The inaugural Joiner Jamboree, a unique hyper-local festival, successfully convened dozens of community organizations in West Seattle and White Center on Saturday, November 8, 2025. The event ran from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. The gathering achieved its goal of connecting residents with community life, growing to encompass 62 participating clubs, groups, and organizations.

Attendees engaged in various forms of civic participation, starting right at the entrance area which hosted a live entertainment stage alongside key community giving stations. The Admiral Congregational United Church of Christ sponsored a Community Warm Clothing Drive, collecting items for distribution to the Westside Neighbors Shelter and Westside Interfaith Network, both of which maintained tables at the Jamboree. Additionally, the White Center Food Bank set up a barrel at the event entry to accept non-perishable food donations.

 

 

Throughout the event, organizers promoted civic engagement by encouraging attendees to sign up for their hyper-local Buy-Nothing group, connect with their school’s PTA group, and support neighborhood activities like Adopt-a-Drain and Adopt-a-Street.

 

Interactive Engagement and Entertainment

The Jamboree featured several interactive stations designed to crowdsource community needs and ideas:

• Attendees participated in nominating and voting for their favorite West Seattle "Third Places"—locations outside of home, work, or school where people gather. A report highlighting these findings is expected after the event.

• The "A Club I’d Like to See in West Seattle is…" station allowed participants to write down new club ideas and vote for existing suggestions, potentially building a movement for new community groups.

• Two crowdsourcing tables solicited information about existing groups: one focused on "Sporting Opportunities in West Seattle," seeking consistent drop-in sports groups, and another titled, "We Wish They (I wish we) Were Here—Please Come Next Time!" for clubs that missed tabling the festival.

Attendees were encouraged to validate their free entry tickets for the Door Prize Raffle by visiting and interacting with five participating groups at their tables or the event stage. Hourly drawings were held on the hour, requiring winners to be present. Non-winning tickets were automatically entered into a Grand Prize Drawing, with those winners notified after the event concluded.

 

 

The live stage featured performances hourly:

• 11:00 AM: UKES Ukulele group.

• 12:00 PM: The Cloggers.

• 1:00 PM: WSUP Ukulele group.

• 2:00 PM: Silent Dance Alki.

Light snacks were available for attendees, including locally made cookies donated by Bite Society. Dedicated lunch options were provided for the hardworking tabling partners and event volunteers.

The Joiner Jamboree successfully concluded at 3:00 PM, followed by event teardown and clean-up until 4:00 PM. Organizers noted that they compiled a West Seattle Civic Directory during the outreach process for the festival and plan to contact clubs that missed the chance to host a table about future Joiners events.

 

 

 

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Essential Sponsors

The Joiner Jamboree received essential equipment, expertise, food, raffle prizes, and energy from numerous community members, businesses, and organizations:

• St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church & Rev. Elise Johnstone & Jackson Espeut

• Westside Unitarian Universalist Congregation & West Seattle Meaningful Movies & Rev. Carter Smith

• Andrea O’Ferrall

• Julie Garbutt & Waypower Coaching

• Hannah Love

• The West Seattle Timebank (event work party & event staffing)

• Whitney Moore-Adams & Electric Butter Marketing

• Randy Winn

• Joe Lamy

• Greta Anderson & Geez Louise Print + Digital Studio

• Anonymous donor

• Bite Society (Lendy Hensley, Katy Carroll & Bob Pennington)

• Scott Hansen

• Terry Simpson

• Bahn Mi XO

• Francisco, chef from The Center for Active Living

• Junction FC

• Rhodies FC

• UKES (Unique Kind of Entertainers)

• WSUP-West Seattle Ukulele Players

• Appalachian Cloggers—Kelsey, Diane, & Todd

• Silent Dance Alki—Pamela Adams

• Alki Lumber

• West of Chicago Pizza

• West Seattle Runner

• Revitalize Holistic Spa

• Stu Hennessey

• Tom Kennedy

• The Center for Active Living

• QFC—Westwood Village

• Costco-4th Ave S.

