🎃 Candy Corn Lane, a Bridge That Might Finish Early, and Jimothy’s Evil Dad

Happy Tuesday everyone, and welcome to the last week of October! This month gave us the kind of fall that reminds me of autumn on the East Coast: crisp mornings, blue skies, and almost no rain. As of last week, Seattle had gotten less October rain than Las Vegas, Phoenix, and San Diego, just 0.08 inches all month. I’m reminding myself how lucky we were as I look out at gray skies this week. Showers are expected through Thursday, but forecasters say it should dry out in time for trick-or-treating.

🗳️ Election Day is next Tuesday, Nov 3. If your ballot is still on the kitchen counter, today is the last day the Postal Service recommends mailing it, since ballots must be postmarked by Election Day to count. After that, a drop box is your safest bet: no stamp needed, and they close at 8pm sharp on Nov 3.

🚧 Light at the end of the Ship Canal Bridge. After nearly 10 months of Revive I-5 squeezing our commutes, WSDOT says northbound work is finishing about two months ahead of schedule. One last hurdle: a full closure of northbound I-5 between I-90 and the U District from 11:59pm Friday, Oct 30 to 5am Monday, Nov 2, so crews can pull the barriers and restripe. It depends on dry weather, so this week’s rain could push it back. Once it’s done, the lane reductions are gone and the express lanes go back to normal, at least until crews return in 2027 for the southbound side (but let’s not think about that!). WSDOT’s update

🦝 Jimothy update: he has an evil dad now. Matthew Inman, the Seattle cartoonist behind The Oatmeal, spent part of the summer building Grimothy: The Jim Reaper with his brother Bryce. It’s a giant, sinister version of Ballard’s famously round raccoon, now looming over a front yard on Bainbridge Island. (The Stranger reports the build involved a lot of “crawling in and out of a massive raccoon ass.” Commitment.) It’s only up for a limited time, so if you’re making a ferry trip, here’s where to find him.

🍔 You may have seen runners clutching Dick’s bags around town on Oct 17. That was the Dick’s-A-Thon: a 26.3-mile loop past each of Seattle’s Dick’s Drive-Ins, eating your way through the menu as you go. It starts and ends at The Mountaineers in Sand Point. Underneath the silliness is a sweeter story: Conor Cox started it in memory of his twin brother Ian, a climber who loved “the more difficult and ridiculous” adventures. Proceeds go to search and rescue groups, Mountaineers scholarships, and Washington’s National Parks Fund. Mark your calendar for next October. (Training plan: fries.)

If someone on your block would enjoy this, please send it their way. Word of mouth is how this newsletter grows.

Cider is my husband’s drink of choice, so we were happy to try Press Then Press’s Cider Club. And now we’ve run out because it was so good - we’re definitely coming back for more!

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.

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

🏢 Adams Insurance Agency | 8613 35th Ave NE. It’s a rough fall for old 35th Avenue. Johnson’s is closing Nov 13, and Adams Insurance is closing its Wedgwood office at the end of October and merging into WaFd Insurance. Walt Adams founded the agency in 1948 at the corner of NE 95th Street, a few doors from where Johnson’s ended up, and moved it to this storefront in 1956. Liz Jones started with a summer job in 1977 and stayed 49 years. If they’ve insured your car or house, or just waved at you through the window, stop by and say goodbye to Liz, Ken, and Margie this week. Read more about the agency’s history!

Wednesday, Oct 28
🎃 Fiddler’s Inn 21st Annual Pumpkin Carving | 9219 35th Ave NE. Carving starts at 6pm, with prizes. Come early to get a table.

Friday, Oct 30
👹 Parade of Monsters | Chance Encounter Games, 6317½ Roosevelt Way NE, 3–9pm. An art market, a costume contest, and a charity raffle drawing.

🚗 Concordia Lutheran School Trunk-or-Treat | 7040 36th Ave NE, 5–6:30pm. Free and open to the community; enter the back lot off NE 75th St and 38th Ave NE.

🧵 Handmade Halloween Hootenanny | Reuse Commons, 12558 Lake City Way NE. Costume crafting and swap 2–5pm, cider pressing 4–7pm, and a party 6–9:30pm, hosted by Seattle REconomy and the NE Seattle & Shoreline Tool Library.

Saturday, Oct 31: Halloween
🏪 Wedgwood Business District Trick-or-Treat | 35th Ave NE, 4–6pm. Kids in costume can stop at any business with the Wedgwood Halloween flyer in the window. Can you help? The Wedgwood Community Council still needs one or two adult crossing guards at NE 75th and NE 85th. Email [email protected].

