Drop by the Queen Anne Farmers Market today and enjoy this week’s foodie theme: melons!

The festivities will include live music by Snake Suspenderz, chef demos by Traca Savadogo, Seattle Tall Poppy, Lorna Yee, The Cookbook Chronicles blogger and food writer at Seattle magazine, and Robin Levinthal, Top Chef contestant and former owner of Seattle bistro Crave.

Also at the market, a book signing with best-selling cookbook author Braiden Rex-Johnson, and a watermelon art contest (with a $100 Canlis gift certificate prize; $20 cash for the kids competition).

For more information, check the QA Farmers Market website, and don’t miss the fun!

Our favorite QA record store is at it again, this time with free tickets to the Flaming Lips show this Friday at Marymoor Park. Easy Street will draw a winner tomorrow (Thursday) at 4 p.m. All it takes is one little email.

Click here for more information on how to enter.

For anyone who doesn’t win, but is still dying to go, tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster for $41.50.

(Thanks, as always, to Jesse and Easy Street Records for the photo!)

Believe it or not, the sound of pounding and painting coming from the yellow and green building on Taylor and Roy isn’t Werner’s Crash Shop.  In the space next to Werner’s (which used to be another auto body shop), construction is underway for a new neighborhood creperie.

If all goes according to plan, owner and long-time QA resident Suzana Olmos says Citizen will be open at the end of the month.  The menu will consist mostly of crepes created by Justin Taft (owner of Georgetown’s Hangar Cafe – yum!), as well as a few signature sandwiches.  They will also feature local coffee from Lighthouse Roasters and serve beer and wine.   

We’ll definitely keep you posted when they open!

Our friends at the West Seattle Blog reported that mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan (26.76 percent of votes counted) now has a slight lead on Mike McGuinn (26.48 percent of votes). Mayor Greg Nickels is still trailing in third place with 25.19 percent of votes.

For the full list of updated votes, click here.

The Cave Singers had their record release party at Easy Street last night, and according to the store and the fans, they rocked it. Store manager Bob Major said the place was “heel to toe packed’ from the stage to the door. For a play-by-play of the night’s festivities, see The Stranger’s review.

If you missed out, it’s not too late to jump on the live (and free) show bandwagon. Easy Street has another in-store performance with Pete Yorn this Thursday. More information on that here.

(Thanks to Jesse and Easy Street Records for the photos!)

In the last week more and more Queen Anne residents have taken the city’s neighborhood plan online survey. And we still have two days to go!

115 Queen Anne-ers have participated so far, but that’s nothing compared to the Crown Hill & Ballard number (734!) Queen Anne residents have two more days (until this Friday, August 21) to complete the online questionnaire. For those still interested in telling the city what they think about Queen Anne’s neighborhood plan, you can find more information and the survey here.

Although King County officials have said it will take until the end of the week to finish tallying the remaining votes, many primary and special election results are relatively clear – save from the mayoral race, which has three possible candidates separated by only a small margin battling it out for two spots on November’s ballot.

Based on results released just before 10 p.m. last night, environmentalist Mike McGuinn has a small lead (26.58 percent of vots counted) in the mayoral race over competitors T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan (25.77 percent of votes), and incumbent Greg Nickels (25.06 percent of votes). For a more in-depth wrap-up of the primaries, see the Seattle Times coverage.

The city’s proposal for a 20-cent bag fee was also rejected by a 58.09 percent majority.

MyBallard reported a last-minute rush at the Ballard neighborhood drop box last night, just before polls closed at 8 p.m.

Queen Anne music lovers are in luck this week. Easy Street Records is hosting two live performances in their Mercer Street store in the next couple of days.

The first is a record release celebration and performance tonight for Seattle band The Cave Singers‘ latest album, Welcome Joy. Head down to Easy Street at 7 p.m. to hear a few of their latest songs straight off the record. For more information on the band and their past albums, click here.

