Category: HPIC

First Fridays Are Here!

First Fridays are here!

Mark your calendars – First Fridays officially kick off May 2. Don’t miss this perfect chance to mingle with neighbors and experience the heart of our community.

Every First Friday, the HPIC site will transform into a hub of neighborhood connection, where you can discover local artists, bring your family, groove to music, cozy up by a fire, and savor delicious light bites and beverages.

There will be music and games, as well as snacks and beverages available for purchase. Bring your kids, your neighbors, and weather-appropriate clothing – this event will happen ☔ rain or ☀️ shine.

Details

Every First Friday
5:30 – 8:30 pm
At the HPIC site (1116 SW Holden St)
RSVP (optional)

Donor Profile: Laura Drake

Laura Drake, Member and Donor

Q: When did you first get involved in HPIC, and why?

I moved to Highland Park in November 1999. In the spring of 2001, I started my business, Stage Struck, a summer theatre camp program for young people. Although I secured a space in a church basement in the Admiral district, I wanted something in my neighborhood as well.  The HPIC building intrigued me – of course this was before there was a website, cellphones, etc. The Board at the time okayed my request and I held two small Disney camps there the summer of 2001.

Being at the HPIC building brought in kids from our community. We moved on to the stage at the Fauntleroy Church/YMCA building after that, where I ran it and finally sold it at the end of the summer in 2023.

I was a multi-arts (visual, theatre) specialist at Highland Park Elementary for nine years, from 2004 – 2013. Around 2006, the city wanted to build a jail at the bottom of Highland Park Drive. I joined others in the fight to stop the build. This was with HPAC, the Highland Park Action Coalition. We attended many meetings, and one that I ranted and raved at in Georgetown hit the internet, and caused quite a stir. Being an educator at the local school and a resident, I considered the neighborhood at the time “fragile” in becoming a more solid community and the last thing it needed was a jail nearby. We did stop the jail from being built.

Q: What keeps you an active supporter of HPIC today?

Through the years I have attended many wonderful events at HPIC, held my retirement party there when I left teaching, and re-started my commitment to yoga classes there in the early 2000’s. I have a history here, HPIC is like a family member. Having a community center run by the community is a rare and important asset in any neighborhood, and requires support from all.

Q: What’s one way you’d like to inspire others in the community to get involved with HPIC?

To somehow let the community know the long history of HPIC, and how it has worked with HPAC to help Highland Park’s citizens with everything from being a voting station, a place for union meetings, a place to fight the good fight, a place to celebrate, to dance, to learn new skills, a place to start a business, whatever it may be.

Q: What’s one event you’d love to see happen once HPIC’s building is rebuilt?

I’d like to see classes of all kinds come back to the building. And of course, Corner Bar! My partner from Minneapolis played there with his trio right before COVID closed it down and the fire happened. Corner Bar, with its all ages until a given time, allows families to enjoy themselves with live music, food and drink (if they want) for a very low cost. And it’s a way to get to know your neighbors better!

Q: Anything else you’d like to share?

There are members in this community who have volunteered HUNDREDS of hours to HPIC, and this cannot work without committed volunteers.

Thank you, Laura! We are deeply grateful or your support. We hope your story serves as inspiration for others in our neighborhood to join the HPIC community

Thank You to Outgoing Board Members

Thank You to outgoing board members

Rhonda Smith

Rhonda has been a member of HPIC since 2007 and has also had on and off roles with HPIC over her tenure. She stepped in for a second stint as president during a critical time — for the community and for the Board — after the fire.  She has been an absolute force for HPIC. She led the charge on a complete overhaul of the board and its activities, and programming events, as well as helping transition the board to its current form. 

Rhonda has been an incredible leader who has significantly helped honor HPIC’s past while opening the doors for the change and growth that HPIC is currently experiencing.

Julie Schickling

Julie has been a part of HPIC since 2008 and on/off the board since 2009. In the past few years, she has been our secretary, finance, communications, branding, grant writer, and tech committee all in one.  She, Rhonda and Nickie all had a hand in helping transition HPIC to a 501.c3 – but Julie took on the nitty gritty details with handling the IRS during that transition. She is incredibly versatile, was the lead visionary in creating the Corner Bar. 

