Bloomin’ Over the Freeway and Salish Bluegrass
🤷♀️ ESTIMATED READING TIME: NINTY MINUTES
Disclaimer:
Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isn’t to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. I’m not here to act as a definitive firsthand source—readers should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). I’m not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!Event Topics: Live Music, Activities, Nice Parks, Arts & Crafts, Used Books, Children’s Activities, Downtown Tourism, Paid Concerts, Playgrounds
Dancing weekly has lead to many fun outcomes. One of those outcomes is getting invited to even more events. And this event was a bit last minute, but worth stopping by: Blooms and Books (or wahtever it was called) - a musical artistic gathering at the park above the freeway. It was sold to me as family-friendly and downtown… so, of course I’m in!! I love any reason to go downtown with my daughter to have a nice time.
Why Attend: This is one of my favorite parks and I love to see more community events develop. I love live music and arts and crafts, too… so it had some promising rasons to go. In addition, there was a concert I’d purchased tickets to that same night, so it was kinda a great setup to send the entire day downtown with my daughter. Let’s see how it went!
PHOTO COLLAGE & COMMENTARY:
Notes from the Event:
Okay - this was one of those classic times that I go to a whole series of events with my daughter and take nearly no notes - cause I’m just expericing and letting my memory hold onto whatever + the pics.
You know, cause I’m not trying to take great notes AND take care of my daughter at the same time. You can only be great at so many things at a time —- and taking great notes means suddenly my daughter could get out of sight. So - no way! Instead, I still had plenty of takeaways. Let’s reflect on them below. This will cover my experience of the day - and the exact minute/hour-by-minute/hour isn’t too necessary. Instead, let’s talk about revelations had…
PAID CONCERTS = CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
- this is extreme… but anything that the price makes you think twice, no. It won’t be worth it. not in this economy. I went to a second musical concert event of this summer (cause lately I wanted to go to hear more live music) EEH!!!! SCREEEETCH. stop. no. It was boring once again. boring from the minute it started almost. Just the vibes were wrong, the crowd was not right, and it just didnt work for me. I used to manage a concert venue - ANDDDD the bands were SO GOOD and the bands in that city were SO GOOD and EVERY NIGHT WAS EPIC LIVE MUSIC. So, i just realize i’d rather suffer than put myself through paying for tickets and standing in these crowds. Free events with live music (or cheaper) tends to be way better, more organic, etc etc etc. So… I’m officially at a new leaf: no more interest in paying for concerts until further notice and/or I open up my concert venue cause legit I want to hahaha.
WHY ARE KIDS ALWAYS FORGOTTEN/LAST IN LINE
-My time living overseas helped me see what others ways of life can look like. I’ve brought this up many times, but over in Asia there are INFINITE ways for kids to learn and study and gain skills. To get their energy out. There are so many restaurants with playgrounds attached and fun things to do all throughout Turkey, for example. Georgia. So many countries are insanely kid friendly. SOOOOO here, this event, they had book carts - AND NO BOOKS FOR KIDS!!! what the heck.. And the art was cool but not that kid friendly. Just, idk. Kids love the basics and everyone likes the basics, so why not start with empowering kids as your foundation???
FREE FOOD? AT WHAT COST?
-It was nice htey had free food at this event… but how can they afford that? And does it make them subconsciously not want to invite as many people, since they want enough food for everyone?
PLAYGROUNDS FORGETTING ABOUT KIDS, TOO
-One playground downtown always looked so curious to me… but then we finally went and checked it out - it’s so weird and lame. Like nothing to do. Sometimes I’m like, what is even going on? with playgrounds. Cause other playrounds are so epic. So… its like, really. Can’t there be a grading scale built off logic, like Roller Coaster Tycoon abilities, to look at a playround, survey it, maybe even test it - and then see on a scale of 1-10 how much fun could be had here - even on the best of days. Cause that playground is like a 3/10. The slide is literal concerete. The house sturcture is hard to get up to and then scary inside. They just have like logs standing up to “run around”. but also its on a hill so you almost flal down all the time, andt hen you’d fall onto huge oversized concerete stairs!! As I write this out it sounds even worse -b ut its just that bad. Why? Let kids be so carefree at least sometimes. UUUGHHHH. You know.
SUBWAY STATION VIBES
-A lady and I discussed (at the bloomin’ event, she was someone in charge there) we talked about the subways and how each stop could be a themed destination. One near me shoudl be the kids one cause they have some kids stuff there, etc. You know? Like people love to go places for fun - she’s like, “omg you should tell my husband this, he works for transit” - but then there was no follow through and I wasn’t getting the right vibes when I saw who her husband was. And even saw them talking, it just didnt feel like the right time.
PLUSSSS i’m like - ummm hello????? why am i the one having this conversation with you guys. is “Themed stations” THAT innovative that your husband and his team need to be sparked to think of this? If so - this is not the time. hahah. This is not the time and the place.
INVITATION TO THE MURAL FEST
- While at this event, we got invited to another evnet. (SEE!! that’s hwo it happens sometimes) - the only thing is this next event is painting murals. Do you all know my idea of like having more art in the city - WAY MORE COST EFFECTIVELY.
for some reason, i just don’t feel like writing it out today. which, let’s embrace. that’s so funny. but i think i even have it in my glossary under “pastel theory” - but actually, now that I type that out, i don’t. OKAY well essentially the idea is to paint big chunks of the city one color - but i just dont even want to explain it right now. and its not even chunks of the city, just segment places - like a section of a place - again. i’m too not in the mood to explain this BUTTTTT
BUT my point is… i bet i will have mixed feelings on these murals, and the overall situation. But… we were told there’s a huge kids section for this event, so i’ll go check it out next weekend. Maybe/probably…. eyeroollll.
NEW PLAYGROUND DOWNTOWN
-It was fun to see that the new playground by the aquarium opened up. That’ playground seems to be pretty awesome, though it was EXTREMELY crowded. I’d like to return on anohter day - and I think my daughter loves it a lot. BUTTTT its right at teh water. It’ll be so cold a lot of the year. #Seattle - duh. DWI - deal with it. GAJ - get a jacket. RIght? I geuss so.
SEATTLE WITH A TODDLER
I love this city so much. It has so much to do and its like, the more you get to know it the more you can find great things to do, eat, see, ways to travel, get around. I love walking so I can just walk and walk and walk. And there are many activities for my daughter - especially compared to other USA cities. But I still expect more from this whoel country, now that I’ve seen more of the world. :)
OVERALL EVENT REVIEW:
Venue (5/5): Minus the concert venue (which just doesn’t work for me) - everything was so wonderful. Oh yeah, and minus the weird playground though. But still. I love this city and overall so much was amazing. And yeah, i still give it 5/5 cause its great.
Food (2/5): This sounds so rude- the food was amazing at the event… but still i’m like what is going on? How coudl you guys afford to give away free food downtown? AND the food at the concert wasn’t great.
Speaker Content (3/5): This band’s experinece just didnt work for me and that party wasn’t too fun. So, the speakers content = nah. But we still had a fun day.
Networking (4/5): It’s fun to talk to other parents at the playground. But - wahtever. :)
Likeliness to Return (4/5): I’m not going back to a concert anytime soon probably. But i will go to more events, downtown, etc. :)
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time.
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊
