Articles

Volunteers with Pro Parks Sign, November 5, 2003. Photo Credit: Beliz Brother. For over 50 years, the hill overlooking Rainier Valley was home to the Hitt Fireworks Company, whose fireworks illuminated displays at Green Lake and Ivar's Fourth of July celebrations and even appeared in the Oscar-winning film, Gone with the Wind (1939). When the Hitt Fireworks Company ceased production in 1974, however, the future of the property became uncertain. By 2000, development seemed

Exploring the natural resources used by the Xacua’bs through Mary Lou Slaughter's recipe for blackberry dumplings.

From thirteen farmers in a parking lot to one of Southeast Seattle’s most beloved weekly traditions. Discover the story behind the Columbia City Farmers Market and the community that built it.

In Seattle's old "Garlic Gulch" neighborhood, Italian immigrant Phyllis Macay grew plum trees, tended her garden, and baked a bread so good her friends never let her forget it. Learn the story and make her Famous Plum Bread from the Rainier Valley Food Stories Cookbook.

From the Duwamish people's river gardens to the Victory Gardens of World War II, Rainier Valley has a long and layered history of growing food. This collection traces how Indigenous peoples, immigrants, and everyday neighbors have cultivated the land beneath Seattle's most diverse neighborhood, and how that tradition continues in P-Patches and farmers markets today.

Kubota Garden Entrance Gate - photo by Laurel Mercury Most first-time visitors to the garden are amazed to find a mature 20-acre garden located in a residential neighborhood a few blocks from the southern city limits of Seattle. The story of the garden is also amazing. It is the creation of Fujitaro Kubota and his family and unique to the Pacific Northwest. The Historical and Economic Background The story begins in Meiji Japan, with the rapid westernization and industrializat