Check out what’s in store at the Queen Anne Farmers Market and Interbay Farmers Market this week.

At the Queen Anne Farmers Market:

• 4 p.m. – At the Chef Tent: Chef demo with Matt Fortner, chef de cuisine at How To Cook A Wolf (Read Leslie Kelly’s 3-part interview with Matt at Grillaxin)
• 5 to 7 p.m. – At the Music Tent: Live music by Squirrel Butter, an old-time variety duet by Charlie Beck and Charmaine “Lady Li-Lei” Slaven (Appalachian, early country, jugband and blues with banjo, fiddle, guitar, and Lady Li-Lei’s amazing dancing feet!)
• 5 to 7 p.m. – At the Talent Show Stage: Queen Anne Performing Arts hosts “Queen Anne’s Got Talent!”, a show featuring young and old from right here on the hill
• 5:30 p.m. – At the Chef Tent: Kids Cooking event with Executive Chef Anthony and Head Chef Natalie of 5 Spot
• Check out what’s fresh at the Queen Anne market this week

At the Interbay Farmers Market:

• 4 p.m. – Chef Demo with Chef Branden Karow of Ballard’s Staple & Fancy
• Check out what’s fresh at the Interbay market this week

As always the Queen Anne Farmers Market will take place from 3 to 7:30 p.m. at W Crockett Street and Queen Anne Ave N. The Interbay Farmers Market will take place from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Interbay Urban Center, located at 1819 15th Ave. W.

If you’ve been by the 5 Spot lately, you’ve probably noticed its new cuisine theme–Tornado Alley. The Queen Anne restaurant, which often changes its regional culinary focus (and decor to match), got some flak from the Seattle Weekly for sticking with its Tornado Alley theme in light of the recent tornadoes that have devastated the south.

Though the 5 Spot says it will not change its Tornado Alley theme, it has launched a fundraiser to help relieve some of the damage caused by the recent storms. Beginning yesterday and continuing every Tuesday through June 13 the restaurant will donate 25 percent from the sales of all of its Tornado Alley menu items to the Hackelburg Elementary School in Hackelburg, Alabama, which was destroyed in the recent storms. Though others buildings have been standing in as makeshift classrooms for the school, the funding will go toward replacing textbooks and other items blown away or destroyed, according to Seattle Weekly.

In response to the Seattle Weekly posts, the 5 Spot and its parents company Chow Foods released the following statement about its choice:

When planning our menus for 2011, we thought that in wanting to feature the foods of the Heartland to include the Dakotas, Nebraska and parts of other mid-western states, the common denominator would be the region commonly known as Tornado Alley. Little did we know the devastation from these wind-related events would be the worst on record since the 1920s with, to date, over 400 weather-related events in the U.S. with no sign of abatement.

While these recent tornadoes technically took place outside of Tornado Alley (it’s known as Dixie Alley), we cannot ignore the hardships facing our fellow citizens from these devastating storms in the South. So, we want to help those who aren’t able to help themselves, mainly the children of Hackleburg, Ala.

The fundraiser will conclude on June 13, when the 5 Spot’s regional menu switches once again.

There’s nothing like Thursdays at the Queen Anne Farmers Market. Check out what’s going on this week:

Thursday, July 29

• 3 to 5 p.m.—Music by Tinker’s Dram
• 4 p.m.—Chef Demo with Natalie Divergigeles of the 5 Spot
• 5:30 p.m.—Special Event: Join a live taping of the food and comedy podcast Spilled Milk with food writers and authors Matthew Amster-Burton, of Hungry Monkey, and Molly Wizenberg, of Orangette.net and A Homemade Life.
• 6 to 7 p.m.—Music by Dustin James
• 6 p.m.—Gluten-Free Cooking Demo with Jeanne Sauvage of Four Chickens

The featured nonprofit this week is the Queen Anne Community Center. As always the market will be from 3 to 7 p.m. on W. Crockett Street at Queen Anne Ave N.

One of our readers spotted a film crew outside the 5 Spot on Upper Queen Anne early Sunday morning (and by early, I mean around 2 a.m.!) A. A. wrote,

I just walked past the 5 Spot and saw them filming the movie “Grassroots” there. Jason Biggs and Lauren Ambrose were in the scene.

A little IMDB-ing told me that Grassroots is “the shocking true story of the 2001 Seattle race for City Council seat #8. Here’s the synopsis from IMDB:

After losing his job, a journalist reluctantly agrees to help his oddball friend with his bid to earn a seat on the Seattle City Council.

Grassroots is being directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, father of Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal, who also adapted the screenplay. The film has been shooting all over town, including in Phinney Ridge/Greenwood, Capitol Hill and elsewhere around town. I myself did not remember this race, but the folks over at Phinneywood did:

If that sounds familiar, it’s based on the true story of Phil Campbell (who used to work for The Stranger before becoming campaign manager) and Grant Cogswell, who ran for city council here in Seattle in 2001. Campbell wrote a book, “Zioncheck for President: A True Story of Idealism and Madness in American Politics,” which was adapted for “Grassroots.”

Queen Anne’s 5 Spot restaurant is celebrating its 20th birthday by rolling back the clock. On Tuesday, May 18, Wednesday, May 19 and Thursday, May 20, the eatery will offer all its food at their 1990 menu prices (beverages will remain at the current price level).

