by Devin Chicras
2017 was a pretty darn good year for your all-volunteer nonprofit West Hill Community Association. We welcomed five new board members, grew attendance at all our events, rolled up our sleeves alongside even more hardworking volunteers, and met some incredible new neighbors. We celebrated victories, re-organized, and doubled our efforts where needed. While we’ve already hit the ground running for 2018, we’re gunna pause for just a second to look back on some of the more memorable moments of last year. Without further ado, here are our top seven moments from 2017:
1. Spring Bowling Alley Takeover
March 27th, 2017
About 200 folks helped us fill up Skyway Park Bowl on a Monday night for our very first WHCA Bowling Alley Takeover, a fitting end to our Spring fundraising drive, where you pledged nearly $1700 to keep West Hill Community Association working hard for you. Your generosity unlocked 7 big surprises, from special guest appearances by Slimer and T-Rex to face painting and buckets of free candy. You took challenges, won medals, showed off your game faces, and ate lots of delicious pizza.
View more photos on our Facebook page.
2. Skyway’s National Night Out
August 1st, 2017
Our 2nd annual community block party was a success! We fed about 200 people, witnessed an impressive 8-person four square battle, kept Sparky The Fire Dog from eating the chocolate chip cookies, sharpened our balloon sword fighting skills, laid down some masterpieces in chalk and connected folks with community groups and resources.
View more photos on our Facebook page.
3. Skyway Outdoor Cinema
August 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th, 2017
There’s no easy way to summarize all of the magic of our 15th season of Skyway Outdoor Cinema. We provided the food trucks to satisfy the pickiest of culinary tastes, the professional costume guilds, the drumlines, organic popcorn and the bigger-than-life films – and you guys brought the party.
View SOC photos from Night One (Moana), Night Two (E.T.), Night Three (Fantastic Beasts) and Night Four (Star Wars: Rogue One).
4. West Hill Action Mob Fall Cleanup
September 16th, 2017
In between eating delicious free breakfast and pizza lunch at our King County Fire District 20 HQ, nearly a couple dozen neighbors went out and tamed the sidewalks of Skyway’s business district for our West Hill Action Mob Fall Cleanup, removing about 30 densely packed giant bags worth of litter and trash from our most visible and trafficked areas.
5. WHCA Fall Quarterly Meeting Open House
October 17th, 2017
We tried out something new at our last quarterly community meeting – we opened up an hour early to allow folks to engage one-on-one with the organizations and officials that work for them, from an alphabet soup of King County divisions and local fire and police, to gardening and native plant experts, it was a big success. So much so, that we’re doing it again! Join us Tuesday, 1/16/18 at 6pm for another open house prior to our 7pm meeting at Skyway VFW (downstairs).
6. Victory for Nevzat
October 23rd, 2017
When an ordinance drafted over twenty years ago stood in the way of one of Skyway’s most beloved business owners, stopping him from upgrading from his coffee shack that he’s operated for nearly the same number of years to a brand new (much-needed) full-service café across the street – you jumped into action. When our elected officials were slow to act, you demanded results. You signed petitions, attended meetings and even showed up in Council chambers to voice your opinion. And you prevailed. We’re honored to have worked alongside you to help shape policy that actually works for our neighborhood. And we can’t wait to drink coffee and chow down on Turkish food at the newly reopened Nevzat’s Espresso.
7. Halloween Bowling Alley Takeover
October 30th, 2017
DJ Phosho kept us dancing, carnival games tested our skill, bags were filled with loot and pins were dropped under cosmic lights. We saw some amazing costumes (more than we had trophies to give for), ate lots of candy and got tangled up in a few fake (we hope) cobwebs. Our first ever Halloween Eve Bowling Alley Takeover was unforgettable, and we can’t wait until next year’s!
💖 Keep these moments coming
We’re a small all-volunteer nonprofit, and were fueled by your support. Please consider becoming a monthly donor (even at $5 or $10) to keep more of this community-connecting and problem-solving work going. Thank you so darn much, we appreciate you.