After a great season opening last week, the Queen Anne Farmers Market will be back in action at W Crockett Street from 3 to 7:30 p.m. today, Thursday, June 9.

Photo by Laura Levy, courtesy of the Queen Anne Farmers Market.

In addition the the long list fresh items and vendors available at the market each week, there will be a chef demo with Vuong Loc of Queen Anne’s Portage Restaurant and Madrona’s June at 4 p.m. in the chef tent. From the QAFM website:

Chef Loc moved to Seattle in 2006 after working all over the country from New York to Hawaii. With an approach to cooking that centers on simple preparations with refined craftsmanship and a commitment to sourcing only outstanding product, we can’t wait to see what he prepares after a shopping trip at the market.

At 5 p.m. there will be live music courtesy of vocalist and guitarist Beth Whitney.

As if the live music, chef demos, and all around food-centric festivities at the market weren’t enough, Charley+May owner Lauren Formicola will be holding an After Market Wine Tasting from 6 to 9 p.m. every Thursday at her shop, located at 2225 Queen Anne Ave N, until the end of the Queen Anne Farmers Market season.

Check out more photos from opening day at the Queen Anne Farmers Market Facebook page. For more information on the market and its week-to-week events, check out the new QAFM website.

The Upper Queen Anne All the Best Pet Care hosted an alternative, natural dog food feast called “Let Us Cook for Your Wolf” for Valentine’s Day on Monday evening. The event benefited Old Dog Haven, a group working to help Western Washington’s senior dog population through adoptions and senior dog placement.

Two guest chefs, All the Best owner Susan Moss and Julia Forbes, of “The Dog Talk Show“, specializing in canine cooking, served up a scrumptious dinner for Queen Anne’s dogs. The event only raised $110 dollars, but All the Best marketing coordinator Stella Brockbank says it was well worth it.

“So many cute faces attended,” she wrote. “Thanks to all our Queen Anne customers who attended this fun event for a great cause!”

Want to donate to or get involved with Old Dog Haven? Find out how here.

In true holiday fashion, Queen Anne Presbyterian Church will be hosting a benefit concert for the Queen Anne Helpline this Wednesday, December 22 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the church’s sanctuary, located at 414 W Howe Street.

The music for the evening will be courtesy of a brass quintet, including Michael Davis and four other Roosevelt High School jazz band alumni, playing arrangements of classic and favorite holiday tunes.

“It’s a brass quintet of outstanding musicians,” says Pastor Doug Early.

Admission to the event is free, though the church will be accepting donations, all of which will go directly to the Queen Anne Helpline to support the work it does in the community. The Queen Anne Helpline offers assistance to community members and neighbors “confronting personal crisis and unexpected life transitions.”

We lend a helping hand to neighbors fighting hunger and homelessness. We facilitate an individual’s move out of poverty by supporting training and educational programs. And we promote Queen Anne neighborhood pride in our tradition of being an inclusive compassionate community by participating in neighborhood events and activities.

Find out more about the Queen Anne Helpline and where your donation will go here.

Kittens that are currently in foster care will be available for adoption during a special event sponsored by the Seattle Animal Shelter. You can adopt two kittens for the price of one. The shelter has already provided spay/neuter, vaccinations and microchip. The adoption event takes place this Sunday, August 8 at the Whole Foods in Interbay from 11am to 1pm.

You can find more information here.

Celebrate the 4th of July at Seattle’s only midnight marathon, the Firecracker 5000 5K at Seattle Center tonight, Saturday, July 3. The Independence Day themed run will begin at 11:55 p.m., when an expected 1,200 runners will follow a course around the center in 4th of July spirit!

Top Pot Doughnuts and Buca di Beppo will be providing sustenance at the start/finish line inside Memorial Stadium.

If you still want to register for the race, you can do so on the Firecracker website. The event is being put on by Club Northwest.

Over 1,600 runners, walkers and bicyclists participated in the second-ever Seattle LIVESTRONG Challenge at Seattle Center on June 19 and 20, raising over $800,000 for cancer research in just one weekend.

The funds raised through the event, which was supported by 9,100 donors, will go toward supporting cancer survivorship programs and initiatives.

It was a thrill to see so many in Seattle join with the LIVESTRONG Challenge to combat all forms of cancer,” United States Congressman Jay Inslee said in a press release issued Monday. “Whether they ran, walked, biked, donated or volunteered, each participant contributed another powerful weapon in the fight against cancer.”

