Out and About: Eat strawberries, enjoy comedy and art, have fun in Fremont
Strawberry season
Those heart-shaped summer berries — and the shortcakes they star in — are the centerpiece of the 85th annual Strawberry Festival at the South Bay Grange. The first festival, held on Father’s Day 1936, was a fundraiser to pay for a maple floor for the grange at 3918 Sleater-Kinney Road NE, Olympia. Besides the berries, the festival, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 19, features entertainment, activities for kids and families, and local vendors selling crafts, home décor, balloon animals and Tupperware containers. Masks are required, according to the event’s Facebook page.
El is for laughs
Comedian El Sanchez of Olympia, who’s been called a “grumpy nugget of delight,” headlines a show Thursday, June 24, at the Eastside Club Tavern, 410 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia. “My parents are people who are real into activism but don’t recycle,” Sanchez said at a recording session for the comedian’s debut album. “They think that’s like a government conspiracy.” Also on the bill for the 7 p.m. show are Dewa Dorje and Sam Miller. Admission is free with donations to the comedians encouraged.
Windows on art
Paintings created in response to ABC’s “The Bachelor” are among the works on display in the Goldberg Building, 403 Capitol Way S., Olympia. Of her “Bachelor”-inspired series, Donna Michelle Seder wrote, “I look into Bachelor Nation not only with parody and derision but also with empathy and compassion for the subjects that are the puppets of a larger narrative.” Her paintings are part of “A New Sincerity,” an exhibition of art by students at The Evergreen State College. On view through mid-July as part of the Olympia Artspace Alliance’s Art in Storefronts project, “Sincerity” also includes work by Alithea O’Dell, Chloe Pierson, Elisa Brown, Ines Rodriguez, Emma Ritchie, Payton Reid, Sally Traxler-Lavengood, Landon Jones and Jessie Knorr.
Solstice in Seattle
Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood — which likes to think of itself as the center of the universe — is famed for its solstice parade and its naked bicyclists. The parade, which used to be annual before COVID-19 changed everything, has this year been transformed into a Fremont Solstice Art Walk, happening throughout the neighborhood daily through Sunday, June 20. The Fremont Arts Council is promising whimsical sights on every block, including art cars, murals and stationary parade floats. But will there be naked people on stationary bicycles? No word on that from the arts council. The precise moment of Solstice — when summer begins and days begin to get shorter — is 8:32 p.m. Sunday.
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore is all for summer as a concept, but she’s not ready for the days to get shorter. She talks about what’s happening in Olympia and beyond with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.
This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 5:00 AM.