Your second chance to catch a live performance at Easy Street is this Thursday, August 20, when Pete Yorn will do a free in-store show. (You might remember his music from the 2000 Jim Carrey flick Me, Myself & Irene.) Yorn is in town while playing two nights at the Showbox at the Market (August 19 and 20).Tickets are $22 in advance, and $25 day of.

In addition to giving you a sneak peak free performance, Easy Street is also auctioning off a pair of tickets for both Yorn shows. Click here for more information on how to enter. To buy tickets the good ol’ fashioned way, click here.

Yay to all Queen Anne music lovers!

(Thanks to Jesse and Easy Street Records for the photos!)

According to Whole Foods PR representative Vicki Foley, the national grocer is “on track” to open their Interbay location on October 14. The new Whole Foods will be the “anchor tenant” at the Interbay Urban Center, a new 80,000 retail hub along 15th Avenue W. by Seattle-based real estate company TRF Pacific.

In a press release published by the two companies back in January, Whole Foods Pacific Northwest regional president John Clougher called Interbay and “emerging community,” and explained that the venture would transform the area and benefit Interbay residents, as well as surrounding neighborhoods like Magnolia and Queen Anne.

“15th Avenue is the third most traveled arterial in Seattle. People want to shop and get going to their destination, so this store will cater to good foods on the go,” Clougher said. The Interbay Urban Center would also be located at the intersection of the Burke-Gilman bike trail and next to Metro’s rapid transit bus service that goes along 15th to downtown.

The Interbay Whole Foods will feature an interactive healthy eating center, cooking classes and demonstrations, a coffee shop and a handful of other amenities common in other stores by the Austin, Texas-based grocery chain.

This Whole Foods is finally coming, after a lawsuit with developer TRF Pacific settled earlier this year. So far several smaller retail spaces have been leased: Interbay Cleaners, Subway, Verizon Wireless, The Magic Dragon Chinese Eatery and Peet’s Coffee & Tea.

The project, despite the controversy that has surrounded it over the past year, is supported by many Interbay residents who say it will bring much-needed community development to the neighborhood. Bruce Wynn, executive director of the Interbay Neighborhood Association, writes:

We are completely supportive of the Interbay Urban Center and have had representatives from TRF, the development company of this project, at our INA meetings. Whole Foods is currently interviewing for a community relations rep, and I met with her last week. They intend to reach out to the community as they get closer to opening.

And According to rep Vicki, Whole Foods will continue to expand in the Seattle-area:

After Interbay, we anticipate opening the Fauntleroy Place store at some stage in 2010.

(Thanks to Vicki and MagnoliaVoice for the photos!)

If you haven’t voted in the primary or special election yet, it’s not too late. Although this is a mail-in only election, you can drop off your ballot in person at a number of locations around the city.

The closest location for Queen Anne residents is the King County Administration Building, located at 500 Fourth Ave. All drop boxes around the city will be accepting ballots until 8 p.m. tonight. If you can’t make it to a drop box location, you must have your ballot postmarked by today to be accepted. (The Queen Anne Post Office at 415 1ST Ave N is open until 6 p.m.)

You can find a list of other drop box locations here. For voter information concerning the primary and special election, click here.

A word to the wise, Phinneywood.com reported that by 8:55 this morning the Ballard neighborhood drop box had already been filled to the brim and emptied by Election officials. Although this has been taken care of, it just goes to show you that the boxes fill up fast. Don’t wait until the last minute.

Full-screen

Foss Maritime Company, located on the North Queen Anne ship canal will receive over $600,000 from the federal government as part of the Assistance to Small Shipyards program.

Last month the U.S. Maritime Administration announced that American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds will be awarded to 67 shipyards around the country, totally in $98 million in grant money for improvements to company training programs, as well as shipyard equipment and infrastructure. According to the Maritime Administration, over 500 applications were received totally in over $1.25 billion in requests.

Foss is one of four Seattle-area shipyards that has been awarded stimulus money. According to the announcement, which outlines the amount awarded to each shipyard as well as the purpose it was allocated for, Foss will receive $621,761 for lifts, forklifts, brake press, bridge crane, welding machines, and hydraulic dollies.

