Because it’s not officially the holiday season in Fremont until baristas break out the festive latte foam art, courtesy of Fremont Coffee…

It’s the little things that remind you why it’s good to be a Fremonster…

Thanksgiving was just a couple days ago but Christmas is already on a lot of folks’ minds. Knowing this, the Christmas Tree lots are already popping up all over town. Here’s the best bets for Fremonsters looking to secure theirs soon…

Here in town, Fleur De Lis Garden Ornaments will be selling Christmas Trees through December 24th or until they sell out.

For almost sixty years now, the Boy Scouts have been selling trees in Ballard. The scouts are once again set up in the parking lot of St. Alphonsus Church (at the corner of NW 57th and 15th Ave NW). Open at noon all week, the lot will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. starting this Saturday until December 19th, unless they sell out of trees early.

Over in Queen Anne, the Queen Anne Helpline and the Boy Scouts of America Troop 72 have opened their annual Christmas tree lot in the Upper Queen Anne Safeway parking lot. The tree lot will be open now until Sunday, December 21 (or until the trees sell out). Check here for the daily hours, which vary.

If you want to support the fight against AIDS, you can buy your Christmas Tree over in Capitol Hill at the Dunshee House. Running through December 23rd and open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, proceeds from sales benefit the Seattle AIDS Support Group.

If you want to learn everything you could possibly need to know about Real Christmas Trees and how to find a good one, visit the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association. And of course, if you do get a tree, it’s not complete until you’ve added your very own Fremont Troll ornament to it.

Finally, if you’re more concerned with decorating your house than you are with your tree but don’t have the time or energy to deal with it, Fremont’s got you covered. Holiday Spirit Lighting will hang your Christmas decorations and lights for you so you can just sit back, relax, chug an eggnog latte and enjoy. They’ll even take down the lights for you when the holiday is over and a portion of sales goes to Toys For Tots.

History House will be hosting holiday photos through December with proceeds benefiting BF Day Elementary & John Stanford International Schools.

History House has created an authentic Old World German Holiday setting including an original piece of the Berlin Wall. Join in the fun of writing letters to Santa, creating your holiday portraits, treats & sweets at Mama’s Brown Bags cafe and enjoy ample parking under the bridge by the Adobe building or in the lot on Troll street.

Between a statue of Lenin and a piece of the Berlin Wall, Fremont contains at least 1% of Europe’s historical relics at all times…

The first photo op is this Friday, December 5th between 11am – 4pm.  Old World Germany will be back on December 11th & 12th from 11am – 4pm. The History House is located at 790 North 34th Street.

For more information, visit History House’s website.

Some news, updates and happenings in and around Fremont to be aware of this week…

• Brouwer’s Cafe is hosting Bigwood Fest, one of the biggest 100% wood barrel aged beer festivals in America, gets started Thursday, December 2nd at 11am. Check out the many, many wood barrel-aged beers that will be available on tap.
• Brouwer’s also gets a shout-out for their food by Nancy Leson of the Seattle Times. She praises their Belgian-style mussels and frites dish as one of the seafood dishes Seattlites should know about.
• Seattle historic steamship, the Virginia V, will be hosting three holiday cruises in December, of which a portion of each will support Seattle-based non-profit organization Forgotten Children’s Fund. The ship departs from South Lake Union Park. Check Queen Anne View for more details.
• Woodland Park Zoo‘s 1-year-old female South African lion Adia is finishing up her 30-day quarantine and will undergo a full physical on Wednesday before being introduced gradually to the zoo’s award-winning African Savanna.
• A Child’s Christmas in Wales begins its run at the Stone Soup Theater on Friday, December 3rd. Dylan Thomas’ play run will be performed every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through the 24th. Tickets are $18, discounts are available for groups.

As you know, the Department of Transportation is working on installing fences on the Aurora Bridge to deter suicide attempts. Construction has been slow and the WSDOT has some updates for us on how the project is coming along:

Q. Why is the first fence post at N. 34th Street in Fremont? Is that where the fence begins?

A. No, the fence will begin just north of N. 36th Street right above the Fremont Troll.

Q. But the posts don’t begin until N. 36th Street. Are you sure the fence goes all the way to the Troll?

A. Yes, the posts all look the same, but they differ in how they connect to the bridge. Six different ways, in fact, and there are five different types of posts. These post-to-bridge connections depend in part on whether the post is attached to the steel middle section or the concrete sections at the north and south ends. It turns out that the fence manufacturer completed the posts that connect to the steel sections first and so the contractor is installing them first. The posts in the concrete sections on the west side of the bridge will go up in the next week or two.

Q. Why are there gaps between some of the posts?

A. The gaps indicate locations where we must complete repairs before installing posts. As you may remember, crews discovered corrosion in 23 beams about three months ago. We determined the beams would need to be strengthened before we attached the fence posts at those locations and added this work to the construction contract. We completed part of the repair and are waiting for a manufacturer to build and deliver the steel braces that will reinforce the beams.

