Remember Uncorked

Our biggest event of the year, the 12th Annual Highland Park Uncorked Winetasting Fundraiser, would have been today – Saturday May 16, 2020.

As we continue to Stay at Home during these challenging times, remember Uncorked and raise a toast: donate and join/renew your membership, on this day that would have been our biggest fundraiser of the year.

Uncorked will be back, our ability to gather will be back, we will get through this! Until then – stay safe and healthy! Thanks for your support.

Color to Bring Us Together

We’re excited to introduce our HPIC coloring page! Color this and put it in your window – show your love and solidarity! Thanks to our neighbor Sonya Rupnick for creating this artwork that reflects HPIC and our neighborhood and is perfect for coloring. Click on the image for a printable version, print and color as many as you like, and post in your windows so we can feel together even though we are apart.

And when we are finally able to gather again – which will be a very special event – we will ask everyone to take the colored artworks from their windows and bring them to the club, where we will create a collective display with them for everyone to see and feel connected.

A Letter from the HPIC Board

It’s times like these where the truest sense of COMMUNITY shines like a bright light.  The mission for the Highland Park Improvement Club is to serve our community, to provide a place for people to feel connected, safe, and to foster positive community engagement today and in future generations. In response to the current health situation and to do our part to protect the public and the people in our community from COVID-19, extra precautions are being taken to ensure that the Club is clean and safe.  We have asked people using the Club for meetings, classes, rentals, etc. to remain home and not attend if they are sick. As always, the Club will be thoroughly cleaned on a regular basis.

If you are missing our events and staying connected to the community, consider making a donation through HPIC, where we’ll use all donations to directly support the community during this time of need.

CHANGES TO PROGRAMMING:

The HPIC Board met this week and has decided to make the following changes to its programming:

  • All HPIC-hosted events are CANCELLED through April 6th, when we will reassess the situation.  This includes Art Lounge, Classic Cards & Cocktails, Friday Night Live, and April Corner Bar.
  • Uncorked, our largest fundraiser of the year, is POSTPONED at this time. It’s usually held in May, and planning has already begun.  We will assess whether it makes sense to host in the fall or to cancel altogether as the situation unfolds.
  • Private events and classes held at the club are up to the DISCRETION of the renters, instructors, and guests. We understand that classes are a source of revenue for instructors in our community and are sensitive to the impact of shutting those down. Please use your best judgment, and take precautions to keep our Club and its visitors safe and clean.  If you have something scheduled at the club and need to cancel or reschedule, please know that we will accommodate any changes that are needed, we are here to help you through it.

OUR CURRENT FOCUS:

Collectively we are refocusing our efforts to be a resource to the community in a new way, which changes every day.  We have many things in work, under the excellent guidance and compassionate leadership of our Club Manager, Odetta Owen.  We are currently serving as a hub for food preparation, storage and distribution to students and families of many local schools.  Additionally, the Club is now listed with United Way and the Seattle PTSA chapter as a resource for families during the now 6 weeks that schools are ordered to be closed.  We will continue to seek ways that we can be of service to the greater community and our impacted neighbors.  We have some virtual information sessions that we are looking into hosting in the near future, as well as a way to still stay connected and support each other from a distance.  Please reach out to us at hpic1919@gmail.com if you feel we could help you or the community/families that live here in some way.

Thank you to ALL that are stepping forward to support each other, serving those in need, and demonstrating what is possible when we work together and care for one another with compassion during times of crisis and need.

Nicole Mazza & the HPIC Board, 3/13/2020

Corner Bar – Friday March 6, 6pm

March! Already! Come join the party with all your friends. New Primitives Trio is going to give you all the excitement you can handle at this month’s Corner Bar.

Cruising in from the Twin Cities, Stan and New Primitives Trio are going to give it to you all – Reggae/Ska, R&B, Afro Cuban, World Music, deep Funk and American Rock and Roll.

