I had the great pleasure of spending my Saturday at Art Walk Rainier Beach. Heading down with my friend Jesse to the community center around noon, I took in all the sights and sounds that I love about a community event such as this. I just love open, free, community-oriented, family-friendly art events. The last community event I attended was Beacon Hill Block Party, which was tremendously fun. I was happy to see it was a beautiful day and there were all sorts of folks engaging with each other around the community center. I got to see my future boss, Sahra, at the Somali Community Services booth. She told me about the Somali Dance that would happen later at one of the stages, and I was looking forward to that.

Meanwhile, lovecitylove, one of my favorite seattle improv/open-mic bands was playing. They put on a wonderful, high-vibration show like they always do. A message of being yourself and engaging with your community is always welcomed, especially in musical performance. Nothing but inspiring.

Later I had the pleasure of witnessing the Somali Community Services dance group perform some great choreography to Somalian beats. Afterwards I got to see the young buddhist association perform a lotus dance. All of it was very beautiful. Seeing children and youth engage in art and performance like this moves me in a deep way.

I also got to witness EriAm, a young group of three sisters, originally hailing from Renton, perform. They were incredible! I was blown away by their talent. It was a real treat.

I also got to hear a Native American speak about his canoe and how he builds canoes with youth in his community. He had a great message about widening and opening your family circle by caring about all kinds of people. It was an important and beautiful message.

Overall it was a great day of great talent and interactions. I will end with a quote from lovecitylove's website:

"We nourish the revival of community in order to raise the frequency of humanity at large."
-lovecitylove