A Wedgwood Band Is Opening for Kacey Musgraves. Also: WinCo is planning its first Seattle store

Happy Tuesday!

📣 Over the summer I sent out a short survey, and one thing came through loud and clear - a lot of you want to hear more about local NE Seattle businesses and are actively looking for ways to support them. So here's an ask back: if you've got a favorite local business — in NE Seattle or anywhere in Seattle — reply and let me know. As we get closer to the holidays, I'll compile everyone's favorites into a list, so our local spots can get a little bit of the love Amazon gets this time of year. And if you’re new to this newsletter and want to fill out the survey, you can find it here.

🛒 We need more grocery stores! WinCo is finally moving forward on its first Seattle store. It’s not quite in NE Seattle, but it’s a step in the right direction given the dearth of major grocery stores. After a legal challenge stalled things earlier this year, the company has resumed permitting for a location at 13550 Aurora Ave N — the former Sam's Club site that's sat empty since 2018. A company spokesperson told the Puget Sound Business Journal they expect to open within a year. It's a bit north of our usual footprint, but a long-vacant building finally getting real movement felt worth leading with. Let’s hope we can see more movement with the Wedgwood QFC and the Lake City Fred Meyer!

→ More on the WinCo story from the Seattle Times

🏀 Shifting gears: the Seattle Storm just launched "Eye of the Storm," a new initiative turning neighborhood basketball courts into community hubs — art, wellness, and basketball combined, with the official WNBA three-point line painted in. One of the very first two courts getting the treatment citywide is near here at Victory Heights, complete with a full artist mural activation and a community celebration on debut. Great excuse to go check it out once it's done.

🎸 One more: turns out the Brudi Brothers — the viral Americana trio behind "Me More Cowboy Than You" (50+ million streams) — grew up right here in Wedgwood. George, Conrad, and Johannes started as street buskers in Europe and are now opening for Kacey Musgraves at Climate Pledge Arena on Oct 26–27. A hometown act making it big, and their story starts on our own streets.

→ Read the full Seattle Mag feature

Here's what else is going on close to home this week.

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Erik and Storie have built one of the biggest cider selections in the country - 500+ bottles, mostly from small, farm-based cideries. While 95% of their business ships nationwide, local cider lovers are in for a treat. Fun fact: Press Then Press runs out of Erik and Storie's home and office right here in Wedgwood, and if you're local, pickup is free (or they'll deliver). They're both Certified Pommeliers who got into selling cider after serving it at their own wedding and watching everyone ask where to find more of it — so if you're not sure where to start, that's genuinely their favorite part of the job. Sign up for their email list for a welcome discount on your first order. → pressthenpress.com.

Use the discount code WIRE at checkout to get a bonus cider added to your first order!

🎉 It's a Busy One: Saturday, Sept 19

A lot is landing on the same day this week — here's the full rundown so you can pick your adventure:

🐦 Wedgwood Community Picnic — 3–7pm, Hunter Farm. This year's official sponsor is John O'Brien Homes, alongside premier sponsor Product Air. Expanded kids' activities and vendors this year — worth stopping by even for a little while. → Wedgwood Community Council

🎪 Rooted in Roosevelt Festival — Calvary Church parking lot on Roosevelt. Live music, a clothing swap, food trucks, local businesses, and games, all free, all ages. Second annual — last year drew over 1,000 people. → Follow updates

🌸 Pressed Flower Frames Workshop — 1–3pm, Day Joy Studio, 6850 35th Ave NE. All ages welcome; a nice early-afternoon activity before the rest of the day's events. → Register

🏈 Nathan Hale Raiders Football — 11:30am, Nathan Hale High School. Tickets at the gate — a fun, cheaper alternative if Seahawks or Husky tickets are out of reach. → Nathan Hale Raiders Football

🏈 UW Huskies vs. Eastern Washington — 4:15pm, Husky Stadium (BTN). Expect stadium traffic on top of everything else happening that day. → Full Husky football schedule

Pick your favorite, or try to hit a few — just budget extra time getting around. 🙂

Something happening in the neighborhood? I want to know about it! Submit your event here. I review submissions each week before sending.