“We express our thanks to Seattle for being terrific hosts and welcoming us to this beautiful city for such an important cause,” said LIVESTRONG President and CEO Doug Ulman. “The crowds who joined us this weekend are a testament to the commitment of so many who, with LIVESTRONG, strive to stand up and fight against cancer.”

In the two years since it began, the Seattle LIVESTRONG Challenge and its participants have raised more than $2 million, and the program itself has raised over $350 million nationwide to support cancer survivors since its inception in 1997.

For more information, visit the LIVESTRONG Challenge website.

Both the Garfield and Roosevelt High School jazz bands will be in concert at Seattle Center’s McCaw Hall at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, June 9. Both bands were top finalists for the 2010 Essentially Ellington Festival Awards, with Garfield taking First Place (for the second year in a row) and Roosevelt earning an honorable mention.

The jazz bands have just returned from the Essentially Ellington Competition in New York, and have decided to put on a show as leaders in high school jazz bands nationwide. The concert is “pay what you can,” with a suggested donation of $20 at the door to benefit the bands, their high school music programs and the Seattle Center Foundation. Both bands will be performing “big band standards, including the great works of Duke Ellington.”

Although you likely received notification from the U.S. Postal Service about its annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, we wanted to make sure you don’t forget to put out nonperishable foods for your letter carrier Saturday, May 8 if you want to participate.

The Postal Service asks that you donate items such as canned meats and fish, canned soup, juice, pasta, vegetables, cereal and rice, but make sure they’re not expired and that they’re not in glass containers. Don’t forget to get your donation out to the mailbox before your letter carrier arrives.

The food will be delivered to local food banks such as North Helpline, which helps families in North Seattle.

In the past two months the FRIENDS of Gilman Urban Gardens have converted a regular old median into a community-run cooperative garden, garnering attention from urban gardening author Darrin Nordahl and King County Councilmember Larry Phillips, who both dropped by the garden this week.

Nordahl, Councilmember Phillips, and Gilman Urban Gardens founder Charlie Hoselton help plant a tree. (Photo courtesy of Charlie Hoselton).

Tomorrow Saturday, May 8, the garden will entertain another special guest, Seattle Tilth‘s Natural Soil Building Program Manager Laura Matter. Laura will be at the garden from 10 a.m. to noon to chat with gardeners and community members about the project, soil building, plant watering, pest and weed control and anything else related to the art of gardening, according to Hoselton.

The Gilman Urban Gardens is currently working to install a sprinkler and watering system, and is planning on applying for a Neighborhood Matching Fund grant in the coming year.

Author Elinor Lipman will be doing a reading from her latest novel, The Family Man, a “humorous and heartfelt social satire,” at Queen Anne Books at 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 8. Here’s how QA Books describes the read:

A hysterical phone call from Henry Archer’s ex-wife and a familiar face in a photograph upend his well-ordered life and bring him back into contact with the child he adored, a short-term stepdaughter from a misbegotten marriage long ago. Henry is a lawyer, an old-fashioned man, gay, successful, lonely. Thalia is now twenty-nine, an actress-hopeful, estranged from her newly widowed eccentric mother—Denise, Henry’s ex. Hoping it will lead to better things for her career, Thalia agrees to pose as the girlfriend of a horror-movie luminary who is down on his romantic luck. When Thalia and her complicated social life move into the basement of Henry’s Upper West Side townhouse, she finds a champion in her long-lost father, and he finds new life—and maybe even new love—in the commotion.

There will time for a reading, discussion, signing, and or course, a few snacks. Read up on Elinor’s other books here.

L.A. singer-songwriter Greg Laswell is going to be performing live at Easy Street Records at 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 8. Here’s what Easy Street has to say:

With bright, orchestral melodies, melancholy and soul-searching lyrics, he’s won legions of fans and has become a favorite of film and television music supervisors.

Greg will be playing songs off of his brand new album Take a Bow. Check it out here.

(As always, thanks to Easy Street Records for the picture!)

Over the last year FOLKpark has been awarded two city grants, held a number of community meetings and park clean-ups, and helped develop a conceptual plan for the redevelopment of Lower Kinnear Park. Now the organization is preparing to take the next steps: raising the funds necessary to actually instigate the enhancement plan.

