What's up, South End?
Or, should I say, What's Good? This weekend, Hillman City is having a block party titled "What's Good," and I gotta say, after the last few weeks of news we've had, this feels like perfect timing.
And it's not just Hillman City — somehow the stars aligned and neighborhoods all over the South End are having community events this weekend.
The South Park Summer Party, the Duwamish River Festival, the Skyway Nia Festival (featuring a performance by R&B star J. Holiday), and the Othello Park International Festival are all happening this weekend.
The Emerald will be hanging out at the Hillman City Block Party. (We're a presenting sponsor.) We'll have a booth, so come say "what's good" if you're around — and if you become a Rainmaker (for only $6 per month), we'll get you a custom South Seattle Emerald bucket hat.
Last year, over 3,000 people attended the Hillman City Block Party. This year, it's back with even more events, a surprise or two (including Marcus Harrison Green reading books to kids), and an open house that includes deals to some cool Hillman City spots: $5 burgers at Twilight, 10% off at Habesha Cafe (trust me, you gotta try the catfish sandwich), and a free signature drink at The Flour Box.
This week, I interviewed Hillman City Block Party organizers Ian Martinez and Sara O'Neill-Kohl. We talked about the history of the event, what they're excited for, and why it's so important for communities to have events like this one.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
MD: Can you give me the quick history of how this event got started in 2024?
IM: The Hillman City Neighborhood Association, which is kind of an old-fashioned name for what we do — it almost makes you think of "get off my lawn" or something, but that's very much not our mission. We have three shared objectives: The first is to support our local businesses, many of which are immigrant-owned or POC-owned. We don't have big corporations on our commercial strip. The second is to provide programming free where possible to the neighborhood, because South Seattle doesn't always get some of the big investments for cultural programming. And the third is to put Hillman City on the map. To create a cultural identity that makes Hillman City bigger than the sum of its parts, and we have great parts.
So, you take those three things, and we say, "Well, what is one thing you can do with all of that?" And the block party emerged. Sara and I jointly decided we wanted to activate the community, but all of this came from feedback we got from the community itself.
MD: I had someone legitimately ask me: Where is the block party? Your website says "Hillman City Business District."
SOK: We got a lot of feedback this year that that was an ambiguous term for people, and we did not know that. The Hillman City Business District is located on Rainier Avenue South, from Graham Street on the southernmost border to 42nd on the northern border.
MD: Got it, and the main stage is on Rainier and Orcas. There's a lot happening, can you two tell me a few performances or events you're excited about?
IM: I see the event as having three chapters. There's the kids programming, which runs from 10 a.m. to about 2 p.m. That's story time, face painting, and double dutch. Phase 2 is the music. We have an incredibly diverse lineup, from Dude York, who's like a semi-famous, well-known KEXP indie rock band, to Yonny, an up-and-coming rapper. I'm really geeked about the jazz showcase that's inside Black & Tan Hall. Then the third chapter, which is the dance parties, with Larry Mizell Jr. and DJ Zen, so there's something for everyone.
SOK: I want to add two things that I'm especially looking forward to this year. If you remember the Rainier Valley Heritage Parade, and the car show, we are trying to bring an element of that back, and we're going to have a car show this year. That's really special and kind of connects this event to the history of community events in the neighborhood. And the other thing I think that's uniquely special about this year is we are presenting an East African music and cultural dance showcase.
MD: I've heard that when Seafair comes to the neighborhood, people attend the event and leave without supporting local businesses. What have you heard from Hillman City businesses about support during the block parties?
IM: Our philosophy — and this is what Sara and I really focused on the first year, and it got imbued — we focus the festival on the businesses. I'm really proud of this. We have what we call a "business open house." It's something that they're doing to drive value and pique the interest of new visitors. And success is very easy to track. You can say, "What is your average Saturday?" And what we've found is that businesses are getting between three and four times their average Saturday pull, and that's been pretty consistent data. So we think that that's driving either completely brand-new business, or, at minimum, people trying a place that they've known about but haven't gone to.
Last week was heavy. After taking some time to reflect, contributing columnist Gennette Cordova addressed the controversy surrounding the resignation of Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes.
Free meals for kids has been a hot topic in Seattle. In case you missed it: Seattle City Council's finance committee voted 5–0 to approve the latest plan for universal free meals for SPS students starting this fall.
But that's not the only source of free food happening for youth. Contributor Hillary Montes De Oca-Salazar wrote about nine sites in the South End offering free meals for youth ages 1–18 this summer.
Last weekend was James Baldwin's birthday, and contributor Oliver Miska, our resident Baldwin expert, penned a beautiful op-ed in commemoration.
Oliver not only painted a portrait of his personal connection to Baldwin, he also bridged the gap between politics in Baldwin's era to our own, crafting excellent arguments against political binaries.
No spoilers, but if you want to know what sparked lines like, "Sure, we have Pete Buttigieges on one side and James Baldwins on the other, but it's all a spectrum — and last time I checked, healthcare, housing, food, and education are not that radical," you should read Oliver's latest.
This is an abbreviated version of The Roundup newsletter. To get the entire newsletter, including a weekly list of events to check out and my shout-out to South End Gems, subscribe here. See you next week!
Mike Davis is the newsletter editor and Voices editor at the South Seattle Emerald. Born and raised in Seattle's South End, Mike is a longtime journalist who's covered everything from arts and culture to sports to politics.
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