Delridge Day 2014 almost didn’t happen. The annual one day celebration in the past was coordinated by the North Delridge Neighborhood Council but this year they had to decline due to some volunteer burnout and transitions. Having successfully conducted the Gathering of Neighbors event for a couple of years, VieWS decided to take the task on… although with only four primary organizers — all neighborhood volunteers! — we expected to scale down the event. The event this year had no retail businesses, meaning no companies or vendors directly selling products. No skate competition. Truly tragic — no bouncy houses for the kids. 😉  However, as we were quickly reminded, this community always steps up when needed.

The City’s Departments of Neighborhoods and Planning & Development sponsored a large booth to get community input on the update of our Delridge neighborhood plan. They set up blackboards and asked people for their thoughts on what they already like about the area and what we still need.

With the support of The Seattle Police Foundation the Southwest Precinct Picnic came to the event for the second time and new SPD Chief Kathleen O’Toole promised to stop by, and to make as many officers and units available as possible. We expected cars and a canine police officer, and we hoped for mounted officers; but we certainly didn’t expect a Bomb Squad robot offering candy!

The event still featured a kids activity zone sponsored by Trader Joe’s Market, a music stage featuring local bands, and plenty of local community groups and organizations. And we couldn’t have produced it without the generous support of our sponsors: the PNTA (Pacific Northwest Theater Associates), Sound Physical Therapy, and Highline Community Health.

Click here to see The West Seattle Herald’s slideshow or go here to read The West Seattle Blog’s as-it-happened coverage…