A better use for Capitol Hill’s parks will be here next week as Pride celebrations begin across Seattle. Saturday brings the start of the 2025 festivities with the annual Pride in the Park party in Volunteer Park:
SeattleĀ Pride in the ParkĀ is back and louder than ever onĀ Saturday, June 7, from noon to 7 p.m. at VolunteerĀ Park!
This free, family-friendly LGBTQIA2S+ event brings together community, culture, and celebration with: Continue reading
Saturday’s counter-protest crowd faced a line of Seattle Police officers in riot gear
As the Seattle Police Department says it made eight new arrests as protesters squared off with fundamentalist Christian groups calling for the mayor’s resignation outside City Hall Tuesday night, organizers are crowing about another evangelical event they say is planned for Cal Anderson Park in August.
Mayor Bruce Harrell and Seattle officials, it seems, have a scheduling problem.
Anti-LGBTQ Christian groups said Tuesday they have a permit to hold a “Revive in 25” rally on Saturday, August 30th in the popular Capitol Hill park.
UPDATE 5/28/2025 3:20 PM: A parks spokesperson said Wednesday afternoon that the August permit “has not been granted” but went on to say that officials are working with organizers on finding a new location for the event.
“[The organizers] recently requested to move their event to a different park, and we are discussing options with them,” the spokesperson said.
(Image: Alex Garland/CHS)
With reporting by Hannah Saunders
Seattle Police moved on counter-protesters at a fundamentalist Christian group’s rally Saturday afternoon in Cal Anderson Park. Multiple arrests and injuries were reported.
Groups were in the park to protest against a provocative rally organized by a Spokane fundamentalist church. CHS reported here on the planned “#DontMessWithOurKids” rally.
The clash with police came hours into the gathering as a phalanx of bicycle police moved into position near the front of a large crowd of counter-protesters near the rally stage and suddenly advanced on the crowd using their bikes and batons. Continue reading
A sign at Seattle’s May Day rally in Cal Anderson Park
May 2025 will be a busy month for First Amendment activities in Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park. Counterprotests are being planned as one of the state’s largest “charismatic” churches is bringing a “#DontMessWithOurKids” rally to the popular neighborhood park next week.
“May 24th at Cal Anderson Park, weāre standing for truth, justice, and life,” the promotion from On Fire Ministries reads. “We are raising our voices against the evils of sex trafficking and the tragedy of abortion ā and we are defending the sanctity of the nuclear family.” Continue reading
Seattle May Day crowds crossing Broadway Thursday afternoon (Image: CHS)
With reporting by Matt Dowell
A sunny Seattle May Day 2025 saw thousands rallying for worker and immigration rights fill Cal Anderson Park and march from Capitol Hill to downtown Thursday afternoon.
Crowds grew from the noontime rally with hundreds of workers from multiple unions and labor groups joining hundreds and hundreds more from community and activist groups. Plenty also showed up to protest the second Trump administration and the White House’s ongoing worker cuts in key science, health, safety, and transportation departments and attacks on spending on federal programs.
A very rough survey of the signage yielded these stats: 25% in support of democracy and against fascism, 16% tired of Elon Musk, 15% wanting an end to Trump and Project 2025, 11% supporting immigrants and abolishment of I.C.E. Among the remaining causes represented: workers, Ukraineās war effort, Trans rights, empathy, and an end to chaos. Specifically, āStop the poo flinging chaos monkeysā.
Still, a common thread emerged.
āWeāre out here for solidarity between labor and the migrant community,ā said Corinne Cosentino, business manager at the OPEIU Local 8 union. OPEIU represents employees working in offices, health and home care, housing, social services, the insurance industry, legal services and the public sector. āThis is an outlet for people’s need to stand up.ā
Kong Barry of the UFCW 3000, which represents nearly 30,000 workers in grocery stores like Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC, and Albertsons, said that as billionaires take over, workers need to band together to āget some of the pieā. Livable wages, healthcare, pensions – these are all things her union fights for. An immigrant herself, she said that many are simply looking for a better life in America. āWhat is so wrong with that?ā
Earlier Thursday, students joined faculty in a walk-out at nearby Seattle Central to protest budget cuts. Continue reading
Former Seattle City Councilmember and AIDS Memorial Pathway champion Tom Rasmussen is putting out a call for volunteers to help with a community clean-up next week:
We are seeking volunteers to help install new plants, and carry out general weeding and cleanup and care around the AIDS Memorial Pathway (the AMP) located at the north end of Cal Anderson Park. The event will be on Tuesday May 6th from 10:00 AM to Noon. Tools and other supplies will be provided by the Seattle Park Department
The pathway’s mix of art, history, and activism connects the north end of Cal Anderson Park and the plaza above Capitol Hill Station.
