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On September 16th there was a groundbreaking ceremony for Swedish Ballard’s new 90,000 square-foot building which will be located on Tallman Ave NW near Market Street. The building will house a new, expanded emergency department; an expanded medical imaging center; a primary care clinic and offices; and office space for a variety of specialty physicians.  The five-story building is scheduled to be complete in the fall of 2010 and will be located next to the existing Medical Plaza Building.

If you’re heading to the free concert series at The Locks today or spending your Saturday at Golden Gardens, head up the hill and check out Parfait Organic Artisan Ice Cream.  It is a mobile operation, run out of a retrofitted UPS bus and serves up some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted.  Made entirely from scratch, the flavors include Meyer Lemon Bar and Butter Toffee Crunch.  Even the butter toffee is homemade!  The bus is parked outside of the Sunset Hill Cafe Fiore location on Saturdays, at the corner of 85th and 32nd, from 1-5pm.  Yummm…

If you live in Ballard (or have ever sat at the bar and enjoyed a conversation with an old-timer at the Sloop, the Lockspot, or any of the other great taverns in the area) you are aware of Ballard’s rich Nordic history.  But have you ever been to the Nordic Heritage Museum?  Located in the old Daniel Webster Elementary School building at the corner of 30th and 67th NW, it is a must see for any Ballardite.  Their current exhibition, “Nordics and Seattle’s First World’s Fair: Celebrating the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition” runs through Sunday, September 6th.

My daughter and I stopped into Me ‘N Moms this morning to look around and I saw a sign for Tuesdays in Ballard.  Throughout the summer I have noticed the posters in shop windows and restaurants but strangely the signs tell little of what the event is about.  After doing a bit of asking around I found that it is a promotion, sponsored by the In Ballard Merchants Association, that is intended to drive business into the neighborhood on an otherwise slow day.  Many shops and restaurants participate by offering discounts or other perks.  Me ‘N Moms was discounting summer merchandise by 20% for today only.  Today is the second to last Tuesday of the event.  If you’re looking for something to do on a drizzly afternoon in Ballard, check out the website and see if anything strikes your fancy.