Right now, the joint famous for rotating its menu with foods from across the U.S. is  featuring a menu paying tribute to Seattle. You can start with appetizers like the Counterbalance Crab Cakes, move on to the Seattle PI Memorial Salmon Burger, and end with the 520 Floating Bridge Dessert (a chocolate waffle bridge on Almond Roca Pontoons in a lake of chocolate sauce with raspberry ice cream topped with whipped cream & granola). Most of that menu will probably be suspended during the 3-day birthday celebration next week.

One Tuesday, March 23 and Wednesday, March 24 two local schools–John Hay and Coe–held a friendly fundraising competition to see who could raise more money by eating out for dinner at the 5 Spot, which donated 25 percent of its sales both nights to each respective school.

On Tuesday Coe earned a whopping $1,376.67, but was slightly beat out by Hay, which raised $1,442.52 on Thursday, adding up to $2,819.19 in total!

The funds are going directly to each school. Coe will be purchasing age and reading level appropriate books for their classrooms with the funds, while John Hay is putting its portion toward hiring math and reading tutors.

Families from the schools who participated in the fundraiser were asked to write their teacher’s name at the top of their checks, allowing the 5 Spot to figure out which classrooms from both Coe and Hay had the highest level of family participation. Ms. Spiller’s class at Coe and Ms. Mirabueno’s class at John Hay took the prize. Every student in both winning classes was given a $10 Chow Foods gift card.

“We know our local public schools are hurting as much or more than the rest of us right now and are in a frightful financial state.  As an integral part of the Queen Anne community, we at the 5 Spot wanted to answer that call. We couldn’t have asked for two more successful evenings—both schools are winners!” said 5 Spot owner Peter Levy in a press release today.

Congrats Coe and Hay!

Don’t forget, if you’re planning on dining at the 5 Spot for dinner tonight, Tuesday, March 23 or tomorrow, Wednesday, March 24, your money will be helping one of two competing Queen Anne elementary schools – John Hay and Coe – as they head it off to see which school can raise the most!

The 5 Spot will be donating 25 percent of all of its food and beverage sales from 4 p.m. to closing to Coe tonight and to Hay tomorrow, so there’s no doubt students, parents and teachers will be packing into the cafe to make their orders and get an edge up on the competition.

All funds both nights will be donated directly to each respective school. Coe plans to use the money to purchase age and reading level appropriate books for their classrooms, while John Hay is going to put its donated funds toward hiring math and reading tutors.

Don’t forget, Coe night is tonight (Tuesday), and John Hay night is tomorrow (Wednesday). Go Coe and Hay!

Which school can raise more money? That’s the challenge Upper Queen Anne cafe 5 Spot has proposed to two neighborhood elementary schools, John Hay and Coe.

On Tuesday, March 23 (Coe) and Wednesday, March 24 (Hay) students, parents and teachers will pack into 5 Spot and see how much they can earn by eating out. For these two days the 5 Spot will be contributing 25 percent of all their food and beverage sales from 4 p.m. to closing at midnight to each respective school. So if you eat at the 5 Spot either Tuesday or Wednesday next week, a quarter of every dollar you spend will go straight to Coe or John Hay.

Additionally, the children in the classroom from the winning school that has the highest level of family participation—families will be asked to write their teacher’s name at the top of their guest checks—will win a $10 Chow Foods gift card for each child in the class of the “highest participation level” classroom.

All funds raised over these two nights will be donated directly to each respective school. Coe Elementary, who will be fundraising on Tuesday the 23rd, plans to utilize the proceeds to purchase age and reading level appropriate books for their classrooms. John Hay Elementary, who will be represented on Wednesday the 24th, plans to put its donated funds toward the hiring of math and reading tutors.

If you look forward to Halloween all year round and are having a hard time coping with the fact that the next costume and candy-clad holiday is ten months away, I have very exciting news for you: There is still one place on the hill you can go to feel the ghostly pang of eerie, spooky goodness–the women’s bathroom at 5 Spot.

I was surprised to find the restroom full of cow webs, ghosts, skeletons, plastic spiders and a jar of eyeballs when I stopped by earlier this afternoon. I tried to find an employee who could tell me why the ladies room was rocking the Halloween cheer, but as usual, they were quite busy and I never did get an answer. Had they decided to skip over Thanksgiving and Christmas and get a head start on decorations for Halloween 2010? Does this mean Santa will still be hanging out on the roof in June? Is the men’s bathroom also haunted? Is this where the ghosts of St. Louis like to lurk? Whatever the reason, the ladies bathroom at 5 Spot is, for now, a little Halloween oasis ready to lead us into 2010.

Update: Thanks to a reader who commented on this story, we now know why the ladies (and men’s) bathrooms are decorated to spook. Apparently they are designed to resemble the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, the home of the Lemp family, owners of a big brewing company in the first half of the 20th century who were almost all met with tragic ends. The mansion is supposedly one of the most haunted places in the country. I’d never heard of it before, and neither had the reader who noticed a plaque in the men’s room explaining the choice in decor, but it sure does make for an fun trip to the bathroom! You can read more about the Lemp Mansion here.