4Culture, with support from Seattle’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, has put together highlights of the A-Y-P centennial into a short video presentation that demonstrates the breadth of the commemoration. We hope the following sights and sounds bring back fond memories and make you proud of King County’s heritage community. Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you would like to view the HD version, click here.

You’ve read the book, you’ve seen the dramatic reading, now experience Two Wheels North through the Seattle Times’ “Newspapers in Education” excerpts. The NIE pieces appeared in the Times while Book-It Repertory Theatre’s adapted staged readings of the book toured sites around King County. 4Culture supported both projects as part of the Alaska Yukon Pacific Expostion centennial celebration. The staged readings are now history, but you can view teaser video here and the NIE articles here.

Ray Francisco (left) and Vic McDaniel, The Seattle Times Newspapers In Education, courtesy of Evelyn McDaniel Gibb

Native American Artists Gather on Stage to Mark Closing of the 100th A-Y-P Anniversary Year

Representatives from 7 different First Nations gather on one stage for a contemporary music and performance event like none other. These Native American performers are coming together to commemorate the end of the 100th anniversary year of the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition (A-Y-P).Together they will combine the best of blues, rock, spoken word and jazz with deep resonances of their traditional culture. The combination is uplifting, evocative and a stinging rebuke to anyone who believes the Native culture has faded away.

Star Nayea Grammy Award-winning singer
Gene Tagaban Tlingit storyteller, actor, musician
Preston Singletary electric bassist and celebrated Tlingit glass artist
Swil Kanim violinist and comic
….and many many more.

More info!

WHERE: Meany Hall; UW Campus

DETAILS: Tickets are $20 for adults; $10 for Burke Members and $5 for youth and students 18 & over with ID. $17 tickets are available over the phone for groups of 10 or more.

An “action-packed staged reading” sounds like a contradiction in terms, but that’s not the case with Book-It Repertory Theatre’s adaptation of Two Wheels North, which premiered September 25. With fast-paced exuberance, the 75-minute traveling show, adapted and directed by Annie Lareau, brings to life the saga of two young men who rode their bicycles from Santa Rosa, California, to Seattle’s Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909. The opening night crowd at the Nordic Heritage Museum received an added bonus with the presence of the book’s author, Evelyn McDaniel Gibb, who was seated front row center.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Employing the Book-It Special Edition style of minimal props and liberal use of audience imagination, the talented cast recreated the story’s most memorable scenes. Pedaling vintage bikes on stationary stands, Damian Peterson as Vic McDaniel and Nik Perleros as Ray Francisco, rode up and down mountain passes, over railroad trestles and through tunnels, while encountering fascinating characters played by Kelly Kitchens and John Ulman. With sponsorship from Heritage 4Culture and Site-Specific, Two Wheels North continues its run of performances around King County through October. Visit www.sitespecificarts.org for dates, times and locations.

L-R, John Ulman, Damian Peterson, Evelyn Gibb, Nik Perleros, Kelly Kitchens, & Annie Lareau

The riders participating in the Wheels North bike ride from Santa Rosa, California, to the UW Campus will be arriving today at 6pm. This ride is reenacting a similar adventure that happened one-hundred years ago as part of the A-Y-P.

This video on YouTube captures some of the experience from Ashland to Roseburg

image: © courtesy 4Culture

This 4Culture e-newsletter will reach you just in time for the arrival in Seattle/King County of the fifty-four vintage Ford Model T’s that set off to cross the country along the back roads of 12 states to reenact the Ocean-to-Ocean Automobile Race, which launched the opening of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909. Like the original race, members of the Model T Ford Club International will drive west along nearly 4,000 miles of this country’s oldest highways from New York to Seattle’s University of Washington Campus, the site of the 1909 A-Y-P Exposition. Visit the Model T Club’s website to read daily blogs about the cross-country trip.

One of the highlights of this year’s A-Y-P Centennial celebrations, the Model T Rally will conclude in King County July 9-12, with a series of events called, It’s All Downhill from Here. When the T’s arrive at Snoqualmie Pass the evening of July 9, they will be greeted with speeches, live music (Cornucopia Concert Band), a no-host bar and a gourmet hotdog picnic. At dusk, the Ellensburg Film Festival will present the classic film, The Great Race on an outdoor screen. On July 10, the T’s will follow historic highways down from the pass, traveling through North Bend and stopping for a Salmon Bake lunch, catered by the Snoqualmie Tribe Canoe Family, at Meadowbrook Farm from 12 – 2pm. The public will have an opportunity to view the cars at Meadowbrook, while enjoying the music of the Pony Boy All-Star Big Band and the Snoqualmie Tribe Canoe Family Drummers. The T’s will then make their way to Issaquah via Snoqualmie, Fall City, Preston and High Point. On Saturday, July 11, drivers and crew will spend the day sprucing up their vehicles and mingling with the public at the Issaquah Depot Museum. On Sunday morning, July 12, the T’s will drive from Issaquah to Renton, up Rainier Avenue, through the Arboretum to end their run at Drumheller Fountain on the UW campus.

These events are open to the public and free of charge, with the exception of food and drink. For more information visit www.aype.org or www.ayp100.org. Come be a part of history, and join your community in the celebrations!

Jim Kelly
Executive Director

Book-It Repertory Theatre offers “a novel approach to theatre,” with an extensive record of “transforming great literature into great theatre.” Two Wheels North by Evelyn McDaniel Gibb will be brought to life in a 45-60 minute theater work that will tour to ten locations throughout the County, as part of a joint project between 4Culture’s Arts and Heritage programs

This free program is a golden opportunity for historical museums and societies to provide a novel approach to history for their communities. 4Culture is currently seeking venues for the performances and wishes to hear from heritage organizations interested in hosting the performances.

If you want to take part in this dramatic event at the close of the A-Y-P Centennial year, contact Eric Taylor at 206 296.8688.

image: © From Two Wheels North, Courtesy of Santa Rosa Press Democrat

For more information about the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Centennial visit AYP100.org

image: © University of Washington Special Collections, AYP605