[Read more →]

Fremont businesses are pulling out all the stops to make sure you have as much time as possible for gift-buying this holiday season. Every Thursday in December leading up to Christmas (2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd), tons of participating Fremont businesses will be open until 8pm. That timing also includes the entire week leading up to Christmas (Dec. 20-23).

Almost all of your favorite Fremont shops are participating, including Frame Up Studio, Fremont Jewelry Design, Habitude Salon, Ophelia’s Books, The Sweet Spot and many more. Refer to Fremont.com for a full list of participating stores or check out the posters and postcards located in all participating stores in town.

If this were an informercial, this is the part where I say “But That’s Not All…”

Wednesday, December 8th is the date of the Fremont Chamber Holiday Party & Awards at Fremont Studios. Between 5-7pm, the Chamber of Commerce will be celebrating the Fremonsters who make this community great as well as provided a place to meet, mingle, mix and do other things that start with the letter M and involved hanging out with people. The event is $20 if pre-paid, $25 at the door and you can RSVP here.

Thursday, December 9th will also be “Shop For A Cause” day. That evening, a percentage of sales from many area shops will be donated to B.F. Day School’s After School Tutoring Program to benefit the oldest elementary school in all of Seattle. The list of participating stores will be on Fremont.com shortly.

[Read more →]

We’re one step closer to knowing what the new North Transfer Station on N. 34th Street will look like. At their latest meeting, Seattle Public Utilities and a group of community stakeholders gave the green light to move forward with development of five hybrid concepts. Those concepts include a facility that puts recycling into the same building as garbage and yard waste, a stand-alone recycling building, and a possible new neighborhood park.

Concept that shows a separate recycling building. Click here to see all five concepts.

The main goals of the latest meeting included minimizing noise and odor, maximizing public green space in the northeast corner of the site, and creating a better pedestrian experience for those walking in front of the facility. In February, SPU will present flyover simulations for the five hybrid concepts and stakeholders will narrow the list to two.

We recently took a tour of the current transfer station which will be torn down to make way for the new facility. You can read more about current operations and some of the features that could be included in the new operation.

The Seattle Marathon is coming to town Sunday and while the route doesn’t go through Fremont, you can expect it to have an impact on your daily routine.

The race begins and ends at Seattle Center so expect to see an increase in traffic diverted our way between 6:30am and 3:00pm.

There will also be periodic usage of the PA system on 5th Avenue near Mercer between 6:30am and 10:30am. Chances are you won’t hear that, but, just in case…

You can check out the full race course here or the affected street map here.

And of course it goes without saying, plan ahead if you’re going to drive or take the bus into downtown tomorrow as routes and roads will be affected.

If you’re running the marathon, keep us posted on your times. Let’s find out who’s the fastest Fremonster…

(This is a new feature wherein I read The Stranger and Seattle Weekly and parse out the Fremont-specific items of note. Moving forward this will take place Wednesday or Thursday)

For some reason, it looks like Fremont got the award for Most Under-appreciated Neighborhood in Seattle this week as far as the weeklies are concerned. First up is the Seattle Weekly, which listed out 50 reasons we’re thankful to live in Seattle just in time for Thanksgiving. Nary a one of those reasons was Fremont-specific. Let’s remember that next time some Belltownian or Ballardeer wants to sample our goods.

Then there’s The Stranger, which runs down the Best Booths in Seattle. More specifically, the best booths in restaurants around town. Once again, Fremont gets shut out as not one of our eateries gets name-checked. Between Via Tribunali’s intimate booths that still allow you to take in the full ambiance of the restaurant or one of Brouwers’ booths that looks out on the massive bar and main room, you’d think we’d get at least one.

Since we’re on the topic, what’s your favorite “booth” in Fremont?

Thankfully, Fremont did make the cut for The Stranger’s Holiday Gift Guide. The “only neighborhood in Seattle that seems to be self-aware, maybe even self-conscious” gets three pages worth of mentions for the many restaurants and stores you’ll be spending your hard-earned money in this holiday season.

Let’s face it, tomorrow one of two things is going to happen. You’re going to need a coffee fix or you’re going to realize you need some kind of gluten-free ingredient for your Thanksgiving meal. Here’s a list of all the major spots in town that will, and won’t, be available for you.

OPEN Thanksgiving Day

Markettime Grocery: 6am to 4pm

Starbucks: 6am to 3pm

Peet’s Coffee: 7am to 3pm

Caffe Ladro: 6am to 2pm

Caffe Vita: 8am to 2pm

Lighthouse: 6am to 12pm

Essentials that will be CLOSED Thanksgiving Day

PCC

Blue Moon Burger

I wasn’t able to get confirmations from Fremont Coffee or Roxy’s Diner. If you happen to swing by and catch their hours, please add to the comments below.

Here’s the list for Wallingford as well. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!