Plans for the first Seattle Founders’ Day Festival in Belltown continue. The community and arts festival, scheduled for Aug. 14-15, on and around Second and Bell, now has a slogan: “Something So Different Is Going On Here.” The overall theme will be “historic, with a twist.”
Organizers promise a “family friendly” atmosphere during the day, turning to a more vaudeville-burlesque feel in the evenings. Street trees in the festival area will be up-lit with LEDs; artistic images will be projected on key buildings.
The event will feature 24-30 vendor booths (handcrafted products only) and six spots for food vendors. Live-music acts will end at 10 p.m. both days.
A fundraising auction/fashion show for the festival will occur May 30 at the Rendezvous. To donate auction items contact Tia Matthies, 206-441-5823.
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The next community meeting about the planned Bell Street Park is Wednesday, May 19, 7-9 p.m. at the Olympic Sculpture Garden’s PACCAR Pavilion. 2901
Western Ave. The park’s recently appointed “project artist” Sheila Klein will discuss plans to incorporate art into the park, which will take over most of
Bell Street between First and Fifth Avenues.
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The community group Sustainable Belltown presents “Spring Into Bed,” an urban feast and
reception celebrating city gardening. It’s Saturday, May 8, 1-4 p.m. at the Centennial Apartments, 2515 4th Ave. Reservations are encouraged,
at mpetty@eqr.com or elizabeth@campbellcentral.org.
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Salon Ciba, 2301 1st Ave., celebrates Cinco de Mayo with $10 haircuts all day May 5 (natch), with proceeds donated to Seattle
Children’s Hospital. There will also be door prizes, live music, a Guitar Hero video-game contest, and something called “the Rockaholic Salon on
Wheels.”
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XOXOX: A Burlesque Expose! is the latest show by the Heavenly Spies burlesque and dance troupe. It opens May
7, 10:30 p.m., at the Can Can, 94 Pike St., playing every Friday through the end of June. Promised attractions include “hot pink jumpsuits, exotic feather
fans, rhinestone cowgirls and burlesque beauties in leotards bouncing on oversized blue balls.” Tickets are $10-$45; 206-652-0832.
In other
performance news, Jeppa K. Hall (a.k.a. Queen Shmooquan, “the modern day oracle/transcendental burlesque clown”) is taking a
maternity leave from her regular cabaret gigs, but not before two “Queen Shmooquan UnPlugged” shows this month, May 6 at the Rendezvous Jewel
Box Theater and May 13 at the Can Can.
Open Circle Theater, 2222 2nd Ave., brings back its hit comedy “Poona the F$ckdog, and Other Plays
for Children,” Thurs.-Sat. at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. through May 29. First produced 10 years ago, Jeff Goode’s “hysterical
assault on the power of language” was originally picked up by OCT because it was “too shocking for the theater which had commissioned
it.”
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Art Beat: Painter Ethan Jack Harrington, whose danger-laced pinup images once graced
the Whisky Bar, returns to Belltown with a series called “Jewels.” These images are based on couture gowns designed by former
Messenger contributor Cameron Levin, and combine the styles of classical artists with colors and motifs based on
types of jewelry. The pictures are on display starting Tuesday, May 4 at Amber Restaurant and Lounge, 2214 1st Ave.
The next exhibit at Roq La Rue, 2314 2nd Ave., is “Tiger Tiger Burning Bright,” a group show inspired by William Blake’s classic poem
“The Tiger.” It opens Friday, May 14, 6-9 p.m.
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Think you’ve got a better idea for the former Fun Forest
space at Seattle Center than a big pile of glass art? Center managers have issued a request for proposals for the space. Email yours to
Neal.Erickson@seattle.gov by June 4.
(update: "Just wanted to point out that RFP responders must register with the City of Seattle's eBid eXchange system and submit their proposals through that system -
not email to Neal Erickson. They can email him for more information, if they'd like. Otherwise,
they need to go to http://ebidexchange.com/Default.aspx?cid=eb31bf6e-250d-4d1d-abfb-37cb20108045")
-Deborah Daoust / Director of Communications
Elsewhere on the Center grounds, the Experience Music Project’s teen artist workshops and summer day camps start June 21. The program’s expanding this year to include workshops on rock photography (with legendary local photogs Charles Peterson and Alice Wheeler) and vocal performance (taught by Anna Cooghan). Registration’s now open at empsfm.org/camps.
