Apparently fall officially starts tonight at 8:09 p.m. To help you get one last lick of summer (pardon the pun), Molly Moon’s ice cream truck will be parked in front of Buggy today from 3-5 p.m.
While you never know which flavors the truck will be serving, the website gives a sampling of some favorites.
And Dulces regular Wednesday free wine tasting (with free appetizers) is also today from 4-7 p.m., showcasing wines from Small Lot Co-op.
Local wine bar Bottlehouse is throwing a “Back to School Relief Party” this Thursday, September 23, from 4-7pm. The shoppe will have specials for kids and adults alike, including $2 ice cream cones, $5 prosecco floats and $4 draft pulls.
As part of their fall celebration, they’re also including “Report Cards” (see the image with this post) which is like a bingo or punch card. Complete your “Bottlehouse work” by purchasing each of the included items over the next month, and you’ll receive 15% off your next bill. The cards are available through October 16.
Madrona is bustling with special events and parties this month and into next. We’ll keep you posted for some other festivities coming up the first week of October as well.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) night at St. Clouds restaurant, half of all the evening’s proceeds will be donated to the Friends of the Cedar River Watershed, a local organization dedicated to the conservation and protection of local watersheds.
Jazz musician Lisa Fox will provide entertainment for the 8th annual “Dinner with Friends,” and the evening will kick off with a raffle drawing with items generously donated by supporters of Friends of the Cedar River Watershed and by St. Clouds, including free dessert on the house.
Owners John Platt and Paul Butler would like to remind diners that these events raise the most money for the cause if diners arrive either early or late, so the raffles are geared toward guests who arrive before 6 or after 8:30. Dinner service is from 5-10pm.
Reservations are strongly recommended for this event – you can save your spot at St. Clouds website.
Just a few weeks after reviewing their happy hour – and raving over the beef tongue sandwich – our news partners at the Seattle Times are back at Madrona’s June for the full meal deal.
In Providence Cicero’s two-star review, she praises the effort of chef-owners Vuong and Tricia Loc and says the 34th Ave spot is “Like an early summer garden, it’s filled with promise and just needs a little tending to thrive.”
In the review, highlights are brunch dishes, rabbit and the happy hour bites and appetizers. But she calls out other dishes, including the infamous lamb’s neck pasta, as too salty.
When we posted about the happy hour review a few weeks ago, the over-salting complaint came up in a few comments, though overall the neighborhood reviews seem positive. Anyone been back recently and have other feedback?
And if you haven’t visited June yet, consider visiting during the upcoming Seattle Restaurant Week, Oct. 17-28, when you can get three courses for $25.
There are just over six weeks until Halloween, which means if you have kids they’ve probably had their costumes picked out for several months now.
The Business Owners of Madrona (BOOM) will be repeating last year’s scavenger hunt, with prizes to be announced. The plan this year is for local businesses to open their doors to trick-or-treaters from 4-6pm, including storefronts that aren’t usually open on Sunday evenings.
Buggy is planning to host a Halloween story hour for kids, and St. Clouds will be serving treats (drinks) for adults as well.
The Madrona Community Council will also be hosting their traditional Halloween party at the Madrona Playfield shelterhouse, with times TBA.
And St. Therese School will be hosting their annual Halloween carnival for younger kids on Saturday, Oct. 30 from 10-2pm.
We’ll update with more details as they come about – and if you know of any other Halloween events brewing, let us know.
As readers may remember, Madrona, or rather half of it, was one of the winning neighborhoods eligible for a $50,000 Cleanscapes grant. The $50,000 had to be used toward a community improvement project in one of the winning neighborhoods, to be submitted and approved upon by the designated CleanScapes committee.
BOOM (Business Owners of Madrona) originally submitted a proposal to install a kiosk with neighborhood maps on the corner of 34th and Union, where Amara is located. But the Cleanscapes committee had to turn it down, as that project would have been on private land and the goal of the grant is to improve public land. However, the committee gave BOOM three days to submit a new proposal.
