The first day of spring is upon us and nature is already in bloom, including weeds and invasive plants.  Friends of Fremont Peak Park have planned a work party for tomorrow, Sunday, March 21, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to rid the west facing slope of weeds, blackberry, ivy and Scotch broom.

Please come help us scour our slope.  We have many beautiful plants growing there, but some bad ones threaten the good ones and this is the perfect time of the year to tip the balance in favor of our bird and butterfly habitat. 

Protective clothing and grippy soles will be appropriate for the day.  Bring weeding tools if you like. Tarps and reusable bags would be helpful too, to move the weeds down to the street.

Coffee and some snacks will be provided but snack donations are always welcome even if you can’t work.  Please RSVP to info@FremontPeakPark.org so they know how many volunteers to prepare for and expect.

Northwest musicians Tai Shan and Angela Reed are holding a benefit concert for People for Puget Sound this Sunday, March 21, at Nectar Lounge (412 N. 36th St).  “Tiny Planet – A Benefit for Puget Sound” aims to raise awareness for Northwest shorelines and clean waters.  Seattle-based songwriter Shan wrote her song “Tiny Planet” as result of witnessing water pollution firsthand and decided she needed to do something to help. 

“It was raining the day I wrote Tiny Planet. I was at Discovery Park. I wandered down to the shore and watched oily water spilling from a drain pipe into the sound.

The Puget Sound has given me a wealth of stories that proves we are a part of something so much larger than we know in our day to day life.  I wanted to help in the best way I knew how, through song.”

In 2009, proceeds from the online sales of Shan’s song were donated to People for Puget Sound.  Sunday’s concert is a celebration of all the money raised so far.  The show starts at 8:00 p.m. and 100% of the $10 cover will also go to the environmental non-profit.

You can watch the video for “Tiny Planet” here:

We’ll no longer have to drive to the International District for some dim sum. According to our new sister site, My Wallingford, the former owner of House of Hong in the ID has decided to open his new Chinese restaurant, called Bamboo Village, at 4900 Stone Way.

Bamboo Village will serve dim sum all day everyday as well as Cantonese and Mandarin dishes. The new restaurant is slated to open in late May or early June. You can read more about the new restaurant here.

Last May neighbors and dignitaries broke ground at the site of a new P-Patch at 42nd and NW Baker Ave. Now a year later, the Hazel Heights P-Patch will celebrate its grand opening this Sunday at noon.

Groundbreaking ceremony on May 11, 2009

“It has been a long haul, especially since the site required work that no other P-Patch has because of the steepness of the slope — but what an amazing use of urban space it has turned out to be!” writes Terri Silver in an email to Fremont Universe. “What’s more, it has an underground cistern that captures rainwater from the roofs of the two nearest homes for use in the garden.”

Construction earlier this year. (Photo credit: D.C. Anstett)

Hazel Heights is named in memory of long-time Fremont resident Hazel Hurlbert, who along with her husband Don first gardened and kept bees on the p-patch land. In 2004, the Hurlbert family made the view lot at the corner of Baker NW and NW 42nd available for a community garden to honor Hazel and Don Hurlbert, who had lived in the house adjacent to the empty lot.

Former Neighborhood Council President Beckey Sukovaty and other neighbors had been looking for a community garden location for years. An anonymous donor contributed the funds needed to purchase the land and donated it to the P-Patch Trust, laying the groundwork for the Hazel Heights P-Patch.

For more details, you can follow the development of the P-Patch on its blog here. We’ll be out covering the story on Sunday, so perhaps we’ll see you there!

Just after 9 p.m. on Sunday, a woman riding her bike crashed while down a long, concrete staircase just above N 42nd St. and 1st. Ave. NW.

We arrived just after medics rushed her to the hospital. Neighbors who heard the crash called 911, and they told us the 20-something woman was wearing a mountain climbing helmet, which had slipped off after the crash. They said it appeared the woman was partying with friends and may have been inebriated at the time. She apparently flipped end-over-end, landing on the last few stairs.

The woman was unconscious and bleeding when medics arrived. There’s no word on her condition. (Thanks Silver for the tip.)