MyBallard.com reported yesterday that other local shipyards that will be receiving funds include Kvichak Marine Industries, Inc., located across the ship canal from Foss, which has been awarded $1,138,602 for crane, aluminum plate processing, and training. Other shipyards on the list: Lake Union Drydock Co. ($184,217 for IT upgrades, and a steel-plate roller) and Todd Pacific Shipyards Corporation Inc. ($1,945,981 for their training program).

According to the Maritime Administration, a formal announcement with details of the awards will be posted on the Recovery.gov website tomorrow, August 18.

We’re putting together a list of Queen Anne restaurants, and we’ve posted the first 20 or so, with more to come over the next few days. Feel free to post ratings and reviews of your favorites.

Yesterday volunteers from around the city joined together to restore the NE Queen Anne Greenbelt, an area of forested trails that connect two parks on the hillside just above Aurora Avenue North – Trolley Hill Park and MacLean Park.

After Trolley Hill Park, which features a community P-Patch, picnic area and play space, was created in 2002, Seattle Parks & Recreation worked on obtaining a .27 acre part of the greenbelt between Trolley Hill and MacLean that was at the time privately owned. Acquiring the piece of land in 2007, the city set on restoring the area between the two parks.

Yesterday EarthCorps, a non-profit organization dedicated to building community on a global scale through local environmental service, joined the Green Seattle Partnership, Friends of Queen Anne Parks and Seattle Parks & Recreation to restore the Greenbelt.

Over 60 volunteers from around King County and companies like Senture, Boeing and Summer Search donated four hours of their Saturday afternoon to clearing out invasive plants like Himalayan Blackberries and English Ivy, which had taken over the hillside making it impossible for native conifer trees to thrive.

The group spent the first day of this two-tiered project removing the invasive plants, going over areas that had already been cleared, and mulching the newly cleaned soil. In December volunteers will return to the site to plant young conifers and make sure invasive growth has not returned to the area. You can find more information on that event, including volunteer sign up here.

According to EarthCorps coordinator Elizabeth White,

What’s important is having community members that understand how important urban forests are and what they can do to take care of them.

White said the Queen Anne community has been very receptive to the project, “but there is still so much more to do.”

If everyone in Seattled volunteered four hours a year – just came out on a Saturday afternoon – it’s amazing what we could accomplish.

Her vision for the Queen Anne Greenbelt? Having the community organize a potluck, even just twice a year, where neighbors could come out and enjoy good food and even better company, while having fun and keeping the park clean. All it would take is a few hours one afternoon, two times a year.

As many as 40,000 people are expected to attend Hempfest this weekend at Myrtle Edwards Park, Elliott Bay Park and the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Big crowds were in attendance today, and the event will continue Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Hempfest is the largest gathering of hemp and marijuana reform speakers in the world, and it features entertainment and a variety of vendors. For the full lineup, visit the Hempfest website.

The Seattle Times has a good overview of proposed marijuana reform legislation in our state. One bill would seek to change the penalty for possessing a small amount of marijuana from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction.

You can see more photos from today here.

Tonight is opening night of The Skateboard Film Festival, created by Ballard resident and skateboarder Kirk Wimberley (reported by MyBallard last week) to promote and encourage the future of skateboard filmmaking. The first annual film fest will be held at SIFF Cinema, and will showcase forty films from around the world, ranging from two to 90 minutes in length.

Kicking off tonight at 7:30, the festival will begin with seven short films followed by the local premiere of “A Day at the Park,” which catalogues a view of 30 Seattle-area skateparks.

The festival continues all day tomorrow, with screenings of the longer and feature-length films from 11 a.m. to the final showing of “Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy“ at 8:10 p.m.

Prices range from $20 for a Festival Pass, to $7 for “Skatopia” and $5 for all other tickets. See the SIFF Cinema website for details on showtimes and tickets.

SIFF Cinema is located at 321 Mercer Street, McCaw Hall, Seattle Center. The box office opens half an hour before the first show and can be reached at boxoffice@siff.net or (206) 633-7151.

