Scarlet runner beans photo by Tim Olson, via Creative Commons/Flickr.The Beacon Hill Garden Club and ROCKiT Community Arts, with help from a Department of Neighborhoods Small Sparks Grant, are kicking off a season of events focused on bean growing with a Bean Bonanza from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 20. The series, Beacon: A Hill of Beans, will include educational, fun, and tasty activities for neighbors at all levels of gardening experience.
Those attending the Bean Bonanza event will leave with free bean seeds, a bucket, bean poles and soil. Other beany activities include a bean “teach-in” with Master Gardener Mick Duggan, a bean haiku contest, bean bag games, a bean buffet, a sale of sample packets of heirloom bean varieties, and more. Attendees will also find out details of the Beautiful Bean photo contest, demonstration gardens, and plans to decorate Beacon Avenue merchant spaces with pots of scarlet runner beans.
Bean events will continue throughout the summer with taste tests, preservation demonstrations, and an autumn bean supper.
Put those dancing shoes on this Sunday, January 6, when ROCKiT Community Arts presents an Old-time and Quebecois Square Dance with music by Peckin’ Out Dough and La Famille Leger.
Doors open at 6 p.m. and dancing starts at 7 p.m. at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave S. Dinner will be available through Beacon Bento. The event is open to all ages ; admission is $7, and kids get in free.
Opening band The Lentils features Jill Friedberg and Carlo Cennamo on accordion and saxophone playing a short set of Latin-flavored waltzes.
The Garden House opens for Beacon Bento (dinner delivered to your table from Inay’s Kitchen and Travelers Thali House) at 6 p.m., and the music starts around 7. Tickets are $7 at the door, free for kids under 12.
Upcoming Folk Club performers this winter include La Famille Leger and Peckin’ Out Dough on January 6, Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifters and Stefanie Robbins on February 3, and Fasten With Pins and Jo Miller on March 3.
Alice Stuart will perform at the first Garden House Blues series concert.
ROCKiT Community Arts has a couple of events this week at the Garden House on North Beacon Hill, including another Family Free-For-All and and the start of the new Garden House Blues music series.
Family Free-For-All is today, September 18, from 4-6:30 p.m. As you might guess, admission is free (for all). Suzanne Sumi will be there to host a family song time. The Free-For-All is a casual, drop-in event for kids and parents alike, with art, music, and toys available to play with and enjoy.
On Friday, September 21, at 8 p.m., the new Garden House Blues series of country blues concerts begins with Alice Stuart and Eric Freeman. Here’s an excerpt from Alice’s website bio:
“Way ahead of her time, Alice Stuart blazed the trail for women in rock and roll as one of the only females in the country to write her own music, front a male band, and play lead guitar on national and international circuits. Blues Hall of Fame inductee, Dick Waterman, once remarked, ‘There would be no Bonnie Raitt without Alice Stuart.'”
Virginian (and now West Seattleite) Eric Freeman plays country blues guitar that wouldn’t sound out of place on a scratchy record from the 1920s or 30s.
The series will continue in October and November with Lloyd Jones and Paul Green on Friday, October 19, and Bonnie McCoy (Memphis Minnie’s niece) with special guest Mary Flower on Friday, November 16.
Next Sunday, June 3, “all girl bluegrass band” the Hillbettys are headlining the monthly Garden House Folk Club concert. The Hillbettys — Paisley (upright bass), Alyse (banjo), Milly “Racoon” (fiddle), and Kate (guitar) — will play “mountain music for the masses” at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S. Dinner is at 6 p.m. and the music starts at 7 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults, free for kids.
John Shaw will open the show. Shaw is a songwriter who has written 60 songs on commission over the last three years, many of them as a fundraiser for Beacon Hill International School’s PTA. He is also writing a book on the the visionary tradition in America’s national anthems, due out in late 2013.
Dinner, or “Beacon Bento,” is now available at Garden House concerts. Local restaurants Baja Bistro, Inay’s Kitchen, Taqueria Luisa, and Travelers’ Thali House will provide a variety of ethnic dishes, including mole enchiladas, pork Adobo, Tunga burritos, and Janti thali as take out meals to enjoy outside in the fresh air before the show or cabaret-style during the show. All meals are $10 or less. See the menu here.
Station 13 as it was in 2010. Celebrate its new renovation at a community open house this Saturday. Photo by Jason Simpson.
