Peak summer: Stepping out to dance and amble through town

Islanders of all ages danced in front of the stage, while others enjoyed picnics on the grass.

By Elizabeth Shepherd • August 9, 2023 1:30 am
Islanders who celebrated summer last Thursday and Friday included (left row, top to bottom) Jacob Bain, the frontman of Publish the Quest; a trio stepping out on the town; and Dianne Krouse, blowing her sax with the band, Loose Change. (Middle row) Hundreds showed up for the first offering of Vashon Park District’s Concerts in the Park series. (Right row) Two dancers upped the ante in Ober Park, with one barefoot and the other in roller skates, and budding artists stepped up to finish works created by Swiftwater Gallery members (Photos by Jim Diers, Pete Welch and Alice Larson).
Islanders who celebrated summer last Thursday and Friday included (left row, top to bottom) Jacob Bain, the frontman of Publish the Quest; a trio stepping out on the town; and Dianne Krouse, blowing her sax with the band, Loose Change. (Middle row) Hundreds showed up for the first offering of Vashon Park District’s Concerts in the Park series. (Right row) Two dancers upped the ante in Ober Park, with one barefoot and the other in roller skates, and budding artists stepped up to finish works created by Swiftwater Gallery members (Photos by Jim Diers, Pete Welch and Alice Larson).

Last week, islanders took to the streets to celebrate summer.

On Thursday evening, music lovers packed Ober Park for the inaugural offering in Vashon Park District’s Concerts in the Park Series, as Publish The Quest, a band with deep Vashon roots, took to the stage with its trademark mix of world music beats.

The night was a whirl of community: islanders of all ages danced in front of the stage, while others enjoyed picnics on the grass.

Some local parents who brought their young children to the show wound up chasing them back and forth to Ober Park’s playground, while others gave their kids the greenlight to rambunctiously occupy a roped-off section of Ober’s grassy berm, sliding down the hill on improvised cardboard sleds.

But the August summer fun on Vashon had just started.

On Friday, Vashon Highway was closed to traffic in the middle of town for Vashon Chamber’s Summer Nights series, marking the town’s First Friday Gallery Cruise and offering some restaurateurs and shop owners the chance to extend their services out into the street.

At Swiftwater Gallery, islanders of all ages took part in the gallery’s “Make Your Mark on Art” event, stepping up to big easels where they could paint in the colors of pictures drawn by gallery members Donna Coulton, Brian Fisher, and Sue Hardy.

Dancing crowds came out again in full force again that night, too, twirling and swaying to live music offered up to concerts by local and Seattle bands held in Vashon Theatre’s Backlot, Sugar Shack, Sporty’s, and down the road a bit, at Dig Deep Gardens.

On Saturday and Sunday, Vashon’s high temperatures dipped from the low 80s back into the 70s, and a few light rain showers fell throughout the day, wetting the ground of parched summer gardens.

It was a reminder that summer wouldn’t last forever, and all the more reason to marvel at the memories made on the previous two evenings.

The free Concerts in the Park series will continue at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 10, with music by the widely acclaimed and nationally touring Ian Moore Band. Local songwriter Alex Davis will open the show.