After reading both the original neighborhood plan put out ten years ago and the updated status report released back in May this week (in preparation for taking the city’s survey, found here), I decided to do some checking up on the condition of one of the project’s the city has been attempting to complete on our Hill for years – the Queen Anne Bicycle Beltway!

The beltway has been in the works for over a decade now, and once completed will create a system of interconnecting bike paths that will encircle Queen Anne Hill. Currently the progression of the project is hinging on the completion of one part of the track, known as “Phase II” of the Ship Canal Trail, a 3/4 mile gap between the existing Ship Canal Trail (“Phase I” of the trail runs from the Fremont Bridge to 6th Ave W. and was completed in 1996) and Fisherman’s Terminal where it would meet the Emerson Street bike path and then eventually Myrtle Edwards.

The completion of this 3/4 mile stretch would make biking from Redmond to downtown Seattle almost entirely on dedicated cycling paths possible! According to the status report, the Seattle Department of Transportation was scheduled to complete this segment of the path in spring 2009, but now spring (and much of summer) has come and gone.

According to Stuart Goldsmith, Supervising Project Manager at SDOT, the city’s website is “not quite up-to-date” (but don’t worry, they’ve ensured us they’ll be updating it shortly).

He writes,

Right now, the plan is to split completion of the Ship Canal Trail into two construction contracts. The first will extend the trail from its current terminus at 6th Ave West to 11th Ave. That contract will be advertised very soon, with construction anticipated for this fall. The second contract will construct the rest of the trail, but that cannot be advertised until we can work out a construction schedule with BNSF Railway and get them to issue permits for the private utility line that needs to be relocated so that the tracks can be moved to make way for the trail.

Stuart says SDOT is working to resolve the coordination problems currently halting the project, but that it’s “highly unlikely” that the second construction contract will be public until at the very best the end of the year, but “most likely, early next year.”

Stay tuned for updates!

(Thanks to Allie and SDOT for the graphic!)

Yesterday afternoon Metropolitan Market Vice President of Marketing Brad Halverson presented the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, an organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of Puget Sound, with a $5,217 check. Alliance Executive Director Bob Beckman received the check outside the Upper Queen Anne Metropolitan Market, the sum of five-cent donations made in 2008 by market customers who used their .05 bag re-use rebate to benefit the organization.

Pictured from left to right, Bob Beckman, Executive Director of Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, and Brad Halverson, Vice President of Marketing at Metropolitan Market. (Thanks to Sara at Wilson Public Relations and I CANDI Studios for the photo!)

“The partnership between Puget Soundkeeper Alliance and Metropolitan Market is a great example of community and environmental stewardship,” Beckman said in a public statement. We applaud Metropolitan Market’s efforst to encourage their customers to re-use their bags and give back to Puget Sound.”

Metropolitan Market and the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance have been bag rebate partner organizations since 2007, when the store launched its bag re-use program. Customers who made the .05 contributions had the option of keeping the five-cent rebate for themselves, but instead made over 104,000 nickel donations that added up to the huge sum.

Police said they received a 911 call around 11:30 p.m. last night reporting an intoxicated man with a gun driving through Queen Anne (no details on exactly where). An officer discovered the suspect vehicle a short time later driving over the Ballard Bridge, so a large number of officers responded — 10 police cars in all — and pulled the car over on Market St. in Ballard.

Police say one man was arrested for possession of a concealed firearm, and another man in the car was detained and released after officers discovered he had a valid concealed weapons permit.

This week at the Farmers Market it’s everything wellness. “Superfood” tours will be offered by Wellness Coach Jenelle Strine every half hour, starting at the Info Tent. Stop by for the French market basket raffle drawing at 7 p.m., or a chair massage from new Queen Anne spa Earthly Rituals. Events include live music by Murphy & Middaugh, a demo with chef Becky Selengut (of Cornucopia Cuisine, and blogger at Chef Reinvented) and an “Ask the Chef” Q&A with caterer Olaiya Land.

The Queen Anne Farmers Market takes place every Thursday, from 3-7 p.m. at W. Crockett St. at Queen Anne Ave. N. For more information, see the QAFM website.