It’s a busy weekend this week, particularly on Saturday morning. Take your pick from several events, including:
Saturday:
The Seven Hills Seattle and Scandinavian history walk starts on Queen Anne Hill at 9 a.m. and finishes right here on Beacon Hill. Information here.
Fire Station #13 Open House from 11-1 p.m. will celebrate the station’s reopening after renovation. All are welcome. Information here.
Franklin Arts Festival from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m will feature music, art, and food for the whole family. Information here.
Beacon Hill animator Tess Martin’s short, Hula Hoop, will play at SIFF Cinema Uptown at 10 a.m. as part of the Seattle Times and SIFF 3 Minute Masterpiece contest. Admission is free. Information here.
Sunday:
All are invited to a Lewis Park work party to assist in improving the park. These volunteer events are every first and third Sunday, starting at 10 a.m. at the park, 12th Ave S and Golf Dr S. Tools, gloves, water, and refreshments are provided.
A bit later in the day is a cooking demo at El Centro de la Raza with chef Vincent Rivera of Jazz Alley, who will demonstrate how to cook carnitas, pozole, and ceviche. Information here.
And finally, the ROCKiT Community Arts board meeting is Sunday from 1-3 p.m. at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S. The meeting is open to the public.
Photo by Reed George via Creative Commons/Flickr.Music fans will want to swing on over to the Garden House over the next couple of weekends to enjoy two musical events presented by ROCKiT Community Arts.
HopSkipJump will open with new and old fiddle tunes. Admission is $5, free to ROCKiT members and kids 12 and under.
The following Saturday, May 12, at 7 p.m., it’s swing time for everyone with the 2012 Beacon Rocks! Swing Dance Fundraiser. Savoy Swing Club Performance Troupe will put on a demo, followed by a short swing dance lesson. Then the rest of the evening will be your chance to show off your moves to lots of swing music. There will be refreshments and raffles, and all funds raised will go to support the 2012 Beacon Rocks! music series.
All ages are welcome. Admission is $15; kids 12 and under by donation.
Ichi Bichi performed at Beacon Rocks! last summer. Photo by Wendi Dunlap.
The Beacon Rocks! summer music series will be back for its third season on Roberto Maestas Festival Street this summer, and performers are needed. This year’s family-friendly events will be June 24, July 29, and August 26, from 1-5 p.m.
Though the festival “Rocks!”, all styles of music and performance are welcome. Previous performers in the series have brought us trip-hop, blues, jazz, marimba, folk, and various kinds of rock, along with belly dancing, martial arts, modern dance, and more.
Performers may audition by sending links to music samples or descriptions of their performances to beaconrocks@gmail.com.
Beacon Rocks! is presented by ROCKiT Community Arts, a non-profit organization dedicated to making music and art available to everyone.
Art Chair #1, painted by Kathleen McHugh. Photo courtesy of ROCKiT space.As we mentioned in the last Beacon Bits, ROCKiT is hosting a community “sit-in” on Saturday, February 4 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Beacon Hill Library to celebrate the completion of their art chair “fleet.” The chairs were decorated by more than 40 local artists and neighbors who volunteered their time to paint or collage chairs to be used at community events. The public is invited to this reception to view the finished chairs, enjoy free snacks, and celebrate all of the volunteers to took part in this and other ROCKit projects in 2011.
Among the festivities will be a singalong of an original song, “This Chair is My Chair”; a haiku treasure hunt, a game of musical chairs, and much more.
Does music make your garden grow? Find out this week, when events for both musicians and gardeners will take place at the Garden House on 15th Avenue South.
On Tuesday, January 24 at 7 p.m., ROCKiT Community Arts presents this month’s Tuesday Folk Club show, featuring Percy Hilo and
Friends, who are described as “original songs to sing, laugh and think with in Americana folk stylings.” Opening the show will be Betty Jean Williamson and Jack Lenoir. (Make note—next month’s show will feature Golden Tree Story, with Jean Mann opening.) Admission is a $5 donation, and kids get in free.
The following day, Wednesday, January 25 at 7 p.m., the Beacon Hill Garden Club meets. The local chapter is the newest chapter of the Federation of State Garden Clubs. At this week’s meeting, the group will look at seed catalogs to make a group order from multiple companies. All are welcome to visit, and it is $10/year to join the club.
The Garden House is located at 2336 15th Ave. S.
Vines growing in the Beacon Hill P-Patch during warmer weather. Gardening time is coming soon! Photo by Dapper Lad Cycles in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool.