Check them out – https://www.newprimitives.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fioHA1xgz9I

Enter the Corner Bar and sing the praises of the New Primitives.
As always, it’s free, all ages! Food and drink available for your Friday night feast.

Promised Land – Friday January 24

HPIC presents a special screening of Promised Land, a social justice documentary on the Duwamish and Chinook tribes, their fight for restoration, and what the federal recognition process says about indigenous sovereignty today. 

Doors open at 7pm for appetizers, drinks and socializing, with the film at 8pm. A representative from the Duwamish Tribe and also the filmmakers will be in attendance to introduce the film and to lead discussion afterward.

$10 donation at the door, half of which will be given toward the Tribes’ fight for restoration and recognition.

From the filmmakers:

Promised Land is an award-winning social justice documentary that follows two tribes in the Pacific Northwest: the Duwamish and the Chinook, as they fight for the restoration of treaty rights they’ve long been denied. In following their story, the film examines a larger problem in the way that the government and society still looks at tribal sovereignty.

New Years Eve – 2019 – Tuesday Dec 31, starting at 6pm

Everyone Welcome! Bring your families, bring your neighbors! We hope to spend another magical evening with you all ringing in the New Year! Free entry – all ages.

6pm – Not So Silent Night Parade – meet at HPIC parking lot

After the parade: the illustrious Sage Comet prepares us to welcome the New Year

6pm – 9:30pm DJs, Keepsake Photos, Drinks, and Fun

9:30pm – Ari Joshua and Friends begin

11:59pm – Countdown to 2020!

HPIC’s Centennial Celebration, Saturday November 16, 11am to 3pm – our 100th Birthday Party!

Please join us in celebrating HPIC’s 100 years as a community gathering place in our neighborhood.
HPIC has been sustained through the years by a succession of neighborhood volunteers.

Program for the Celebration:
Open House 11am – 1pm

  • Games (vintage and contemporary)
  • Displays of history and mementos
  • Photo booth
  • Food and drinks (plus HPIC bar will be open)

Seated program 1 – 2pm

  • Introductions and acknowledgement of the Duwamish Tribe
  • Recognition from our State, County and City officials
  • Memories from our members
  • Open House continues 2 – 3pm

Corner Bar – Friday November 1, 7pm

You like to have fun, right? Friday nights are made for fun. Corner Bar is made for fun. You are made for fun! Come join us on our monthly excursion into the depths of excitement and mystery as your cornucopia of neighbors and friends get together to eat, drink, and be merry.

Don’t put away your Halloween costume yet. You have another chance to dazzle all with your creative genius.

Come join us as Welcome Strangers sings the praises for another action packed night of music.

“Longtime friends and musical collaborators Scott Goodwin (Drums/Vocals – Flowmotion, The True Spokes, Beecraft, Andy Coe Band, Your Sweet Action) and Jamie Zyskowski (Guitar/Vocals – Beecraft, The Don Goodwin Group) re-united in 2014 to create a new sound from a vintage pallet – Guitar, Bass, Drums, and lots of vocal harmonies. After a year of crafting new originals and inspiring covers from John Lennon, Sandy Denny, Genesis, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and more, Scott invited his band mate Norman Baker (Bass/Guitar/Vocals – Norman Baker & The Backroads, Mountains & Tunnels, Vicci Martinez, The True Spokes, Your Sweet Action) to join on bass and vocals to complete the sound. The trio brings a unique mix of creative originals and passionate covers delivered through a stripped down yet surprisingly deep sound.”

Countdown to our Centennial, by the decade. This month we celebrate the 10’s – a summary of our recent past. Thanks to Dina Johnson, Kay Kirkpatrick, Michele Witzki and other special contributors – that have put so much effort into documenting our history in such a way. Centennial Celebration coming up Saturday Nov 16 – see below!

As always, all ages, food and drink for purchase! Hope to see you this Friday.
***And don’t forget the food donation barrel in support of our neighborhood food bank at Paradise of Praise a few block west on Holden – please bring non-perishable food donations.