Around 2 on Sunday afternoon, a car caught fire following a 2-car crash at N 39th Street and Fremont Avenue N. Both drivers got out of their cars before the flames erupted, but the driver of the engulfed car was transported to Swedish Medical Center for injuries sustained in the crash. Seattle Fire spokesman Kyle Moore said firefighters were able to put the blaze out quickly with fire-retardant foam.

A few more photos from the celebration…

When I asked these gals what their parade entry was all about, their spokeslady said “I don’t know, we like flowers and we like to relax.”

Happy Solstice!

Snakes are bringing home the bacon…

Star Wars. To the left is a naked lady painted as Darth Vader- (a great but not post-able costume)

A float honoring those killed at Cafe Racer

Fremont’s zombies represented.

A mobile saloon. Did anyone get a beer from these guys?

The tallest lady at the fair,

Are you kidding me? I didn’t dare even try one of these for fear of instant addiction.

One of the many great booths

Fun in the beer garden

Please send us your pics if you’d like to share (tips@fremontuniverse.com).

The long-anticipated Fremont Fair weekend is well underway. Here are a few shots from today’s festivities…

Green man

The Fremont Fair is almost here! To get the most out of the weekend, the fine folks at Fremont Fair have the following tips:

• Shop! Shop! Shop! - Shop the “Center of the Universe” with over 300 vendors lining the streets, plus dozens of boutique shops in the Fremont neighborhood! Do you need something unique for dad’s day? Capable Father has original art and the vendor’s name is just too fitting!

• Get Into Mischief! - Find local distillery Fremont Mischief at the Center of the Universe and the center of the Fremont Fair. The Wine & Spirit Garden is located just outside their doorstep and offers fun summer cocktails featuring their handcrafted gin and whiskey.

• Get Your Yoga On – Yoga for the Solstice, presented by Planet Earth Yoga and KIND Snacks, sponsored by All the Best Pet Care, is Sunday, June 17 at 10:30am! Grab your mat and join us at the PCC Waterfront Stage as we
  celebrate the solstice with a hatha yoga practice in the Center of the Universe. Make sure to pre-register your mat online.

• Stay Up Late - This year’s Fremont Fair offers two nights to celebrate the solstice until the sun goes down. The Main Stage Beer Garden and Redhook Main Stage open up for a Friday night pre-party from 4 to 11pm. Music also goes late on Saturday night with an entertainment line-up featuring fire dancers!

• Strut Your Pup - Seattle Parks and Recreation and COLA present the Fremont Fair Dog Parade, sponsored by All the Best Pet Care. Have your pup strut his or her stuff on Sunday at 10:30am at the Fremont Fair! A $10 registration fee to COLA, Citizens for Off Leash Areas, is required per dog family.

Bringing your preschooler to the Fremont Fair and parade this Saturday? The Woodland Park Cooperative Preschool is hosting a community playdate from 12:30 – 2:30pm. Just a short stroll from Fremont’s resident troll, their Outdoor Classroom is filled with activities designed for meaningful fun – experiment at their tinkering table, create original art, or dig in the split-level sand pit:

Our vibrant Woodland Park Co-op community offers programs for students ages 2-6, including a new 5s Program and Summer Co-op. Our kind landlords at the Fremont Baptist Church are holding a food drive during the Fremont Fair, so please consider bringing a canned food donation to contribute when you come and play.

Woodland Park Community Preschool – 717 N. 36th St. Seattle, 98103. No on-site parking due to the parade and fair.
Click here for more information, or contact woodlandparksummer@gmail.com.

The Washington Department of Ecology has issued a finding that an upcoming project to cover a field in Gas Works Park with clean soil raises no significant environmental issues and can go forward. They are looking for public comment through June 29, 2012, on a Declaration of Non-Significance (DNS) for the project. (A DNS means that after conducting an environmental review, Ecology determined the project does not need an environmental impact statement.)

This project is part of a bigger plan to clean up contaminated matter at the bottom of Lake Union along the park:

Parts of the half-acre field just north of the park’s Play Barn pavilion contain hydrocarbon compounds. Rainwater that drains off the field can carry pollutants that accumulate in the lake sediment. A foot-deep “cap” of clean soil and a new lawn would protect a future sediment cleanup by preventing recontamination from this field.

Gas Works Park was the site of a plant that converted coal and oil into gas from the early 1900s until 1956. Operations at the plant, owned by predecessors of PSE, along with other industrial activities, resulted in contamination of the land and adjoining lake sediments. The park itself has already undergone a cleanup.

To submit comments or ask questions about the DNS please contact Ecology’s cleanup site manager, John Keeling: 425-649-7052 or john.keeling@ecy.wa.gov. The DNS and related documents are available to the public by clicking here.

