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One of our Ballard Blog readers weighs in with some dog park comments:

Some dog owners think that dog parks and particularly Golden Gardens Dog Park is nasty.

The dust raised on the dry summer days may not be all that hygienic. The mud after a rain bring joy to a dog and those that don’t like to wipe their dogs down before returning home don’t often return to the park.

The complaints about aggressive dogs and owners who lack any responsibility for their dog or dogs seem to create upsets with some dog owners who would rather take their dog to the Golden Gardens beach area desite the legal restrictions and fines.

Some dog owners are trying to get a bit of Golden Gardens beach area set aside for another dog park. If successful will this park too become unexceptable by those who are not happy with our present park?

Others, including myself think that the Golden Gardens Dog Park is just great. We enjoy the people there as well as the dogs. Dog people are as diverse as their dogs. And many dog people have more in common than just having a dog. We have made many friends with other dog lovers at Golden Gardens Dog Park.

In the past two years we have only encountered a few aggressive dogs who have quickly been taken from the park if their owners see their dogs heating up. Those owners who feel they can come and read a book and ignore their dog don’t stay long and are reminded to pick up after their dog.

Most dogs are boistress, active and happy to run free regardless of their owners feelings about the subject. Our dogs have never come home with a flea or had an upset from playing at the park. Their immune systems are probably higher than a housebound dog’s.

Although some dogs are just not a good candidate for dog parks, most would be if their owners were more forgiving of rough-housing , dirt, mud and occasional fights, which by the way are almost always broken up before they become serious. Of course taking a known aggressive dog to any dog park is not advised. We as dog owners are responsible for any damage our dogs might do.

Watching dogs interact is amazing. Socialized dogs are much more humane than we are as a rule. Getting to know more about your dog and its interation with other people and dogs is a great benefit.

I do take pictures of the dogs at Golden Gardens Dog Park and put them up on the website http://atthedogpark.info. This site is not for profit but for fun.

Marj

This came in from one of our readers:

I hope everyone is enjoying this HOT weather we’re having! I’m sitting here in my office with the window open and I’m still sweltering!

I just wanted to send a quick update on the next East Ballard Community Association event on  Tuesday August 4th. There’s a big event in Seattle called “Night Out”, which is sponsored by the Seattle Police Department. All of citizens of Seattle (actually the whole nation) is allowed to close down their block for free for a community get together on that night. The East Ballard Community Association is here to help you get your block party started! To find out more, check out my latest blog entry at http://eastballard.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/august-night-out-in-east-ballard/

Also, I got some requests from folks on the Walking Tour for info about EBCA’s Branding and Beautification effort. Here’s a link to my blog entry talking about this effort. It also has a list of the plants we used in the planting strip on 14th Ave NW and NW 58th: http://eastballard.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/east-ballard-branding-and-beautification-project/

To stay informed on the what’s going on in East Ballard, check out our blog at http://eastballard.wordpress.com/
If you want to automatically receive an email whenever the blog is updated, click on the link under “SUBSCRIBE” on our blog site
or join us in FaceBook on the East Ballard Community Association page.
Please forward this message to anyone who may be interested.
Please respond to this message if you’d like to be removed from this mailing.

Regards,
Dawn Hemminger
East Ballard Community Association
206-953-3940

The Ballard Blog is going to be posting your Ballard 4th of July celebration 2009 pictures. WE WILL NEED YOUR PHOTOS. Please send us your best shots. These need to be from Ballard only. They can be photos of public fireworks displays viewed from Ballard, or fireworks from a backyard barbecue. Parades and other 4th of July events too. We look forward to displaying your Ballard Fourth of July pictures! Just use the email link on the right.

Thank you, and Happy 4th of July!

It’s almost time again for the 9th Annual Ballard P-Patch Art in the Garden party. Enjoy a wonderful walk through the garden while listening to some awesome musicians and viewing amazing artworks…all for sale…by our local artists.

Have a beer and brat on the patio and dessert at our infamous bake sale. This year we will be adding a silent auction and a “Bacchus Crown” tent, where you can make your own crown from flowers, herbs and ribbons.

Last year was loads of fun and one of the best local events in the city. Come join us this year. Visit our website at BallardGardenParty.com. Here you will find the artists and the musician lineup, pictures of last years event and more.

Ballard Art in the Garden party

Ballard P-Patch: NW 85th and 25th NW
Saturday, July 18th
10am to 6pm

Free Parking and Admission

Schedule of Events:
· Live music 10am through 6pm
· Over 20 local artists displaying and selling their works
· Free coffee & doughnuts &10% off art 10-11am.
· Free hotdogs and lemonade for the kids.
· Free door prizes every hour on the hour.
· Wine & cheese tasting by local artisans.
· Beer & brat garden.
· Bake sale including yummy whole pies and assorted pastries.
· Bacchus Crown Making.
· Silent Auction.

What’s not to like about an all day party in the garden. All money raised goes to support our community garden. So please invite your family and your friends.

Although this is not in Ballard, we wanted to remind our readers that the 2^nd Annual Seattle Brain Cancer Walk will be held on May 30 at Mercer Island High School, http://www.braincancerwalk.org/, is an important event dedicated to providing hope and creating community for the 1,500 patients in the Pacific Northwest who face mankind’s deadliest form of cancer – brain cancer.

Who:  Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment at Swedish’s Neuroscience Institute

What:  2^nd Annual Seattle Brain Cancer Walk

When: May 30, 2009

Where:  Mercer Island High school Track

How:  www.braincancerwalk.org

From the The Seattle Weekly:

Join Seattle Weekly’s managing editor, Mike Seely, for a book signing and happy hour at Ballard’s Sunset Tavern this Friday celebrating his awesome new book, Seattle’s Best Dive Bars: Drinking & Diving in the
Emerald City (Ig Publishing, $12.95).