This Thursday, May 6 at 7 p.m. FOLKpark invites community members to participate in an informal meeting and help brainstorm fundraising and event ideas for the next phase of the park’s redevelopment. The meeting will be held at the Ten Mercer restaurant, located at, you guessed it, 10 Mercer St. in Lower Queen Anne, and will last approximately one hour.

“Now that the enhancement plans to Lower Kinnear Park have been finalized, our fund raising efforts will now move into full swing. Your help is now truly needed!” said FOLKpark Volunteer Coordinator Phil Prahst.

Phil asks that anyone planning to attend please RSVP by either emailing him at philprahst@gmail.com, or joining the event on Facebook.

Ballard may have Scandinavian pride in troves, but here in Queen Anne we have the Swedish Women’s Chorus! The Chorus, a staple of Swedish heritage in Seattle since 1951, is having its annual spring concert and auction this Friday, April 30 at the Swedish Cultural Center, located at 1920 Dexter Ave N–just in time to kick off Sweden Week at the Seattle Center (May 2 to 9).

Doors open at 6 p.m. and the concert will begin at 7 p.m. Drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and gift baskets (part of the silent auction) will be available for purchase. All proceeds will be benefit the Chorus.

Anyone interested in joining the Chorus is welcome to drop in on one of the group’s weekly meetings, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday from September through May.

No Swedish nor an audition is necessary to join, just a love for singing with a bunch of great ladies!  For more information, please contact Judy Womack Judy317317@msn.com or 206-937-3285.

(Thanks to Annika Dragovich for the photo!)

This Saturday, April 24, is the annual Comcast Cares Day at McClure Middle School. Volunteers from Comcast, City Year, McClure staff, students and parents, and community members will work together to transform McClure and the Queen Anne Community Center through a day of service.

From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. volunteers will be working on landscaping projects, fixing up individual and community rooms, assembling shelving units and benches, and painting murals.

Community members interested in volunteering a few hours of time are encouraged to show up and lend a hand. For more information, download the event flier (.pdf), or contact City Year Corps Member Trisha Yalong at (206) 766-0056 or tyalong10@cityyear.org.

Vermont-based author Howard Frank Mosher will be at Queen Anne Books at 3 p.m. this Sunday, April 11 to talk about his latest novel Walking to Gatlinburg. Mosher, who has written ten novels and a travel memoir, will be presenting an informative slide show called “Transforming History into Fiction: the Story of a Born Liar.”

Where do the boundaries lie between history and fiction?  How far can a novelist go in appropriating and “transforming” history into fiction?  Using his personal slides, and stories from his travels to the old Erie Canal, Pennsylvanian Amish country, the battlefield at Gettysburg, historical sectors of Richmond, and the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains, Mosher will discuss his use of historical events and characters in his just-released Civil War novel, Walking to Gatlinburg.  As part of his research for the novel, Mosher read more than 100 Civil War histories and novels – his favorites are Cold Mountain and The Killer Angels – and retraced the entire trek of the novel’s hero, Morgan Kinneson, from northern Vermont to the Smokies.

For more information, check out the Queen Anne Books website (where they’ve also reviewed Mosher’s latest book).

From 7 to 9 p.m. tonight, Thursday, April 8, FOLKpark will hold its third and final community meeting to present the final concept design for the redevelopment of Lower Kinnear Park. The concept design was created by HBB Landscape Architecture based on community input from the first two meetings.

To get an idea of what the final design entails before the meeting, take a look at the enhancement plan (.pdf). As always, the community meeting is open to the public and will be held at Bayview Manor, located at 11 W. Aloha St.

After this weekend’s fatal car accident, the Youth & Families Initiative caucus that was scheduled for this evening has been postponed. Mayor Mike McGinn’s office confirms that the town hall will not be held tonight. A new date has not been determined.

During Mayor Mike McGinn’s inaugural address, he announced the formation of the Youth & Families Initiative. Next Monday, the Mayor will join El Centro de la Raza Executive Director Estela Ortega to talk about the initiative. The Mayor hopes these community town hall meetings will help shape his agenda on issues affecting youth and families from a child’s birth to their successful career track.

The community caucus will be held Monday, April 5th from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Ballard High School Library (1418 NW 65th St.) Here is an informational video about the Youth & Families Initiative.