Fight the goblins of climate change and protect air quality and human health – volunteer for Idle Free Ballard! Unnecessary vehicle idling wastes four million gallons of fuel in the US every day. Turn off your engine – whether waiting for the bridge to open, outside school, or in the drive through! Simple things can make a big difference: check your phone before you turn your car on.
Help our efforts: Hand out cards and posters to your friends, neighbors, local shops, businesses, etc. We deliver! Contact your local school to educate parents and students. We have a sample article for newsletters. And a link to signage! Table at upcoming events! To get cards or posters, or learn more, visit https://www.sustainableballard.org/idle-free-ballard/
Free Letters Home has plenty of stationary right now, but we are always happy to take donations of postage. You can shop at USPS.com anytime and see the variety of stamps available. Packages of 20 forever stamps are great. You can have your selections sent directly to Andrea at 7713 11th NW 98117 or drop them off. If you need a receipt for your charitable contributions let us know. Our efforts at the Ballard Food Bank are currently serving about 20-25 people each week. That’s a lot of love getting sent to friends and family. Thanks for your support!
Please join us on Halloween at Reuben’s Brews in Ballard for Gratituesday from 4:30pm -8:30pm. We will be having a sustainable costume contest so get creative and Repurpose/Reuse/Recycle. Stop by before or after taking the kids out trick-or-treating and enjoy a pint. $1 from every pint, taster tray and to-go sales that day will be donated to our organization.
So come on over to the Ballard Brewery District and learn more about our upcoming events, on-going projects, and volunteer needs. We look forward to seeing you there! Cheers!
Join our friends Saturday, October 28th from 3:30 – 6:30pm. There will be a Kiddie Parade; Neighborhood Party; Local Music and not-too-scary haunted House!
The fun starts at 3:30 – 4:30pm with Kids Costume Sidewalk Parade. This is a great opportunity for kids and adults to wear a costume and participate in a low-key parade. They will have safety flags to help at street crossings, so this will be safe as well as fun! In case of rain, we will have an indoor parade.
From 4:30-6:30pm there’s lots of fun for all ages. Hot dogs and sweet treats will be served. Kids can pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and decorate it just in time for Halloween. There will be a fortune teller, not-too-scary Haunted House and live music from local musicians. Grab your family, friends, neighbors and join this fun neighborhood event!
It has been a bustling summer season at the Tool Library. Our dedicated community of tool enthusiasts has kept us on our toes. Since the start of summer, our Tool Librarians have facilitated an impressive 425 transactions, loaning out 232 unique tools to 103 happy customers. Your support and engagement continue to be the driving force behind our mission to build a strong community through the exchange of tools and knowledge.
As we transition into the slower, crisper days of fall and winter, please take note of our updated operating hours, effective Monday, October 2nd:
Mondays: 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Thursdays: 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Saturdays: 9:00 am – 11:00 am
The Ballard Tool Library will be closed on Saturday, September 30th so we can participate in the Sustainable Ballard Festival. Join us there for a candle holder workshop using tools available to rent at the Tool Library. We appreciate your ongoing support, and we look forward to seeing you at the Sustainable Ballard Festival.
Kids Making Candle Holders at 2022 Festival at Loyal Heights Community Center
There will be some delicious options to purchase food at the Festival. Our friend Priestwick of BlackstarKebabs is returning with his delicious Ghanaian family recipes!
Combination mealPeople love Blackstar Kebabs
Blackstar Kebabs serves fresh organic Ghanaian Kebabs, combination meals, including vegan combo meals. Healthy, high-quality, organic food is their passion. Come try some, your tastebuds will thank you!
Dust off your dancing shoes and get ready for some fun music at this year’s Festival! We’ve got an variety of local talent on our main stage starting at 11:30am with Reign City Rockers a group of 9-to-12 year olds who have been playing together as a band for just 6 months and impress all who witness them. They will be playing with their Seattle Drum School of Music Instructor Tige DeCoster. Their performance is sure to delight the audience!
Reign City Rockers
At 12:45pm we have Skandia Kapell playing some traditional Scandinavin music in honor of Ballard’s history and roots to Sweden and Norway. They will play some fun old time acoustic music featuring fiddles, guitar, and accordian.
Skandia Kapell at Bergen Place
Asher Deaver
Asher Deaver will take the stage at 2:15pm for an acoustic solo set! He is best known for his role as the lead singer of the indie rock band Old Coast. In addition to making beautiful music Asher started Blackcap Guitars, a Bremerton, WA based custom wood shop specializing in handmade acoustic guitars in 2021. He has performed and recorded with his guitars, as have many other artists around the Pacific Northwest. Though not yet confirmed, Asher has recently entered the studio with plans of recording another full-length album in the fall. Come check out this talented music maker, your ears will thank you!