Every section of prose seems to capture a little bit of its subject’s soul, sometimes in anecdote and sometimes in a glorious description of liquids, grime and characters.

Seely’s broham Tim Seely (armyoftim.com) will host and promises to sing Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” in special tribute to his sibling. Mike promises to “get on the Lionel (Richie) train.” I hear he’s into duets.

SEATTLE, WA, MAY 12th, 2009: A time capsule possibly containing mementos and unknown treasures from decades ago will be opened at 3pm on June 7th, 2009, at the Leif Erikson Lodge 2-001, Sons of Norway, Leif Erikson Hall in Ballard.
 
Last month, Russ Oberg, President of Leif Erikson Lodge 2-001, Sons of Norway, and Tom Stang, Retired Consul of the Royal Norwegian Consulate and a Past President of the Lodge were called in when demolition crews discovered the capsule at the site of the Mountaineers Club, formerly the Norway Center building, which was then better know as “The Norselander”, located at 300 3rd Ave West in Seattle. They were given both the time capsule and the actual cornerstone from the building.
 
On January 24, 1915, the combined efforts of Leif Erikson Lodge 2-001, Sons of Norway, and Valkyrien Lodge No. 1, Daughters of Norway, resulted in the laying of the cornerstone for Norway Hall at 2015 Boren Ave in Seattle, then the heart of the Norwegian community of Seattle. It was sold to build Norway Center. On May 2, 1979, the building was designated a Seattle Landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Board and is now owned by Cornish College of the Arts. 
 
On June 7, 1949, the property for the new center of the local Norwegian world was purchased and soon construction began on the Norway Center, at the corner of Third Avenue West and West Thomas Street at the foot of Queen Anne Hill. The cornerstone dedication took place on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1950. Local legend indicates the time capsule was relocated from Norway Hall, which was built in 1915, transferred, added to, and resealed for this new cornerstone dedication.
 
By 1983 the bills and operating losses mounted and it was decided to sell the building to the Mountaineers. Norway Center/Mountaineers building is now almost completely demolished. The Leif Erikson Lodge held meetings at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard until our current home was completed and on November 1, 1986, we celebrated our grand opening.
 
Now 60 years later, we’re going to unseal and open the time capsule at our current home, the Leif Erikson Hall, 2245 NW 57th Street in Seattle. Members of the Sons of Norway; the Valkyrien Lodge No. 1, Daughters of Norway; and the Norwegian Male Chorus will be in attendance. The press is invited to examine the cornerstone and time capsule prior to it’s opening, beginning at 2:30. After a brief ceremony, the capsule will be opened and its contents displayed for all to see.
 
NOTE: June 7th is a particularly important day in Norwegian history, as it’s the day Norway dissolved it’s union with Sweden in 1905 (the birth of Norway as a separate nation) It’s also the date that the King left Norway in 1940 because of World War II, and the same date he returned in 1945!

Mike Seely, of The Seattle Weekly, has written a book about Seattle’s best “dive bars”. Tonight he’ll be in Ballard to read from his extensively researched book. He is quite humorous. I listened to him on KOUW radio the other day. This book obviously took years of time, thought, and extensive drinking.

Read about the tour here.
And read about the book: Seattle’s Best Dive Bars.

Where: Abraxus Books
5711 24th Ave NW in the old Ballard Public Library

This is not an actual Ballard event, but we thought we’d make an exception here because cancer touches everyone’s lives.

May is National Brain Tumor Awareness month and as a result, Swedish Hospital is gearing up for its 2^nd Annual Seattle Brain Cancer Walk, May 30, 2009 on Mercer Island.    http://www.braincancerwalk.org/

This important event is dedicated to providing hope and creating community for the 1,500 patients in the Pacific Northwest who face mankind’s deadliest form of cancer – brain cancer. With most patients given a survival rate of 1-2 years, the Seattle Brain Cancer Walk is an important tribute to the fight for time, hope and new treatment options.

Benefitting the Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment at Swedish’s Neuroscience Institute, the Seattle Brain Cancer Walk raises funds to support ground-breaking research and dedicated patient care right here in our community.

Last year 22,000 Americans, including Senator Ted Kennedy, were diagnosed with brain cancer. Only two treatments for brain cancer have been approved by the FDA in the last 25 years. Last year, the Seattle Brain Cancer Walk brought out 500 participants and raised more than $100,000 to support research for new treatments.

May 30^th will be a day to celebrate life and to learn about the important work at the Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment.  Please come join the hundreds of your community members in fighting this disease.  Registration can be found at http://www.braincancerwalk.org/

Who:  Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment at Swedish’s Neuroscience Institute

What:  2^nd Annual Seattle Brain Cancer Walk

When: May 30, 2009

Where:  Mercer Island High school Track

How:  www.braincancerwalk.org

Ballard Families: “Do you have clothes from your laundry room, toys from your kids’ rooms, and odds and ends stored in your garage starting to spill out and invade your living spaces? Does your home need some major design updating?

They’re looking for couples and families to appear on a new design makeover show for a major cable network. This show focuses on couples whose homes are messy, cluttered and disorganized. Their team (an organizer, designer, and carpenter) will organize and redesign rooms in your home at no cost to the homeowner. You just have to be able to let go of the clutter and have a real desire to get organized!

They start shooting very soon.

Send your story along with pictures of your mess and yourselves to: makeovertvshow@gmail.com”

LEE CHRISTOFFERSON
Producer

Screaming Flea Productions
5950 6th Ave. South, Suite 109
Seattle, WA  98108
(206) 763-3383 x202
(206) 412-3660 cell
www.sfpseattle.com