In 2015, Rasmussen, the first openly gay man on Seattleās City Council, joinedĀ Leonard Garfield, executive director of theĀ Museum of History & Industry, and community volunteerĀ Michele HassonĀ in convening a group of stakeholders to assess interest in a memorial to recognize those lost during the AIDS crisis.
The $2.9 million public-private pathway project was powered by developerĀ Gerding Edlen,Ā Sound Transit,Ā SDOT, Seattle Office of Arts and Culture,Ā andĀ Seattle Parks and RecreationĀ along with major support from community fundraising. Continue reading
Marchers in 2022
It appears Seattle’s labor and worker energy this May Day will center on Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park, an enduring base of First Amendment activity in the city, the site of past May 1st clashes with police, and the core of the 2020 Black Lives Matter CHOP protest camp.
2025’s May Day comes in a string of enthusiastic but mostly peaceful May 1st events in the city following years of intense clashes between police and demonstrators pushed onto the streets of Capitol Hill.
Multiple union and labor groups plus organizations like Washington Community Action Network are urging members and followers to gather for May Day 2025 starting at noon Thursday in the popular park in the center of Capitol Hill and served by multiple transit options including nearby Capitol Hill StationĀ and only a block from East Precinct headquarters.
A rally and afternoon march from the park is planned.
“The event will commence in Capitol Hillās Cal Anderson Park at noon with a rally program before the big march,” one announcement from WashingtonCAN reads. “Bring your friends and family, the more people demanding respect for our siblings the stronger the message will be!” Continue reading
A PrideFest 2025 scene on Broadway
The producer of the events that fill Cal Anderson, Broadway and the Seattle Center with Pride celebrations every June is trying to close a $75,000 gap amid what it says is a nationwide downturn in support for LGBTQ organizations and queer causes and “sponsorship challenges across the country for organizations like ours.”
“Already, we are seeing a loss of about 1/3 of our sponsorship funding (around $225,000 total, or $75,000 down as of April 1),” the call for support reads. “At PrideFest, we are committed to throwing big, beautiful events that are free for all, but it takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce such a large event well, to pay artists, and to make it safe for everyone.”
PrideFest and director Egan Orion organize the annual Pride weekend events that include the party around the Seattle Center fountain that follows the city’s annual Pride parade and the street festival that precedes it and fills Broadway and Cal Anderson with vendors, performances, and fun. Here is a look at the 2024 PrideFest festivities on Capitol Hill. Continue reading
The CHOP “raised fist” remained for a short time following the camp’s clearance
This May will bring the five year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by a Minnesota cop. June will mark five years from the Black Lives Matter protests that followed across the country and in Seattle centered around the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone and Cal Anderson.
This spring, the Seattle Parks department says it is working on a plan to create a new art installation in the popular Capitol Hill park “to commemorate the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, honor Seattleās Black and BIPOC communities, and memorialize those lost to gun violence.”
The new project will join the nearby E Pine Black Lives Matter mural in marking the area’s place in 2020’s unrest. It follows the late 2023 removal of the Black Lives Memorial Garden from the park.
This year’s project will create a new memorial. Continue reading
(Image: SPD)
It isn’t clear how much the East PrecinctĀ has stepped up anti-drug dealing activities around Broadway and Cal Anderson Park or if Seattle Police Department is just putting more focus on the busts but the department has released details of another suspected street dealer arrested by patrol officers on Capitol Hill in recent weeks.
SPD says its officers were “conducting surveillance near Broadway and East Pike Street, when they identified a drug dealer who was approached by several buyers” early last Friday morning.
Police were able to take the suspected dealer into custody without incident near Pike and Boylston. SPD reports officers recovered 20g of suspected Xanax, 1.5g of Methamphetamine, 8.0g of Fentanyl, digital scales, packaging, and $683 cash were recovered from the suspect.
Police say the 32-year-old was also wanted on warrants for Possession of Stolen Vehicle, Theft and Escape, and Criminal Impersonation; and is on Department of Corrections supervision for drug violations. Continue reading