• Safeway—Jefferson Square

• Trader Joes

• Safeway—Roxbury

• Top Pot Donuts

• Chandra Heinemann

• West Seattle Bowl

• Three 9 Lounge

• Talaricco’s Pizza

• Easy Street Records

• Chelan Café

• Kiwanis Club of West Seattle

• West Seattle Indivisible

• Highland Park Corner Store

• Pegasus Book Exchange

• Revelry Room

• Sky Printing

• Rosie McAtee

• Judi Finney

• Steve Finney

• Erik Bell

• Pete Spaulding

• Ann Martin

• Rachel Glass

• Michele Robinson

• Cindi Barker

• Dylan Baker

• Skyler Sinclair

• Lara Gardner

• Vicki Kitts

• Beth Mattern

• Ron Arant

• Pam Phillips

• Amy Daly-Donovan

• Martha Aiken

• Arlene Rubin

• Deborah Nelson

• WSBlog

• WestsideSeattle.com

• All of the clubs, groups and organizations, their organizing leadership, and table hosts

• Everyone on social media who amplified messaging over the last 6 months

• Pete Davis

• Rebecca Davis

• Bob Putnam

• Joiners everywhere!

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Participating Clubs, Groups & Organizations (62 Total)

The following clubs, groups, and organizations from West Seattle and White Center participated in the Joiner Jamboree:

• 34th District Democrats

• A Cleaner Alki

• Admiral Neighborhood Association

• Alki Beach Pride

• Alki Community Council

• Alki Dharma Buddhist Meditation Community

• Appalachian Clogging Groups (Viva Arts/Alki UCC)

• Buy Nothing Groups—West Seattle & White Center

• Campfire

• Delridge Neighborhood Development Association—Forest Restoration

• Democratic Socialists of America

• Drop-in sport groups (Ultimate, pickleball, tennis, cold water plunging, open water swimming, etc.)

• Forest Stewards– Green Seattle Partnership

• Girl Scouts of Western Washington

• Heavily Meditated (w/ Inner Alchemy TT)

• Highland Park Improvement Club/HPAC

• Impact West Seattle

• Junction FC & Rhodies FC

• West Seattle High School Key Club

• Kiwanis Club of West Seattle

• League of Women Voters & Voter Registration Table

• Listening to Grief—Grief Walks/support groups/related events

• West Seattle Meaningful Movies

• MoCA (Morgan Junction Community Association)

• Morbidly Curious Book Club (MCBC)

• PTA’s of West Seattle & White Center

• Postcards4Democracy—West Seattle

• Puget Ridge Edible Park (PREP) & Puget Ridge Neighbors & West Coast Swing Dance

• Rotary Club of Burien/White Center

• Rotary Club of West Seattle

• Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (West Seattle Group)

• Scream Club Seattle

• Silent Dance Alki

• Southwest Historical Society

• SW Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator—Block Watch Groups/Neighborhood Night

• The Center for Active Living

• The Heron’s Nest

• The Whale Trail

• VIVA Arts

• Walking for Well-being

• Weed Warriors

• West Seattle Amateur Radio Club

• West Seattle Be Prepared

• West Seattle Bike Connections

• West Seattle Book Club

• West Seattle Democratic Women

• West Seattle Food Bank

• West Seattle Garden Club

• West Seattle Home Depot Adopt-A-Corner (NDLON)

• West Seattle Indivisible

• West Seattle Rock Club

• West Seattle Runner Get-Fit Group/Track Run

• West Seattle Time Bank

• West Seattle Toastmasters Club 832

• West Seattle Ukulele Players

• West Seattle Urbanism Meet-up Group

• Westies Run Club

• Westside Interfaith Network

• Westside Neighbors Shelter

• White Center Food Bank

• White Center Solidarity