The Wildrose’s E Pike home is a grand old dame — 106 years old, to be exact. Over the years, there have been some rather unorthodox repairs and modifications and sometimes the building’s old bones need help. This weekend, the lesbian bar is making the best of work underway in the building that has made the ‘Rose’s dance floor unavailable.
Here are details on the Wildrose Breast Cancer Memorial Wall:
The Wildrose, Seattle’s premier Lesbian destination venue for over a quarter of a century is currently experiencing some construction. The floor typically used for the DJ booth and dance floor has been overtaken with a false wall which shields the construction activities and allows the joint to stay open for business. A side-effect of this is a huge plywood wall. The ladies at The Wildrose have dreamt up a brilliant use for this wall! Starting tomorrow (Friday, October 7), this wall will become “The Wildrose Breast Cancer Memorial Wall”.
The wall will be painted over in solid pink, and from tomorrow at 6PM until Tuesday (October 11) at close, patrons, Breast Cancer supporters and survivors and everyone in between will be able to come to The Wildrose and contribute to “The Wildrose Breast Cancer Memorial Wall”. Participants can contribute a name of someone precious to them who has passed, a thought relevant to the Breast Cancer struggle, or a note of hope for those immersed in the Breast Cancer battle. It’s all welcome! There will also be a donation box at the wall where people who can afford to can leave donations. On Tuesday at closing time, The Wildrose will collect the box, count the donations, MATCH the donations, and all donations will go to Gilda’s Club.
You would think that would be enough, but that’s not all! After Tuesday, when the deadline for contributions to the wall has come to pass, the wall will be painted over in clear coat in order to preserve what is there. When the walls come down, they will be stored until it’s time for Gay Pride. They will be erected again, perhaps with additional panels, in the famous Wildrose Beer Garden. People will again be able to contribute and add to “The Wildrose Breast Cancer Memorial Wall”. This will become an annual component to the programming of Wildrose’s Pride festivities. Eventually, all of the fencing erected to secure the area that makes up The Wildrose Beer Garden will proudly display this living memorial. The ladies at The Wildrose couldn’t think of a prettier sight.
We’re told the work has to do with a part of the building taken out years ago — long before the Wildrose — to make way for a pool table. The building was starting to show some damage from the missing support so the $35,000 construction project was launched. The Wintston Apartments building, by the way, is basically off the market right now after no buyer bit on the $4.65 million price tag.
The Wildrose effort isn’t the only breast cancer awareness activity going on in the ‘hood. Over on 12th, CHS advertiser High 5 Pie is bedecked in pink and is donating a portion of its proceeds to fighting cancer:
In September of 2007, we lost our dear friend Noelle,just a month before her 41st birthday. To try to speak of Noelle’s memory seems odd, almost unfair, because she was too big to be relegated to memory, too big to be gone, and too full of life to have had it taken from her. What keeps us dedicated and re-dedicated to this cause is the fact that maybe we can fight this so that one day no one will have to know this heartache.
The dance floor is still open, however, construction necessitated a false wall to be built. This is the memorial wall. And the repairs stem from a garage door that was installed long, long ago. Please come in and leave a note on the Wall!