In between music acts, we have some great demos planned.
At 12:15, we’ll learn all about bee-keeping from Snohomish Bee Collective.
At 1:45, Firefly Kitchens will share recipes and a demo to make some fast and easy dishes with kimchi and sauerkraut.
At 3:15, enjoy a yoga class with one of our local yoga teachers.
Don’t forget to get your raffle tickets! We’ll be announcing winners all day!
Every year we invite the Ballard community, Greater Seattle, and local businesses & green organizations to help create this unique and joyful celebration. Your support helps us to keep this extraordinary event free to the public.
Assist Apple Cider MakingHelp with DIY Greet Festival Goers
Volunteering is a great way to contribute to a healthier planet and meet new people who share your passion. Volunteers get other great benefits too: a free festival tote, access to the hospitality booth, and tasty snacks. This will likely be the MOST fun you’ve had all year volunteering!
Bring a friend to volunteerMake friends while helping out
Please check out our volunteer sign-up or Email to find out how you can help. We still have a variety of fun tasks from festival set-up, greeter, crafts table, green team and more. Come join the fun!
Get ready for some fun Ballard! Join us at Loyal Heights Community Center on Saturday September 30th from 11am-4pm for a fun day learning ways to be more sustainable, enjoying exhibits and demos from local businesses, and celebrating community! This is a free event open to the public. So grab a friend or two and bike, walk, bus or carpool over for a lovely day in the park with us!
Apple PressingHula HoopingCandle Holder Making
There will be apple pressing, candle holder making, hula-hooping and more! We’ve got some fantastic musical performances as well. Seattle Drum School’s Reign City Rockers are going to take the stage at 11:30am for some super fun tunes. Later on we’ll have Skandia Kapell playing some fun old time acoustic Scandinavian music.
Activities include plant your own succulent station, corn hole, solar race car racing, button making, free samples and more. Learn about everything from hosting a micro tree nursery to efforts of making Ballard more green and pedestrian friendly! There will be demos and workshops throughout the day. This is a great opportunity to ask questions, consider new options, and learn together. We have some fantastic Festival exhibitors and sponsors this year who will share their passion for sustainability with you.
Festival VolunteersFest2022GreenTeamVolunteers
We’re still looking for volunteers to make this all possible. If you would like to help out pre-Festival or day of event please take a look at the needs here Volunteer Opportunities or Email Rain for more info. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in a few weeks!
Earth Night is an event where people try to reduce artificial outdoor light as much as possible one night a year. This event always takes place on the Friday in September that is closest to the night of the new moon. This is the 4th Earth Night and encourages everyone to turn out your lights from nightfall on Friday night until day break on Saturday in a global effort to bring awareness to light pollution. People will reduce/turn off outdoor lights for a whole night (starting no later than 10 pm local time), taking a stand against the world’s increasing light pollution. Anyone can participate and we hope as many of you as possible reading this decide to turn out the lights for one whole night. Let’s make Ballard dark!
Why is it so important to promote darkness? Well light pollution caused by the unrestrained consumption of artificial light by us humans is steadily increasing. As all the light makes our nights brighter and lighter and thus demonstrably harms the environment, people and nature. It misdirects birds on their migration routes and harms insects in summer decreasing our night pollinators and main food source of many animals. In addition, all the light from our towns and cities dims the starry sky and makes our sleep less restful. Entire ecosystems get out of step because of the amount of light at the wrong time.
There are some really simple ways to join Earth Night and make a difference. Switch off (or at least partially switch off) all light sources that are not essential for safety. For example, shop window / advertising lighting as well as door, house, object, facade and garden lighting. If you can’t/don’t want to switch everything off completely outside, you can at least reduce the amount of light. Simply screw in a weaker lamp or install a motion detector that ends the continuous light. Or align the light better by tilting the spotlight towards the floor (where the light actually belongs). Shielded and/or the use of LED reflector lamps also help here. At least change the color of the light because yellowish light (warm white, “amber”) rather than bluish light ensures a darker night and at the same time fewer dead insects .
Don’t worry, it’s not necessary to sit at home in the dark during Earth Night! It is enough to simply close the blinds, roller blinds or curtains on the windows. This is how the night becomes darker. Be sure to go outside, enjoy the starry sky and the magic of this one very special night, which is as nature intended: naturally dark. And maybe it will become clear that you would like to have such a night more often throughout the entire year and that we actually don’t need so much light at night. Darkness is an ecosystem, enjoy your night!
