2013 Farmers Market extending hours

Our friends over at Families for Lake City have an update about the 2013 Lake City Farmers Market.

The community website reports that the Lake City Farmers Market, one of the favorite annual traditions in our neighborhood, will return to 2013 with longer hours.

The market is planning to be open every Thursday from 2:30 to 7:30, from June 20th to September 26th.

The market previously opened at 3:30. The addition of the extra hour also comes with a slightly shorter overall season.

You can learn more about our neighborhood farmers market on their website here.

You can get regular updates from Families for Lake City by liking them on their Facebook page here.

LCW, as seen from the International Space Station

The Seattle metro area as seen from space. (Click for larger)

You have likely seen this image in recent weeks. It was sent from the International Space Station by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield in a tweet from hundreds of miles above as the space station passed over Seattle. The image made the rounds on social media and local blogs when first published. The astronaut has become quite the Ansel Adams in the sky with his stunning photography of land and city scapes.

Well, if you look closely at the image of Seattle you can distinctly see our neighborhood, defined by Lake City Way, on the outer limits of Seattle. Click the image above for a larger view that clearly shows Lake City Way and our business core at the top right edge of the image.

Lake City Way is highlighted in red in the cropped version of the image at right. Lake Washington can be seen to the right of the red line showing LCW. Green Lake can be seen near the bottom left end of the red line.

As we all know, Seattle is a great place to live. But who knew our amazing city and even our corner on the outer limits looked so good from space.

PHOTO: Unique character seen on LCW

It is the unique, and even sometimes the odd, that makes a place interesting and defined.

Lake City has a few quirky and unique elements that help to define the neighborhood (although we could use many more).

The old bank facade, aka the "Arc de Lake City," at the Mini Park at 125th and LCW is one that comes to mind.  Also the giraffe near the intersection of 30th Avenue NE and LCW is an element that breaks up a drive along the arterial roadway.

The steel sculpture in front of the Verizon Wireless retail store and the boulders with fins in the median of LCW are works of art that help to give our neighborhood some character.

The almost iconic neon sign on Lake City Powersports and Dick's Drive-In's neon give a bit of color to our neighborhood during these dark and dreary days.

Well it seems we have another quirky thing to add to the visual elements that make LCW a bit different that the endless stretches of commercial-lined highways we all travel everyday.

This guy (below) has been making appearances on the road near the intersection of LCW and NE 123rd Street.

Kaffeeklatsch celebrates second anniversary, helps change neighborhood

Some of the staff at Kaffeeklatsch celebrate the bakery/coffee shop's second anniversary with a party

On January 15th, Kaffeeklatsch celebrated their second anniversary as a fixture in our community. In the two years since the little neighborhood business has been serving steaming lattes and baking their tasty bread, they have helped to significantly change our community.

A message written during an anniversary party for Kaffeeklatsch.

Now we realize that is a pretty big statement to make about one small business in a neighborhood with an active business core. But Kaffeeklatsch has really become the "third place" that so many neighborhood businesses strive to become.

The community planning principle of the "third place" says that people have their home —their "first place"— their place of work —the "second place"— and the "third place" —a social gathering place separate from those other two environments.

Kaffeeklatsch has become for many in our community a third place, a hub where neighbors gather, interact, exchange ideas and talk about their community.

Discussions and ideas about the future and the direction of Lake City are exchanged much more easily with the help of the neighborhood gathering spot. For example, before the business opened, people with spare time would have to reserve a room at a public community space and schedule a meeting to plan and discuss our community. These meeting had a much more formal feel and had to be often planned far in advance.

Now customers are regularly heard discussing the neighborhood. Meetings, debates, ideas and discussion are now more spontaneous and inclusive. Groups can gather and talk there without having to find and reserve a more formal space (although it is polite to let them know if a big group is coming.)

Lake City Greenways is unveiled at Kaffeeklatsch.

In fact many of our neighborhood's most significant ideas and plans in the past two years have been born and sculpted at the coffee shop and bakery.

There are many things happening in Lake City, much behind the scenes, that will likely lead to a much more livable, walkable, safe neighborhood in the future. There are many active people in our community we will have to thank for their hard work in years to come. But for now, we thank the small business that gives them a place to gather and create their ideas of a better community.