Portrait of Julie Schickling

Nickie JOstol

Nickie has been a part of HPIC and on the board since 2009. She is incredibly passionate and a true advocate for HPIC. She has brought her creativity and passion to the many events she helped organize. As an example of her dedication, during COVID,  Nickie went door to door to help ensure all parts of our community had access to and awareness of the COVID vaccine, putting herself at great personal risk.

Major Donor Profile: Erika Harnett

Erika Harnett, Member and donor

Q: When did you first get involved in HPIC, and why?

I grew up in the neighborhood, living just a block from HPIC. My first memories of HPIC are walking down to it, with my parents, so they could vote. HPIC was the neighborhood polling location in the 1970s and 1980s. While they voted for actual candidates, I practiced voting, by casting my vote for George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, using a sample ballot. 

A photo of HPIC donor and member Erika Harnett

Q: What inspired you to make a major donation to HPIC?

HPIC is very much part of the neighborhood, and of the neighborhood. It is very unique these days, being a neighborhood meeting place, for diverse activities and diverse people. I like that it was, and will be again, a place where people come to see local bands perform, take a yoga class, or rent, at an affordable price, for a family gathering.

Q: What’s one way you’d like to inspire others in the community to get involved with HPIC?

Your neighborhood is what you make of it. HPIC is a place, and a community, where people can build a supportive, collaborative, and resilient neighborhood.

Q: What’s one event you’d love to see happen once HPIC’s building is rebuilt?

My father enjoyed making wine, and loved the wine tasting event. I look forward to attending the first wine tasting event in the new building.

Q: What’s one event you’d love to see happen once HPIC’s building is rebuilt?

I hope people understand what a gem HPIC is. I am so appreciative of the people who came together to revive, and keep HPIC alive, and who are working so hard to ensure HPIC has another 100 years into the future.

Thank you, Erika! We are deeply grateful or your support. We hope your story serves as inspiration for others in our neighborhood to join the HPIC community. 

Funding for the demo from Seattle Department of neighborhoods

Funding for the demo from Seattle Department of neighborhoods

We are gratified to report that HPIC has been awarded a $50,000 grant through the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Community Partnership Fund. It was a very competitive application process and we are honored to have been selected. The grant is toward funding the building demolition, and also site preparation to make the property safe for community events in the interim after the damaged building has been removed and before construction on the new building begins.

The Department of Neighborhoods has been supportive of HPIC through a series of challenges, starting with the pandemic, when we were granted about $27k to renovate the space while the building was closed. But then the fire happened – before we could reopen – and also before we had spent the bulk of the grant money (thanks to our amazing skilled volunteers). Department of Neighborhoods, with the help of our project manager Juan Martinez, allowed us to repurpose the grant for community engagement activities, to help us stay relevant in the community. That grant funded the 2022 Reset Fest, off-site Corner Bars and more. The Department of Neighborhoods is a vital resource in helping HPIC stay connected to our community.

The New Generation of the HPIC Board

The New Generation of the HPIC Board

We are proud and honored to introduce these advocates of community in our neighborhood who have joined the team to rebuild HPIC. They bring vital new energy and vision to the rebuild, and to the future of HPIC.

New HPIC Board members are sworn in

From left to right: Ellen Powers, Amy Durgin, Nick Montrond, Adrien Demelier, Alex Wheeler, Silva Ianev and Rachel Chernin. Leading the ceremony is Martha Mallett, right foreground, long-time HPIC board member who kept HPIC alive by reaching out to the neighborhood at another challenging time in its history, in the early 2000’s.

Current board members who remain: Rhonda Smith, President; Shannon Harris, Julie Schickling, Kay Kirkpatrick, Billy Stauffer and Nickie Jostol.

Together, with so many of our neighbors and supporters through the years and into the future, we will bring back our community gathering place.

We are thankful for the many years of dedicated service given by departing board members Gretchen Heiden, Billy Markham and Shawn Mazza.