Don’t forget the 17th annual Greenwood Car Show is today. Greenwood Avenue will be closed to traffic from 70th to 87th streets, starting at 5:30 a.m. The car show runs until 4 p.m. Greenwood Avenue will reopen at 7 p.m.

More than 500 cars and 20,000 spectators are expected. There are food booths, live music, a Kids Zone, a food drive for Greenwood Food Bank, and lots more fun stuff. Several businesses are having car show specials.

The Phinney Neighborhood Center’s 4th annual Summer Beer Taste is set for July 18 from 4-7 p.m. The theme is “I Can Has Beerz Taste.” It’s sponsored by Barking Dog Alehouse, Park Pub and Prost!, and takes place outside (weather permitting) in the PNA’s lower parking lot.

Choose ten tastes of terrific microbrews from participating breweries including Alpine, Baron, Big Al, Deschutes, Diamond Knot, Fish, Hale’s, Georgetown, Harmon, Issaquah, Leavenworth, Maritime Pacific, Pike, Snoqualmie Falls, The Ram at Northgate, Trade Route, Two Beers as well as hard cider from Spire Mountain Cider. Enjoy a variety of pub snacks provided by the Beer Taste Committee and “dogs” from the Barking Dog Alehouse. And while you’re comparing tasting notes with your fellow beer buffs, enjoy music from the Honky Tonk Review.

Advance tickets cost $25 for PNA members and $30 for the general public; designated driver tickets are $10. You can buy tickts online or in person at the PNA. All proceeds help support PNA programs and activities. Must be over 21 to attend.

Shop Around at the Greenwood Market is a free workshop to teach you healthy shopping habits. It’s held the fourth Saturday of the month – June 27, July 25 and Aug 22. Meet at the Market by the fountain at 10 a.m.

Are you getting the healthiest loaf of bread for your buck? Trained peer educators will show you some easy tips on reading nutrition labels, making sure you’re getting the healthiest food while staying within budget. Each participant receives a $5 Greenwood Market gift card. Call the Greenwood Senior Center at 206-297-0875 to register.

Saturday’s Greenwood Car Show will bring 20,000 people and more than 500 cool cars to the neighborhood, so traffic will obviously be tough throughout the day. Seattle Department of Transportation will close Greenwood Avenue from 70th to 87th streets from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Cross streets of 80th and 85th streets will be open. For more information on rerouted bus service that day, call King County Metro at 206-553-3000 or check online.

Another traffic note for Saturday: 25,000 people will run in the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon, which will close down Aurora/Hwy. 99 from N. 45th St to East Marginal Way from 5:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Plenty of fun to be had around the neighborhood and nearby this weekend:

• Phinney Farmers Market at the Phinney Center from 3-7 p.m. Friday. On the fresh list this week is strawberries, cherries, snowpeas, asparagus, beets, Swiss chard, cauliflower, broccoli, fennel, a myriad of greens, rhubard, and far too many other yummy things to mention. The Stairwell Singers perform from 4-6 p.m. Check out the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance “Ripe and Ready” report.
• Art Up/Open Up monthly artwalk along Greenwood Avenue from 6-9 p.m. Dozens of Penguins on the March will be displayed at The Greenwood Collective at 8537 Greenwood Ave. N.
• Fremont gets crazy Friday night with the annual Fremont 5K and Briefcase Relay, where participants dress in professional office attire from the waist up and carry five cans of food in their briefcase. Fremont Universe has all the details.
• Ballard has its second famiy-friendly (and law abiding) Kidical Mass ride Saturday morning. Check out MyBallard for the scoop.
• As for neighborhood traffic, on Saturday Seattle Department of Transportation crews will be paving along North 46th Street at North Phinney Way (traffic will share a single lane and a sidewalk will be closed); along North 46th Street between Woodlawn Avenue North and Fremont Avenue North (traffic will be shifted over one lane and the sidewalk on one side of the street will be closed); and on Market Avenue Northwest between 6th Avenue Northwest and 8th Avenue Northwest. Crews will work from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., so expect some congestion.
• And remember that the UW has its graduation ceremonies Saturday and SPU holds its graduation at Safeco Field on Sunday afternoon, and the Sounders play Saturday night, so I-5, 520, 99 and downtown streets will be extra busy this weekend.

The Salvation Army is putting on a free neighborhood block party at Sandel Park, 9053 1st Ave. N., in Greenwood. There will be games, crafts, music, performances, free hot dogs and an inflatable bounce house. For more information, contact Erin Wikle, (206) 783-1225, erin.wikle@usw.salvationarmy.org. The event is a celebration wrapping up a weeklong “Summer Soul Creative Arts Daycamp” for kids 8-13 that runs Aug. 25-30.

Grab your pipe and magnifying glass and do your best Sherlock Holmes impression during the third annual Gumshoe 5K Walk, part of Mystery Week, Aug. 8-17. Organized by Mike Veitenhans (hubby to the Phinney Neighborhood Association’s Mary Lee Newman), it’s a fundraiser for the Greenwood Senior Center, which is now a part of the PNA.

Purchase a $20 Gumshoe Entry Form at the PNA, Metropolis or Phinney Market and follow the clues on a 3.1-mile walk around the neighborhood. Return your entry form by Aug. 17 for a drawing for several hefty Fred Meyer gift certificates. “We have a great walking neighborhood,” Mike says. “It’s a fundraiser but it’s a community builder.”

They’ll also be showing several “bad but free” Outdoor Mystery Movies in the PNA parking lot on Aug. 8 and 15; and there’s a contest to produce the best 45-second long video on “What’s so mysterious about Phinney/Greenwood.” (Watch the promotional video on YouTube right here.)

The city’s biggest car show took over Greenwood today.

Thousands of people enjoyed the sizzling heat to check out 500 sparkling cars that lined Greenwood Ave. for nearly a mile.

I’m not a car guy, but I appreciate a good muscle car, like this 1969 Plymouth Fury. But as the sign in the window jokingly points out, gas prices are a little different than they were in 1969. Or 2007.

While most of the crowd focused on the classic cars, others perused the dozens of electric, hybrid and alternative fuel cars on display. Toyota and GM were there, as well as members of the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association and the Northwest Biodiesel Network. Frankly, I was surprised that more people weren’t — at the very least — talking to the Prius guy.

But while the Prius and its counterparts may be a sensible purchase in uncertain times, most American males are still drawn to fast cars. I admit, I feel the same attraction, despite what my intuition is telling me. But I suspect necessity will be making more of our decisions in the years to come.

Update: The Seattle PI wrote a story about the fuel-efficient cars there.