| | | | | | 🌼 Spring 2025 Community Newsletter 🌼 | | | | | | Pass the Beignets, It's Mardi Gras in Columbia City! | | | | Photo courtesy of Tish Gallow / Columbia City Beatwalk. | | The snow's melted, the days are getting longer, and it's time to party in the street! We hope to see you on Fat Tuesday, March 4 in Columbia City for the Southside's best Mardi Gras celebration. The party kicks off at 5:30pm with the Second Line Sidewalk Parade starting from 4900 Rainier Ave. S., featuring the Honk Fest All Stars, Rainier Beach High School Drumline, and local musicians. Bring your instrument (or just something to bang and clang) and join us! At 7:30pm, head into the Royal Room for live music presented by the South Hudson Music Project - admission is by donation. You can also catch amazing Mardi Gras specials all evening from local restaurants and businesses. We're not jambalayin', it's gonna be hot!
Can't stay out too late on Fat Tuesday? Stop by the Royal Esquire Club this Saturday night, March 1, for an early Mardi Gras party with great music and company - doors open at 9pm. | | | | | | | | Local Venues, Global Menus: Plate of Nations is Back! | | | | Plate of Nations specials from Alem Restaurant, FryZone, and Mi Ranchito. | | | | It's that time of year again! Southeast Seattle's best dine-around event, Plate of Nations, will run from March 21 to April 6. During this period, you can enjoy special menus for two people to share, priced at $40 and under.
Many of our favorite neighborhood spots are participating, including Alem Restaurant, Delish Ethiopian Cuisine, FryZone, Habesha Cafe, Kebena, Mawadda Cafe, Mi Ranchito, Safari Njema, The Station Coffee Shop, Taco City Taqueria, and Yusra & Sabah Restaurant. The full list of participating restaurants will be updated soon on the Plate of Nations website.
Be sure to follow Plate of Nations on social media for a chance to win one of thirty gift cards to dine out at participating restaurants and enjoy these incredible meals for free! | | | | | | | | A Book Drive Worth Checking Out | | Looking for some immaculate vibes, delicious food, and great company this Friday? Seattle Urban Book Exchange (SUBE) and Estelita's Library will be hosting a "Books & Beats" book drive at The Station Coffee Shop (Beacon Hill location) to collect BIPOC children's books and banned titles for donation to local schools, community organizations, and incarcerated individuals.
Bring some books to donate, and you'll receive a raffle ticket to win great prizes from The Station, Island Soul Restaurant, and other great local businesses!
You can register here for the event -- see you there! | | | | | | | | | | A Round of Applause for the Ark Lodge | | We're so grateful to David McRae and the Ark Lodge Cinemas for a dozen years of moviegoing memories in Columbia City. Through so many changes in the neighborhood (and the movie industry), and despite the occasional power outage, the Ark Lodge was a place that brought our community together. From restored classics like Alien and Run Lola Run to new classics like Black Panther and Parasite ... even Madame Web was a little more watchable thanks to that Ark Lodge magic.
The credits may be rolling on this chapter, but we're hoping the Ark Lodge building gets a sequel as a cinema and community space. Stay tuned for coming attractions! | | | | | | | | | | You may be eligible to receive up to 40 free hours of one-to-one consulting support to help your business thrive and grow! The City of Seattle's Accounting & Business Consulting (ABC) program can assist with marketing, operations, loan readiness, cash flow management, and more. Visit the ABC program page to see a list of participating consultants and specialties. Apply for an introductory 30-minute Zoom call with the team from Launch Industries, and you'll be enrolled in the program and connected with consultants who can help address your business's specific needs. | | | | | | | | Many members of our community are feeling anxiety about immigration-related policy changes in the news, and about the potential for enforcement actions at small businesses in our neighborhoods. A few key resources: - The Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network maintains a resource library and operates a hotline to report immigration enforcement actions: 1-844-724-3737
- The Immigrant Legal Resource Center provides templates for printing information about our Fourth and Fifth Amendment constitutional rights, available in multiple languages including Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, Khmer, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrinya, and Vietnamese.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
