

It’s a big weekend here in Greenwood and Phinney Ridge. Tonight is the annual PhinneyWood Summer Streets, when the Seattle Department of Transportation closes down Greenwood Avenue from 65th to 87th streets to cars so people can take over and mingle, create art, listen to live music, watch aerialists, and get to know their neighbors better. (80th and 85th will remain open to cars; SPD will be at those intersections to help pedestrians cross safely.)
It’s also monthly Art Up Artwalk night, so every gallery and most businesses on that stretch of road are hosting artists in various mediums. Check out the Artwalk blog for a complete list of artists and businesses, and see the Summer Streets poster with a list of every event and where it’ll happen. SDOT expects 4,000 people to attend. Greenwood will be closed to cars from 6-10 p.m.
Here are a few highlights, and be sure to check our Events calendar any time.
Tasty art gallery, 7513 Greenwood Ave. N., is hosting its third annual Air Fair in the street, plus live music from Cody Wilkinson. Inside Tasty, the encore opening of “Creatures Featured” showcases original art from 30 artists celebrating the theme of rebirth. More than 30 percent of art sales from the exhibit will be donated to AmeriCorps St. Louis, which is helping to rebuild Joplin, Missouri, after last year’s deadly tornado.
Bherd Studios presents “Little Big Deal” by Tacoma artist Jeremy Gregory. Thirty of Gregory’s handcrafted, poseable puppets will be on display, along with a continuous looping of his new stop motion film “Welcome to the Neighborhood” (below). The film is a dark and tragic life lesson on hanging out with the wrong crowd. Bherd calls him “a Modern Day Geppetto.” Bherd is at 8537 Greenwood Ave. N., Suite 1, inside the Greenwood Collective.

Kids can ride their bikes and decorate them with the help of Cascade Bicycle Club and Seattle Police Department, in the 80th to 85th block. Starting at 6:30, the Kids Bike Parade will be led by SPD officers and end in the 72nd to 75th street block.
While you’re strolling around, keep an eye out for installations from the Art Interruptions project, which places art in unexpected places. You can see new artwork in front of 826 Seattle, the Greenwood Post Office, Greenwood Library, and the Wing Dome. Last month we told you about mini houses hung on street trees that are also part of the project.
Artist Mimi Allin will be hugging telephone poles and writing them love notes for her “Surrogate” art project.
Don’t forget the weekly Phinney Farmers Market in the lower parking lot of the Phinney Neighborhood Association, 6532 Phinney Ave. N., from 3-7 p.m. The market will be the site of the annual Phinney Phruit Phestival, with special tastings of stone fruits, beginning at 4:30 p.m., and a pie baking contest that starts at 5 p.m.
The Greenwood Food Bank will construct a giant food pyramid from canned goods in Ken’s Market parking lot at 73rd and Greenwood. Please bring a can or two of food to donate.
Food bank volunteers also will be selling entry forms for this year’s Gumshoe 5K Walk, a neighborhood scavenger hunt, which runs through Sunday. Pick up your $20 entry form, follow the 30 clues around the neighborhood, and be entered to win prizes from neighborhood businesses.
Naked City Brewery and The Yard are holding a soccer tournament in front of Naked City at 8564 Greenwood Ave. N. Sixteen teams will compete in a 3-on-3 format of 20-minute games, with former Seattle Sounders playerSanta Maria Rivera as the celebrity referee.
The second annual “Coffee Taste Off” will pit neighborhood coffee shops against each other in a blind taste test in the 7500 block.
You’ll hear live music in front of Umpqua Bank, by Hollow Earth Radio in front of Naked City Brewery, a Pacific NW Folklore Society concert inside Couth Buzzard Books, and you can make your own music on the pianos in front of A-1 Piano.

A-1 Piano has even painted its intersection and sidewalk to look like piano keys. (Thanks to Rae for the photo!)
Metro bus routes 5, 48 and 355 will be rerouted during the events. Check out Metro’s online Alerts page for revised routes.
And just over the Phinney line in Ballard, Kirke Park celebrates its grand opening at 7028 9th Ave. NW. from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday. There’ll be food and music by Pasquale Santos.
Also be aware that the Ballard Bridge will be closed from 11 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday as SDOT crews work on the traffic signals. All four traffic lanes will be closed, but one sidewalk on the bridge will remain open.

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