A Fremont Universe reader’s home was burglarized last week in a very odd way. He writes:

Around 5:30pm on Monday I startled a young man in our basement when I went down to do laundry. He was crouched down by one of the water heaters and claimed he was a friend of one of the tenants in another apartment in our building and that he was checking on a malfunctioning water heater. He introduced himself, was very apologetic for having freaked me out and promised he’d get the neighbor guy to come smooth things out as soon as he returned from work.

I was suspicious but he was so personable and convincing that I was taken in. We have had a couple of tenant changes in our building recently and I assumed the tenant to whom he was referring was somebody new who I had not yet met. He even came back and knocked on my door twice: once to have me speak on his cellphone to the mythical “neighbor” and a second time to tell me the neighbor was running late and asking if I’d like him to bring me anything back from Tutta Bella where he was going to eat. Consulting with my husband and figuring that no sensible criminal would hang around at the scene of the crime for approaching an hour in full view of several neighbors and offering pizza, we decided to hang tight until the “neighbor” got home and explained the situation.

As time went on and nobody came to our door we went to call on the folks he claimed he was staying with and and that point realized we’d been played, big time. Another neighbor had seen and conversed with the guy and a second guy who at this point were carrying a suitcase and a tool box. He assumed they were recent move-ins or move-outs and thought nothing of it until later. At this point we re-checked the basement and realized two of our suitcases and a couple of old laptops were missing as well as a tool box belonging to our landlord. Possibly other stuff was taken that we haven’t realized is missing yet. There was evidence of a forced entry on one of the side windows to the basement. We called the police who sent an officer out. He said he had never heard a story like this in five years of working this neighborhood.

The main burglar was Caucasian, in his 20s or 30s, between 5’8 and 6′ tall with light brown hair in a buzz cut. He wore blue jeans, tennis shoes, a grey/black fleece and a black baseball cap which was on backwards. He was a little effeminate, especially when speaking and was a very smooth and convincing story-teller. He was also a cigarette-smoker. The second guy was apparently darker skinned and wearing black.

Please be on the lookout for any strange people on your property and don’t be as trusting as I was. The police officer who visited us advised that the best thing to do in such a situation is to call 911 even if you’re not completely sure the person is suspect. You can do this out of earshot if you don’t want to arouse suspicion. This event has also prompted us as tenants to get to know each other better and we’ve made a plan to inform each other if we will have friends or relatives staying. Had we been clearer on the details of our neighbors and their house guests this clever story would not have held up and the burglary could possibly have been averted.

The victim lives on Whitman and wanted to let our readers know to be aware.

There’s still time to sign up for the Fremont 5K & Briefcase Relay tomorrow evening. You can either run or walk the 5K or put together a five-person team for the costumed Briefcase Relay. After the races, head to the celebration that includes a beer garden and vendor area for more fun and prizes. Money raised from the event goes to Solid Ground and FamilyWorks Resource Center. Festivities start at 4:30 p.m. and races kick off at 6 p.m. For more information or to register, click here.

Pictures courtesy of the Fremont 5K facebook page

The Seattle Public Library’s 2012 Summer Reading Program for children kicked off Friday and continues through August 26th. This year’s program celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair with the theme “Read Your Way Into the Future.” Kids can sign up online or in person at any of the 27 Library locations. Participants can track and rate books read, collect stickers and online badges, and create an online avatar:

Children who participate in the Summer Reading Program will receive a free paperback book and a pass to the Burke Museum after reading 10 books. Children who read 10 books by Wednesday, Aug. 1 will be entered into a drawing for the city librarian’s popular Breakfast of Champions event held at the Space Needle in August. One winner from each Library location will be selected. Participating in the Summer Reading Program is a great way for kids to have fun and improve reading skills during the summer break from school. A 2004 study in the Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk found that having elementary school students read just four or five books during the summer can prevent the reading-achievement losses that normally occur over those months.

Click here for more information.

In addition to the summer-long program, the 2012 “Words of Wonder Tour” features the work of four new authors of fiction for young readers from2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, June 23 at the Northeast Branch, 6801 35^th Ave. N.E. Featured books and authors include:

• “Storybound” by Marissa Burt
• “The Wicked and the Just” by J. Anderson Coats
• “Seeing Cinderella” by Jenny Lundquist
• “The Cabinet of Earths” by Anne Nesbet

For more information, call the branch at 206-684-7539 or Ask a Librarian. This is free and open to the public-no registration is required. Free parking is available at the branch.

PCC Waterfront Stage

Wine & Spirit Garden Stage

Fremont Abbey Stage

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