Kid on Bike

A friend sent me this video today of his son putting the lot to use.

Earth Day Free Day Facebook Invite

Sarah created a Facebook "event" for Earth Day Free Day; you can RSVP here. That would be a good place to talk to others about sharing things, like BBQ grills, tables, lawn chairs, canopies (in case of rain), coolers, etc.


Want to get warmed up for the Capitol Hill Commmunity Garage Sale 2010? Come by and swap out your old books, cds, clothes, whatever.

Oh, and just in case you missed JT's marathon DJ set at Park(ing) Day, you can catch part deux at this event.


Have questions? Get in touch with Sarah at:

sarahmkuck(at)gmail(dot)com

or me via this site, facebook, or twitter.

Earth Day Free Day

Since every day should be a day we care for and clean up the planet, I think Earth Day should be a day we celebrate the Earth as a community. How exactly? Well for me at this time, I want to have a big, free party where we can build community. I'm calling this event: Earth Day Free Day.

People's Parking Lot(s)* has just gotten the OK to host the event on April 24 in the vacant space across from Travelers on Pine and Summit. If you're from Capitol Hill, you know how much revitalizing this dead space means to the community. Hosting an event here reminds neighbors that we can think differently about vacant space in the city. You might have seen our other events, like Garage Sale Day and Park(ing) Day, here last summer and fall.

Earth Day Free Day is an event that will provide a new way to celebrate Earth Day, through happiness, connectivity and creativity. It is inspired by a similar event that took place in 2009 in the Wallingford QFC parking lot. Fed up with having Earth Day be associated with picking up trash, the my friend created the 2009 event as a way to change mindsets about what a community should do to celebrate the Earth.

She wanted this new idea for an Earth Day celebration to be an event where neighbors came together to share stories, resources, talents and skills. Nothing is for sale, everything is free.

We would like to invite local artists, businesses and community members to participate.

Would you be interested in collaborating? Basically, I want this event to be free and fun. I would like it to get people thinking and connecting. And I would like your help.

If you would like to participate, please email me at sarahmkuck(at)gmail(dot)com.


Best,
Sarah Kuck


Here is the facebook invitation.

Bald Man in Watching

Several years ago, my brother and I were Austin and he decided to get a tattoo. After a consultation with an artist friend he came up with sepia-colored globe, surrounded by electrons, like an atom. We took it over to the tattoo studio and the tattoo artist said, "Man, this is more like fine art than tattoo art. Come back tomorrow."

That's the same feeling I got when I saw this photo posted on the street art blog, Bald Man is Watching.


The site is run by two brothers that are students on Capitol Hill, but they take photos all over the city. Their site is full of excellent photos and links to their Flickr page as well.


Check 'em out.

Earth Day

Someone emailed me today about doing an Earth Day extravaganza in the lot...I think it sounds like a fantastic idea; what do you think?

Vacant Lots in the Central District?

Are you a Central District resident? Do you have a (least) favorite vacant lot that you'd like to see converted to productive land? Alleycat Acres is looking for space in the CD to start their first garden; the bigger the plot the better. They have found available funding for this sort of project and just need a place to, literally, put down roots.

You can get in touch with Sean through Alleycat's website or leave a message with me, which I'll pass along.

Park(ing) Day and ARTSPARKS 2010

As you probably know, back in September we hosted the Park(ing) Day Central Park in conjunction with the Capitol Hill Community Council, which was funded in part by a smART Ventures grant from the city. A few weeks after the event, another similar grant was brought to my attention, so I applied, hoping to fund Park(ing) Day for 2010. Unfortunately, money is tight and we did not receive funding. In a way this is not a huge concern since we now have access to cheap insurance through Shunpike, but still the money would be helpful so we can offer increased programming (more music, bouncy castles, whatever). So if you know of any applicable grants for arts and community events, please let me know.

That brings me to 4Culture's ARTSPARKS project in Pioneer Square's Occidental Park. I first heard of this last summer when Free Sheep did their twenty-four hour Murakami performance. While PPL's focus thus far has been Capitol Hill, I've always found Pioneer Square to be romantic and underutilized, so it would be nice to do something for that neighborhood.

My first idea comes from a discussion I recently had with an urban planner from NYC: he spoke of the heavily curated flea markets (lots of good stuff, not much junk) that are evidently all the rage in the big city. I thought we could do something similar but maybe around a theme like, say, the impending loss of Elliott Bay Books. Borrowing from Free Sheep's twenty-four hour concept, and CHS's Capitol Hill Garage Sale last summer, I envision a twenty-four hour market that is centered on, well, books. Of course, we could expand it to include the cafe and hopefully some sort of performances for the wee hours of the morning, and to help attract a wider range of participants.

I'm going to get in touch with The New Pioneer Square and see if they'd be interested in tackling this (or another such) project. Let me know if you have any ideas or thoughts: one valid critique might be that looking backward is not the best way for Pioneer Square to proceed; that Elliott Bay is going and it's time to focus on something new. Anyhow, the deadline for proposals is March 12, so we still have some time.