Tesla!
While there was sad news for one of the street’s long time businesses, Sunday was a time for celebration of the independent-focused shops, restaurants, bars, and neighbors of 15th Ave E.
The first ever 15th Ave E Sidewalk Festival brought housemade tonic from Smith and groovy tunes from Trickbag Record Party onto the street in front of Smith. Up the street, the Wandering Goose was ready with cheddar and scallion biscuits. Coastal Kitchen partied with its “fries with eyes” — fried smelt from the Oregon coast. And the nerds from Ada’s had a Tesla coil. Add a few musicians up and down the street and you had an extra special Sunday afternoon stroll on 15th Ave E.
More pictures below.
Also, some customer research:
UPDATE: Winning! :)
@jseattle wins at 15th st fair pic.twitter.com/X82uxDfheS
— jacksonreporter (@jacksonreporter) September 7, 2014
The 15th Sidewalk Festival was great! If the organizers are reading this and want suggestions for next year, it’d be great to have more food for sale at the sidewalks (like several places doing $5 for a plate of something) and to have the bands have more space (like in the gas station, QFC, Key Bank, or 15th Ave Video parking lots, or close off a side street and set up there). Great turnout this year, and I bet it could be even bigger next year!
Also, someone wrote on comments for the Volunteer Park Trust on that whiteboard in one of the pictures, and I definitely want to agree with the comment that Volunteer Park could really use an outdoor cafe. Outside the Asian Art Museum or the Conservatory (or even both) would be amazing and also a great way to generate funds for those museums.
That was a fun event! We couldn’t have asked for more beautiful weather to enjoy the festival in.
Gasp, a cafe at Volunteer Park would be fantastic! Having the option to get edibles and beverages on site would be a great option for those not wanting to pack it in.
I’ve been commenting for years to family and friends that a nice cafe at Volunteer Park would be great. People could get coffee, lunch, desserts, maybe even wine. Due to Seattle’s weather, perhaps design it so that it would still look beautiful during the winter months and more open during the summer months like Bryant Park in NYC.