Rain or shine the market will be bustling with over 40 farmers and food vendors, adult and kids cooking demonstrations, and live music.

Check out what’s on the schedule for Opening Day:

• 3 p.m. – Live Music: Mariachi Monarcas of Seattle, sponsored by Umpqua Bank;
• Welcome – George Counts, M.D., Market Founder & Secretary, QANRG;
  
• John Hay Elementary Chorus;
  
• Remarks by: Richard Conlin, Seattle City Council President, Senator Jeanne Kohl Welles, and Representative Reuven Carlyle

• 4 p.m. – Market musician: Vincent Mtz & the Great Blue Yonder
• 4 p.m. – Chef Demo: Seth Caswell, Emmer & Rye
• 5:30 p.m. – Kids Cooking Class

In addition to the market’s popular returning vendors, a number of ready-made food trucks will also be swinging by, including the ever popular Parfait artisan ice cream, Anita’s Crepes, Maximum/Minimus, and a few new ones including Seattle Salads (fresh salads and wraps) and Where Ya At Matt? (Creole soul food). Check out the full list of vendors this year here.

Looking to stock with fresh eats at the market today? Here’s what’s fresh at the market this week: asparagus, spinach, spring greens, peonies, red rhubarb, organic herbs, and more.

Season sponsors include Metropolitan Market; Umpqua
Bank; Rene Stern, Windermere Real Estate; and HomeStreet Bank.

Seattle Beer Week

• Hilltop Alehouse, located at 2129 Queen Anne Ave N, will be having a number of SBW deals going, as well as four different events honoring specific ales–Boundary Bay Night (5/23), Hale’s Ales (5/24), Laurelwood Night (5/25), and Mac & Jack’s (5/26). Details here.
• emmer&rye, located at 1825 Queen Anne Ave N, will be pairing its local and seasonal cuisine with specialty beers at the Pike Brewer’s Dinner on 5/25. Details here.
• Jabu’s Pub, at 174 Roy Street, won’t be hosting any special events, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get your favorite beers on tap and participate in their daily happy hour. Check it out here.
• The Great Nabob, at 819 5th Ave N, will be pairing Hopworks Urban Brewery beers with cheeses at a special HUB Beers and Cheese event on 5/26. Details here.
• Crow Restaurant and Bar, at 823 5th Ave N, will be hosting its own Pike Brewer’s Dinner, this time paired with food by Chef Craig Serbousek on 5/23. Details here.
• Buckley’s on Queen Anne, at 232 1st Ave W, is having a Silver City Brewer’s Night featuring Gold Medal Winner Ridgetop Red Ale on 5/26. Details here.
• Jillian’s Billiards, located at 731 Westlake Ave N, has rented a giant inflatable Twister board for its ‘Twisted’ Seattle Beer Week Event on 5/21. Details here.

Check out Seattle Beer Week events happening throughout the city here.

There are a number of Queen Anne restaurants participating in the fundraiser for either breakfast, lunch dinner, or all three. Check out the list of participating neighborhood spots:

• Caffe Vita (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
• Eat Local (B,L,D)
• Emmer&Rye (D)
• Hilltop Ale House (L, D)
• McMenamins Queen Anne (D)
• Pasta Bella (D)
• Ponti Seafood Grill (D)
• Portage (D)

Check out the full list of participating restaurants here.

To find out more about the Lifelong AIDS Alliance and the services the fundraiser will support, watch this video:

If you can’t attend Dining Out For Life, but would still like to show your support, donations can be made directly to the Lifelong AIDS Alliance here.

Over 150 restaurants citywide will be offering three-course dinners for just $28 (sadly excluding weekends), and many will also be dishing up three-course lunches for $15.

There are 13 Queen Anne restaurants participating in Seattle Restaurant Week:

• Betty Restaurant & Bar
• Boat Street Cafe
• Canlis
• Crow Restaurant & Bar
• emmer&rye
• How to Cook a Wolf
• Paragon Restaurant & Bar
• Peso’s Kitchen and Lounge
• Ponti Seafood Grill
• Portage
• Ten Mercer
• The Melting Pot
• Toulouse Petit Kitchen & Lounge

Search for participating restaurants by neighborhood or meal, or get menu details and reservation information from the Seattle Restaurant Week website.

