Murder of Crows show at Retrofit

The Blitz Capitol Hill Arts Walk is celebrating its first birthday in style with 55 parties over three hours Thursday night.

“I always feel like it’s a party, but this’ll be a big party,” said Audrey McManus, Blitz coordinator. “This is the most [venues] we’ve ever had.”

The revamped arts walk kicked things off last June with its first official Blitz night under the lead of Ellen Forney. The monthly walk is supported in part by the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and is organized by a group of mostly unpaid volunteers. CHS is a proud sponsor of the event.

To celebrate their anniversary, Blitz is kicking off festivities with volunteer-guided “fake mustache” tours at different points on the Hill, beginning at 6 PM Forney’s Fake Mustache Walking Tour begins at Catalyst, the North Broadway Stiletto Tour (for the fancier types) starts at Roy Street Coffee & Tea, and McManus’ Mustache Walking Tour leaves from Fetherston Gallery. It’s BYOM (bring your own moustache), but they’ve got you covered if you can’t grow one in time.

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For those who aren’t looking for an uphill battle, the Radio Point Downhill Mustache Walking Tour meets at InArtsNW on 17th and Olive, (across from Trader Joes) and goes downhill from there. There’s also a Kids Moustache Walking Tour, which meets at Bootyland at 5 p.m. (That party is BYOA – bring your own adult). 

“Every month we get people who want to participate, and email us asking if we all meet somewhere, but we don’t actually have a ‘group,’” said McManus. “There definitely seems to be an interest in a group art walk, so for the 1-year anniversary we are doing that.”

Blitz patrons will also get an exclusive sneak peek at the Sound Transit construction wall art. Lead artist DK Pan and Sound Transit will lead the unveiling with the help of local performers and artists. On display will be a large work-in-progress mural by BASO, a photo installation by Phong Le with musical performances by The Toy Boats. The official wall project unveiling happens during Pride Week.

City Arts Magazine will host a “Best of the Art Walk Award” at the soon-to-be dearly-departed-from-11th Ave Grey Gallery starting at 8:30 p.m. Attendees can vote for a favorite artist of the night, and a small group of judges will determine the final winner. The winning artist gets a cash prize and a headlining profile story in City Arts Magazine.

Where there’s art, there’s food, so make sure to use your nose while going from place to place.

“Lots of the venues have refreshments. I’ve seen people outside grilling… Throwbacks Northwest tends to have a grill out,” said McManus. “There might be a barbecue in the courtyard at Ghost Gallery, too.”

CHS double dog dares you to try and go to every venue on the Blitz art walk map, which you can find here. Many venues are featuring Pride artists in celebration (and anticipation) of Pride 2010. The Blitz after-party is at Grey Gallery starting at 8:30, and, as usual, the Unicorn is hosting the after-after party at 9.

In the years to come, Blitz volunteers hope to keep expanding. They want to have sidewalk sandwich and message boards for participating businesses, art walk flags to fly in the summer and official Blitz umbrellas. McManus, who also manages marketing and education for Babeland, said the group hopes to add more art on 15th Ave. and north Broadway, and are exploring how to make the experience even better for patrons by revamping their art walk map.

If you’re interested in getting involved with Blitz, either as a participating business or as a volunteer, e-mail [email protected] for more information. The Tuesday after Blitz, volunteers get together, so that’s a good time to check in, too. This month’s meeting will be at Vermillion on Tuesday at 7 PM.