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Capitol Hill Block Party 2014: Day Three Open Thread

(Image: Jim Bennett/CHBP with permission to CHS)

(Image: Jim Bennett/CHBP with permission to CHS)

A$AP Rocky closes down CHBP 2014 (Image: Jim Bennett/CHBP with permission to CHS)

A$AP Rocky closes down CHBP 2014 (Image: Jim Bennett/CHBP with permission to CHS)

(Image: Ashley Genevieve/CHBP with permission to CHS)

(Image: Ashley Genevieve/CHBP with permission to CHS)

You can’t call it a quieter Sunday finale for Capitol Hill Block Party but Day Three 2014 will wrap the 18th edition of the festival without the typical “big name” on the main stage. Instead, the A$AP Mob will finish its work with rapper Rakim Mayers shaking E Pike.

CHS CHBP 2014 | Day One | Day Two | Day Three

Take advantage of the opportunity. A$AP Rocky joins a Day Three that seems likely to extend Saturday’s feel of a really busy night in the Pike/Pine nightlife district with the occasional concert going off out in the street.

(Image: Jim Bennett/CHBP with permission to CHS)

(Image: Jim Bennett/CHBP with permission to CHS)

Producer Jason Lajeunesse, by the way, is already looking at 2015. He sent us the picture below from CHBP photographer Jim Bennett.

(Image: Jim Bennett/CHBP with permission to CHS)

(Image: Jim Bennett/CHBP with permission to CHS)

“There is  poignant juxtaposition…. residential development and music festival. Next year there will be people living in those apartments,” Lajeunesse writes. CHS wrote here about the Block Party’s relationship to the neighborhood’s changes. We’ll have more soon about what developers are — and aren’t — doing to coexist with Pike/Pine’s nightlife.

CHS intern Rayna Stackhouse caught up with Lajeunesse at the festival Sunday. “It’s been the smoothest year to date,” he said.

Production staff estimate the weekend’s attendance will come around 34,000 people.

Chromeo... and High Voltage (Image: Jim Bennett/CHBP with permission to CHS)

Chromeo… and High Voltage (Image: Jim Bennett/CHBP with permission to CHS)

(Image: Ashley Genevieve/CHBP with permission to CHS)

(Image: Ashley Genevieve/CHBP with permission to CHS)

A less depressing trend? This is the first Block Party with legal pot in Washington. It’s not legal to smoke marijuana outside, however. CHS can report that it is impossible to tell if there is an uptick in the amount of reefer smoke wafting about CHBP in 2014 vs. 2013. But we can say we haven’t noted any increase in reports of police citations for drugs around Block Party. Cal Anderson and Bobby Morris? Police have been a little busier in the park, according to records. What has been on the rise at CHBP? Weed marketing.

You might smell marijuana at Cal Anderson Sunday — but that other smell? That’s victory. The annual Bat ‘n’ Rouge charity softball game begins at 1 PM.

CHS will again be roaming the Block Party on Day Three to see what’s up and what’s going down. You can follow @jseattle on Twitter for notes as we hear about them. Let us know what you see, too. You can email us or call/txt (206) 399-5959.

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Amy
Amy
9 years ago

“There is poignant juxtaposition…. residential development and music festival. Next year there will be people living in those apartments,” Lajeunesse writes.

THIS year there are people living in those apartments. Last year there were people living in those apartments. Neighbors have been annoyed and inconvenienced for years, and we only care about the new development people, for some reason? Like their money is more important than residents who have been pumping money into the Pike/Pine economy for years? Bums me out.

matt
matt
9 years ago
Reply to  Amy

Comments asking Amy to move to Bellevue in 3, 2, 1…

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
9 years ago
Reply to  matt

All she said was that new neighbors next year potentially complaining are not more important than people who already live nearby now. For the record, it’s hard to take seriously the complaints of either if you choose to live right smack I the middle of such a dense neighborhood as this. It’s not like the character of the neighborhood has totally changed all that much in the last few years– there’s just a helluva lot MORE of it.

Common Sense
Common Sense
9 years ago
Reply to  Amy

I love it when people move into a neighborhood where it is known to have a vibrant (and noisy) night life for many decades, complain about the noise. The noise is not the problem here. Perhaps your unrealistic expectations are. If you don’t like Bellevue, there are plenty of nice quiet suburbs throughout the area. Shit, you could move to Queen Anne and still have the city right there, but have peace and quiet. People amaze me!

btwn
btwn
9 years ago

I live on 11th, about 25 yards from the vera stage. For what it’s worth, I think they’re pretty respectful to the neighborhood, and I think it’s good for the neighborhood overall.

The one big difference next year is that there will simply be a lot MORE neighbors, many of which are likely new to seattle (the Viva project next door is apparently 2/3 new), are paying a lot per square foot, and probably didn’t knowingly sign up to be in the middle of a festival.

The main thing I can see needing to change is the timing of the stage setup, which happens between 2AM-6AM Thursday night — think 8-10 guys banging on steel pipes and yelling at each other outside your window for a few hours. It’s hard to sleep through.

I’m rooting for it to continue!

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[…] development and music festival. Next year there will be people living in those apartments,” CHBP producer Jason Lajeunesse told CHS. (Image: Jim Bennett/CHBP with permission to […]

AR
AR
9 years ago

They did a great job cleaning up where the actual block party happened, but on 11th after Pine it is awful. I’ve never seen so much garbage at Cal Anderson. Gross. Also it seems that people think it’s cool to rip down tree limbs and rip up flowers and bushes.

foxconfessor
foxconfessor
9 years ago
Reply to  AR

…which should be replaced through an allowance from the CHBP owners, as well as a general cleaning of the adjacent streets and public areas.
The sidewalks and streets of the French Quarter in NOLA are cleaned with detergent and water on a nightly basis. You’d think the business owners who benefit from the CHBP could, at LEAST, do that for one weekend a year.
Every weekend would make even better sense.

btwn
btwn
9 years ago
Reply to  foxconfessor

I completely agree. The neighborhood is trashed every wednesday-saturday — mostly by people from out of the neighborhood that are attracted to the restaurant/bar scene.

Some establishments are good about cleaning *their* sidewalk, but there’s nothing that spans the neighborhood, and overall it’s incredibly dirty.

I’d love to see the businesses in the neighborhood — maybe the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce? come together and figure out a systemic answer.

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[…] free event in Volunteer Park followed the previous week’s annual return of the Capitol Hill Block Party in Pike/Pine. Capitol Hill will celebrate its third music festival […]