Seattle Restaurant Week participants offer $25 three-course dinner meals and some offer $15 three-course lunch meals, Sunday through Thursday. Check out the options on the hill:

• Betty Restaurant and Bar
• Boat Street Cafe
• Bricco Della Regina Anna
• Crow Restaurant and Bar
• emmer&rye
• How to Cook a Wolf
• La Dolce Vita Ristorante
• Paragon Restaurant and Bar
• Peso’s Kitchen and Lounge
• Portage
• Sport Restaurant and Bar
• Ten Mercer
• Toulouse Petit

Four Queen Anne restaurants were involved in the first week, including Betty, Canlis, Crow, emmer&rye, How to Cook a Wolf, Ponti Seafood Grill, Portage, Ten Mercer, Paragon, and Via Tribunali. This time around, organizers are turning to Seattle residents to find out what restaurants they’d like to see on the list. Offer up suggestions via Twitter (@SeattleRW) or look for them on Facebook. Each restaurant submitted will be contacted to join in the 10-day foodie celebration.

The second Seattle Restaurant Week, from October 17 to 28, will offer the same deals as the first–a $25 three-course dinner menu and optional $15 three-course lunch menu, Sunday through Thursday.

They haven’t put the lunch menu up on their website yet, but according to the emmer&rye Twitter account, items will include soups, salads, sandwiches and fresh king salmon.

Also new to emmer&rye: you can now make dinner reservations online through their website, which displays times that still have tables available and walks you through the reservation process.

Not surprising, nine Queen Anne restaurants are on that list:

1. Betty Restaurant & Bar
2. Canlis
3. Crow Restaurant & Bar
4. emmer&rye
5. How to Cook a Wolf
6. Portage
7. Ten Mercer
8. Paragon
9. Via Tribunali

“Queen Anne is making a huge showing for Seattle Restaurant Week, drawing people from other neighborhoods and definitely keeping their own neighbors happy,” wrote SRW PR representative Heather Jensvold.

Take a look at the full list of participating restaurants, some of which will be offering $15 3-course lunch specials as well, here (.doc).

Seattle Restaurant Week is a project of the Seattle Restaurant Cooperative, a group of Seattle restaurateurs, and is being sponsored by our news partner, The Seattle Times, alongside many others. More information here.

Yeah, that means that you can get a locally produced Cab Sauv for just $20. Or any of the yummy Oregon, Italian, and French selections. It’s a great opportunity to bring a group of friends and taste wine varietals about which you’ve always been curious.

If you haven’t tried Queen Anne’s newest “seasonally inspired, locally derived” restaurant, you might as well get a little extra wine while you can. There are two more chances to partake in half price wine Wednesdays – tonight, Wednesday, March 24 and next week on Wednesday, March 31.

Attendees of the benefit got the chance to schmooze with some of the local farmers represented at the market, enjoy tunes by Queen Anne resident and “neo-flamenco” guitarist Andre Feriante, and snack on appetizers by Chef Seth Caswell and the neighborhood’s newest restaurant emmer&rye, which shares the market’s seasonal/local fixation.

Supporters also got a sneak peak at artist Elizabeth Mullaly‘s 2010 season poster, which was unveiled at the benefit. The new poster matches her designs from previous years, but instead of the 2009 beets theme, showcases a bushel (in the figurative sense) of naked carrots.

Every year Mullaly’s posters have become something of a collectors’ item, so if you’d like your very own, it’s better to get one sooner rather than later, because they do run out. The posters will be available for a minimum donation of $15 at Queen Anne Frame or at the market once it opens in the spring.

Couldn’t make it to the benefit? Read up on QAFM Director Julia Whitehorn’s take on the evening of seasonal snacks and farmers market frenzy.

To make a donation to the Queen Anne Farmers Market, click here. Find more information about the upcoming season here.