O! Hello Othello, a Southeast Seattle Neighborhood Celebrates Its Multicultural Identity August 16 Noon to 6:00. the Othello
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O! hello Othello, a Southeast Seattle Neighborhood Celebrates its Multicultural Identity August 16 noon to 6:00. The Othello Park International Music and Arts Festival is an occasion for many separate ethnic groups of southeast Seattle to come together as one community and share gems of their various unique cultures. Besides booths, art projects, and music, the Festival emphasizes fun for children of all ages in the form of participatory dance, bouncy houses, games, and the Park’s playground facilities including Seattle’s longest sliding board. This annual event continues every year to be increasingly colorful with native costumes, food and customs on display. A special feature of this year’s Festival will be a celebration of newly installed banners along Martin Luther King Way greeting the world in 40 different languages with the new neighborhood logo O! hello Othello in bright red letters on banners above Martin Luther King Way between Othello and Graham Streets. The Festival will conclude with a parade along the sidewalk to welcome the banners. Unless you ride Seattle’s Link Light Rail often, you may think, when you hear the name Othello, of a Shakespearean play or a small town in eastern Washington. But southeast Seattle residents conjure up the Asian ambience of Othello Station at the heart of the Othello neighborhood business district, one of the most productive stops along the Line. Neighbors have spent well over a decade planting and growing Othello’s unique identity. When the Seattle City Council approved the neighborhood plan in 1998, its purpose was to develop a pedestrian friendly town center along the car oriented stretch of Martin Luther King Way between Holly Park and Brighton, two major residential communities. Even though a major goal of the plan was to establish a strong sense of neighborhood identity, the original version of the plan was called the MLK @ Holly Neighborhood Plan because there was no name for the whole neighborhood. Because it is difficult for a nameless place to have an identity, the neighborhood plan stewardship committee surveyed the citizenry to obtain their input into a name for the neighborhood. “Othello” emerged out of a long list of suggestions as the most popular contender. Since then several neighborhood organizations have sprung up from Othello’s grass roots to grow the now blooming concept of a neighborhood called Othello. On Board Othello (OBO) is a coalition of those and other community groups working with developers to ensure that projects are just, equitable, attractive and compatible with the community. Producer of the Othello Park International Music and Arts Festival is the Othello Park Alliance (OPA) whose mission is to assure that Othello’s beautiful 7.6 acre park is continually maintained, improved, and integrated into community life. This year their hope is that many colorful costumes will be on display as people walk from the Park on down Martin Luther King Junior Way in celebration of Othello’s many languages and cultures. OPA co-chair, Mona Lee, said the event is not just for the neighborhood. People come from miles around to join in the fun. This Festival culminates the Rainier Valley Festival weekend, a Seafair sanctioned event. Everyone is invited to this free public celebration.” For further information, go to www.othellopark.org or the Othello Park Alliance facebook page contact OPA co-chairs, Mona Lee [email protected] 206-898-5452 or Eden Teng [email protected] .