Instead of having just one, large Halloween Carnival, the Magnolia Community Center (2550 34th Ave. W) is hosting four different Halloween-inspired events. “With this change, we are able to serve a variety of people and ages,” Melissa Valenzuela, the Assistant Recreation Coordinator tells us. “We’re looking forward to seeing everyone in the community.”

Glow in the Dark Night
Friday, Oct. 21
Join us for a ghoulish dark night featuring glow-in-the-dark goodies, bounce houses, tumbling mats and refreshments. The lights will be turned out, but we’ll still know where to find ya!
Ages 4 and under: 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Ages 5-12: 6:30-8 p.m.
$3 per child, includes glow-in-the-dark goody
(additional goodies–$1)

Pumpkin Carving
Oct. 26, 6-8 p.m.

We’ll provide all that you’ll need to create something hauntingly wonderful! Carving will be outdoors in the Magnolia parking lot, so dress warmly. All ages are welcome. $3-7 per pumpkin depending on the size. Wednesday,

Lil’ Spooky Things
Friday, Oct. 28, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

It’s a party for the spooky and crawling little ones. Join us in the gym for a morning of activities and bouncy good times. Only $2 per child.

Halloteen Night
Oct. 21, 8:30-11 p.m.

Middle schoolers (grades 6-8th) can enjoy an evening out to celebrate Halloween. Teens need to bring their school ID and $3. Teen leaders will be onsite to supervise the teen activities, which will include music, games and food!

Volunteers are needed for all of these events. For more information, please call Magnolia Community Center at 206-386-4235.

We’ve learned the Magnolia Community Center has offered to help out with the budget crunch facing several programs at the Queen Anne Community Center.  Under the mayor’s budget proposal, the gym at the Queen Anne facility would be closed in 2011 to make room for the studios of BizKid$, a national public television series for children.  Volunteers and supporters of the Queen Anne center showed up Wednesday at a budget public hearing in Northgate to tell the City Council they want the gym to stay open.

“Yesterday afternoon the phone was ringing off the hook. All kinds of parents and coaches wanted information,” said Pat Barger who serves as a volunteer at the Queen Anne community center.

A sign urging the City Council to keep the Queen Anne gym open

The Queen Anne gym and McClure’s gym are used by 22 youth basketball teams, and Barger isn’t sure how many of those teams can be relocated. The gym is also used for several other programs.  Barger says Magnolia has offered to help.

A crowd lines up to speak at Wednesday night’s budget hearing in Northgate

The Magnolia Community Center will continue to receive full funding and operate normally under the mayor’s proposed budget, but the Environmental Learning Center at Discovery Park is facing funding cuts.

To see more on the mayor’s proposed budget, click here.

The next public hearing on the budget takes place Wednesday, October 13 at South Seattle Community College at 5:30pm. The City Council has also set up a web page where you can submit ideas to balance the budget and vote on other suggestions.

Mayor Mike McGinn is out with his proposed 2011-2012 budget today.  Although several community centers are facing reduced operations, the Magnolia Community Center will continue to receive full funding and operate normally.

However, the Environmental Learning Center at Discovery Park is facing funding cuts.  Parks will continue to provide school-based programs that offer field trip programming for school-aged children to learn about nature and the environment.  ARC will still run the Nature Day Camps and the Nature Preschool (day care) at the Discovery Park ELC. 

To see more on the mayor’s proposed budget, click here.  

The City Council will now dive into the proposed budget.  One of three public hearings will be held this Wednesday (9/29) at 5:30pm at the Northgate Community Center gym at 10510 5th Ave NE.  The Council has also set up a web page where you can submit ideas to balance the budget and vote on other suggestions.  You can find that page here.

Magnolia can rest easier after the mayor announced his mid-year budget cuts this morning. The Magnolia Community Center, Pop Mounger Pool, and the Environmental Learning Center at Discovery Park are all safe. The mayor decided to fully fund all community centers and swimming pools across the city. The only areas that took a big hit in the Parks budget were wading pools and park maintenance.

The mayor also decided against any cuts to the fire department budget in the wake of the deadly weekend fire in Fremont. You can see the complete list of cuts here.

The Seattle Parks and Recreation’s School Age Care Winter Break Camps at the Magnolia Community Center will be closed on Monday (12/22) due to weather conditions.  A child care hotline is available for additional updates at 206-684-7123.  

It looks like they were working down to the last minute but the reopening of the Magnolia Community Center is set for Wednesday afternoon.

The center has been closed since mid-June for repairs, mainly to the roof.  The project cost was close to $1 million dollars.  No programs have been available at the normally busy community center during the closure.

The community center will host an opening celebration from 3pm to 6pm and the center will resume normal operations.