Plan on using alternate routes if you need to get downtown this Sunday.  Aurora Avenue will be closed on March 14 from N. 39th Street to the Western Avenue off-ramp for the Henry Weinhard’s St. Patrick’s Day Dash.  14,600 participants are expected to take part in the event.  Roads will be closed from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.  The Alaskan Way Viaduct will also be closed during that time.  

Grab your favorite bowling shirt and lace up your shoes.  Solid Ground (formerly    the Fremont Public Association) is looking for teams to participate in their annual Strike Out Hunger Bowl-a-thon at West Seattle Bowl (4505 39th Ave SW) on Saturday, March 27.  The event hopes to raise money and awareness for the group’s Food Security for Children program,   which keeps Seattle-area food banks (including Ballard, Greenwood, Phinney Ridge Lutheran and the Wallingford Family Works food banks) stocked with formula and healthy baby food for infants and toddlers.

March 19 is the deadline for teams of four to six to register.  Individuals are also welcome to sign up.  Registration and pledge forms can be found online here.  Each bowler who raises $200 or more in tax-deductible donations receives a special prize.  Start times are at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.  For more information on the event, contact Anna Ramos at 206-694-6857 or annar@solid-ground.org.

Members from the Sound Animal Rights Alliance (SARA) are planning to demonstrate outside Fremont Studios on Thursday night.  The animal rights advocates are calling for the retirement of Woodland Park Zoo elephants to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.  A press release from SARA says the group is concerned that the zoo’s surviving elephants will begin dying off if not taken to a more elephant-friendly life.

“Their health is rapidly failing from captivity-related diseases”, says Nancy Farnam, SARA’s director.  “Bamboo, Watoto, and Chai suffer from crippling arthritis and chronic foot infections, the leading causes of premature death in zoo elephants”, adds Farnam.   

The demonstration is set to coincide with Woodland Park Zoo’s annual thrive! fundraiser that begins at 6 p.m tomorrow night at Fremont Studios (155 N. 35th St).  Demonstrators plan to begin their protest at 5 p.m.

Karin Stevens Dance    celebrates its second season in Seattle with a performance of six new works on March 19   and 20 at the Fremont Abbey Arts Center (4272 Fremont Ave N).  The company, which is also the resident dance company of the Fremont Abbey, presents two concerts  a year in the Abbey’s Great Hall.  Their March show features a collaboration with visual/sound artist Craig van de Bosch, electronic composer Dave Capaitis and fashion designer Beki Wilson, as well as live performances with cellist Emily Anne Peterson and three original new pieces from the Mack Grout Jazz Trio.  Tickets for the show are $7 to $15 and can be bought online here.  Show starts at 7:30 p.m.  Doors open at 7 p.m. 

Tonight is the fundraiser to help send Ballardite Tracey Higdon back to Haiti to help with the non-profit Friends of the Children of Haiti (FOTCOH).

Higdon is on the left with a line of incoming patients behind her.

As we previously wrote, Higdon volunteered at the medical clinic last year long before the January earthquake. While there, she will manage the repair and re-painting of the medical clinic used by FOTCOH. The ten-year-old building is one of the last standing clinics in the region and Higdon says it will soon deteriorate if it is not properly sealed and repainted.

“A blitz of patients,” Higdon says.

Her goal is to raise $6,000 which would cover her travel, supplies, and hire labor in Haiti. Higdon knows the team of workers she will hire and tells us that each one of them has lost their home.

Tracy isn’t the only one who could benefit from tonight’s event. There will be raffle prizes donated by local businesses including:
-Two night stay at the 4-star Edgewater Hotel
-Free 1-month memberships to the LA Fitness in Ballard
-Paint from Miller Paint in Ballard
-Dinner at Mulleady’s Irish Pub in Magnolia
-Deluxe home coffee supplies from Starbucks
-Free 2-hours of services from OhBeckAndCall
-Free design consultation from One Earth, One Design in Shoreline
-Wine from Laurelhurst Cellars
-Services from Halo Salon downtown
-Dinner at Volterra in Ballard
-Cookbooks from local chef Becky Selengut
and more….

The fundraiser is tonight from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Leary Traveler (4356 Leary Way NW.)