🥪 Mendocino Farms | 2696 NE University Village St. — Yes, it's a chain, but it's one of my favorites, especially when I want something healthy but still substantial (and not end up hungry an hour later…) Serving up signature sandwiches, salads, and soups daily 10am–9pm. Located by the old Bartells location (soon to be the new Din Tai Fung).

→ Menu & info

🏋️ Seattle Strength & Performance | 9425 35th Ave NE — A new gym is moving into the corner of 35th and NE 95th, opening this month. It's a homegrown Seattle brand (already in Queen Anne, Phinney Ridge, West Seattle, Ballard, and Mercer Island) built around small-group strength coaching rather than typical group fitness classes — this will be their sixth location and first in Northeast Seattle. You can book an appointment to tour the space before it officially opens.

→ Follow @seattlesp_wedgwood or visit seattlesp.com/wedgwood-gym for updates.

NE 130th St / 5th Ave NE closures, Sept 10–25: Prep work continues ahead of Pinehurst Station's Sept 30 opening. Traffic controls at 5th Ave NE & NE 130th St ran through Sept 12 for utility pole work. Now through Sept 25: full closure of NE 130th St between Roosevelt Way NE and 8th Ave, the easternmost lane of 5th Ave NE closed between NE 125th and NE 130th, and no eastbound right turns from the I-5 off-ramp onto 5th Ave NE. I-5 traffic gets detoured to the NE 145th St exit; local traffic can use NE 125th St/Roosevelt Way NE. More closures expected in October as final work wraps up near the station.

Sept 19 gridlock warning: Between the Wedgwood Picnic, Rooted in Roosevelt, Nathan Hale football, and the UW football game against Eastern Washington (4:15pm, Husky Stadium), this Saturday is genuinely one of the busiest of the season for getting around. Plan extra time no matter where you're headed.

Regional WSDOT closures, Sept 18–21: On top of all that, WSDOT has a full slate of construction closures this same weekend: full closure of northbound I-405 from Renton to Bellevue, full closure of the I-405/NE 85th St interchange in Kirkland, lane and ramp closures on eastbound I-90 at I-405 in Bellevue, and lane closures on eastbound SR 520 over Lake Sammamish Parkway in Redmond. Northbound I-5 stays down to two lanes across the Ship Canal Bridge as usual. If you're headed anywhere across the lake this weekend, budget significant extra time.

Seattle's Office of Planning and Community Development wants input on the themes and policies guiding U District's next 20-year neighborhood plan. Not our core coverage area, but close enough (the Ave, U Village, the Burke-Gilman) that it's worth a mention if you spend time there. Survey open through Oct 7, available in Spanish and Chinese.

→ Take the survey

🍦 Ben & Jerry's (Thornton Place) — 337 NE 103rd St

I don’t normally endorse a major national brand, but this one is so hard to beat! This is the go-to when my kids get to pick where the birthday cake comes from — an ice cream cake from here wins over actual cake almost every single time. Waffle cones made fresh in-shop, all the classic flavors, and it somehow makes any birthday feel like a bigger deal. Worth knowing about if you've got a kid with a summer or fall birthday and want to skip the bakery line this year.

→ Order a cake

In case you missed them — a few guides worth bookmarking:

🥡 NE Seattle's Takeout Roundup — neighborhood by neighborhood, the order-ahead spots that keep coming up over and over in our house

🎂 Where to Host a Kids Birthday Party Near NE Seattle: 17 Venues — from our backyard to worth-the-drive

🌃 Date Night in Northeast Seattle — restaurants, bars, and spots worth staying out for

Can you guess the price of this real estate listing based on just one photo? Hint: 3 Bed, 2.5 bathroom, 1770 square feet

$1.75M
$1.95M
$2.195M
$2.395M

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🎸 Ravenna Brewing Sunday Fun Day! | Free live music on the patio, 4–6pm every Sunday all summer, plus BBQ from Outsider BBQ.

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