🌽 Candy Corn Lane | 31st Ave NE between NE 65th and NE 70th (Ravenna), about 5–9pm or until the candy runs out. The street is closed to cars and each house picks its own theme. Organizers say more than 1,000 trick-or-treaters come through, so park a few blocks away, walk in, and expect peak crowds from dark until about 8. Want to help keep it stocked? Drop wrapped candy on the porch of the Wizard of Oz house at 6549 31st Ave NE.

Doing the Wedgwood-to-Ravenna double feature? Hit 35th from 4 to 6, then head over to Candy Corn Lane once it’s dark.

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

🎻 Fiddler’s Inn | Thursday music at 9219 35th Ave NE: Norman Baker & Michael Muir (Oct 29).

🥋 Monastery Arts | Last week of free demos at 319 NE 72nd St. Martial arts Tue and Thu at 6:15pm and Sat at 10:30am; drumming and throat singing Wed, Oct 28.

🎨 Magnuson Park Gallery | Last week for Small Works from the Artists of Building 30 West, through Oct 31. Free.

☕ Co-Working Wednesdays at Cafe Blameless | 5751 33rd Ave NE, Wednesdays 9am–2pm.

🥕 Lake City Farmers Market | Saturdays, 10am–2pm, through Dec 19, at NE 125th & 28th Ave NE.

🎭 Coming up: Nathan Hale Theatre’s Romeo & Juliet runs Nov 5–7, and the Best of the Northwest Fall Art Show is back at Hangar 30 Nov 6–8. More on both next week.

🪨 9804 Lake City Way NE (Lake City): NW Rockhounds has moved down Lake City Way into a new home across from Les Schwab and just celebrated its grand reopening. Longtime customers know the old shop as a little store stuffed to the gills with geodes, fossils, and minerals, which means someone had to pack up and move every single rock. The new space has room to breathe, plus lapidary and jewelry-making classes for all skill levels, including silversmithing and stonecutting. Good for the rock hunter on your holiday list. Thanks to reader Heidi for the tip!

85^th Socials by Nola

🍸 8515 35th Ave NE (Wedgwood): 85th Socials by NOLA, in the old Wedgwood Ale House space, just turned a month old and is celebrating by opening its bar. If you’ve been in for dinner, now you can stay for a drink, too.

🚧 Northbound I-5 closes this weekend (if the weather cooperates). It’s closed between I-90 and the U District from 11:59pm Friday to 5am Monday for the final Revive I-5 work. That includes Halloween, so if you’re coming north from downtown Saturday, plan on Aurora or surface streets.

🌉 The 520 ramp closures wrap up this week. The westbound off-ramp to northbound I-5 closes nightly 10pm–6am through Thursday; take the Montlake exit instead. The eastbound off-ramp to Montlake is also closed overnight through Thursday, and again Oct 31 and Nov 1.

🎃 Halloween Saturday: kids will be crossing 35th Ave NE at NE 75th and 85th from 4 to 6pm, and 31st Ave NE between 65th and 70th is closed to cars for Candy Corn Lane. Slow down.

🏈 No Husky home game this week, since they’re at Nebraska on Saturday. The Seahawks, fresh off a 20–3 win over the Chiefs, host the Bears on Monday Night Football, Nov 2 at 5:15pm.

I’m pretty conscious of how much trash my family generates, and I’m always looking for small ways to cut back. Ravenna Refills has become one of my favorite Ravenna discoveries. (My daughter’s favorite is next door at Ravenna Rocks, so everyone wins.)

We refill our hand soap there, and I never leave without a new discovery, like an amazing hair conditioner (in bar form!) and tablet toothpaste. It’s a plastic-free general store with almost anything your household runs through, and the owners Robin & Jenny are chock full of knowledge, so ask them anything. They’ve also started a community pantry for non-perishables and host regular swap events. My daughter got a mini snake plant during a swap earlier this year!

Open Wednesday–Sunday, 11am–6pm (until 5 on Sundays).

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 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: 2 bed, 1.5 bath, 1,230 square feet

$599K
$699K
$799K
$1.1M

🧑 Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center | Ultimate Frisbee Drop-In (ages 9–13, Wednesdays 3:30–4:30pm), Teen Kitchen Creations (Tuesdays 4:30–6:30pm), Teen Baking Club (Wednesdays 4–6pm), and Pokémon/Minecraft Club (Tuesdays 5:30–6:30pm).

🏓 Magnuson Community Center | Teen Pickleball Drop-In, Saturdays 2:45–4:45pm; Family Open Gym, Saturdays 12:30–2:15pm.

🎸 Northgate Community Center | Teen Guitar Lessons, Mondays 5:15–6:15pm.

🏟️ Seattle Sports Schedules

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