Outgoing BOOM president Nikola Davidson led the whirlwind effort to submit a new proposal, which is currently going through the approval process with the other neighborhoods’ efforts.
The new proposal is titled “Madrona Bronze Street Rings” and would involve embedding nine bronze rings in the sidewalk throughout the neighborhood. Each ring, inspired by the shape of the BOOM logo, would include text explaining historical facts about Madrona, and possibly a historical photo embedded in amber.
According to the proposal, “The rings will create a physical interaction and visual connection throughout the Madrona business district and will encourage walkability among the neighborhood.” Small bronze leaves would also be embedded to “tie all the rings together and encourage people walking along the sidewalks to follow the leaves to the next ring.”
The winning projects won’t be announced until later this fall, likely in November. In the meantime, what do you think of the sidewalk art proposal?
Brunchers at Hi Spot Cafe encountered a camera crew and release forms with their coffee this morning. Local production company Interchange Media Art Productions was on hand to shoot footage for a series on Seattle’s “Top 5 Breakfast Places.”
Interchange’s Michele Gomes and Jenny Ting are planning to submit their film to both local and major television networks (they asked us not to mention the specific network since they’re still in the submission process). The 2-3 minute clips could appear on either the network’s website or on television.
For the breakfast series, they’ve also visited local favorites like Portage Bay Cafe and Easy Street Records.
“We’re learning so much about how business are creating space for the community to come together,” said Gomes.
Don’t expect to see Hi Spot on film right away, though – It will be a few months before the clips are viewable, if selected by the networks.
There are just three weeks left, including today, to enjoy the 2010 season of the Madrona Farmers Market. The season will end on Sept. 24.
If you haven’t yet visited the market this season, you’ve missed an expanded lineup of vendors selling produce, bread, specialty foods and goods. There are also cooking demos from local chefs each week from 4-5pm.
Here’s the chef demo lineup for the final three weeks:
We’ve visited numerous times throughout the season, including on some of the hottest days of the year when that blacktop can be brutal – kudos to the vendors for sticking out that heat – and there’s always been an excellent selection of produce and prepared food available. For more about what’s available in the final weeks of the market, check out the What’s Fresh Now section of their blog.
The Madrona Community Council reconvened last night after the summer hiatus. In the meeting, one of the main topics discussed was the future of Madrona News, the monthly community newsletter.
Long-time editor Kim Herber, who has helmed the newsletter for almost 10 years, has announced that 2010-2011 will be her last season as editor. While this gives the council several months to find and train a new editor, it also raised the question of the role of a hard-copy newsletter in the community today.
Some negatives discussed were the cost of printing and publishing the newsletter, along with the concern that with presence of blogs like yours truly, the stories in the print version are “old news” by the time the newsletter is distributed.
Personally, we believe there’s room for blogs and newsletters alike in our communities. Leschi residents are active readers of CDNews and also have a thriving monthly newsletter. Squire Park has a quarterly newsletter with printing donated by Seattle University, which reduces cost to the neighborhood.
Additionally, a surprising number of homes don’t have or don’t use internet at home frequently, and still depend on a printed product. There’s also the value of an additional advertising resource for local businesses that a newsletter provides.
If you have thoughts on the role and future of Madrona News, please share them here. Also, if you’re interested in taking over the role of newsletter editor, you can contact MCC president Cynthia Stross at [email protected].
UPDATE: The September issue will come out mid-month – here is the most recent summer issue.
We got word this weekend from Audrey Seale, organizer of the Madrona Dining & Sipping Society’s events, that the 3rd Annual Neighborhood picnic has had to be canceled because of low ticket sales.
The picnic had been scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 12 on the lawn at St. Therese.
“The turnout as expressed in ticket sales to date or the emailed intention to buy tickets last minute still had our numbers at a fraction of the past years,” Seale wrote in an email to community members.
St. Clouds, which had been scheduled to cater the event, will serve BBQ fare for the Sunday special that night at the restaurant. If you already purchased tickets, you can receive a refund by stopping by St. Clouds on Sunday the 12th to turn in your tickets.