 “There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.”
- Bernard Williams -
 Calling all pet lovers, your weekend is here! The most fun you can have with your four-legged friend has finally arrived! It’s this Saturday, May 18, with Petpalooza at Game Farm Park, one of Auburn's largest and most spectacular events.
Petpalooza begins with a Dog Trot 3K/5K Fun Run. The event features an animal-related entertainment stage, flydog and agility demos, Emerald Downs' 'Unleashed' Pet Contest, a free agility area, a large variety of vendor booths, adoptions, free and low-cost pet services, give-a-ways and lots of activities to keep both humans and pets entertained. Who wouldn’t love a day filled with all this?!?
 Everyone's favorite parrot ambassadors and reptile handlers are back, in addition to live music from Jet City Players, playing classic and modern rock hits, and Po'okela Street Band, fusing "Island Style" to a Worldbeat mix.
 Last year, our Communications Manager wrote about experiencing Petpalooza for the first time, including all the sights, smells and sunscreen (or lack there of) that comes along with it. You can read more about his experience in our City of Auburn Blog.
 I hope to see you Saturday and don’t be like our Communications Manager – bring your sunscreen, or perhaps an umbrella! For a full list of events and times, follow the link below.
Radine Lozier, City of Auburn Senior Center Manager
Last Monday during our City Council meeting, I declared May as Older Americans Month and called on the Auburn community members to recognize older adults and the people who support them as essential contributors to the strength of our community.
There to accept on Monday was Radine Lozier, who manages our incredible Senior Activity Center, and has been a part of the City of Auburn for 38 years. She is so dedicated to the welfare of our wonderful seniors. For those who may not know, the Senior Activity Center is a wonderful resource for our residents aged 55 and over, offering exceptional lunches and dinners at discount prices, recreational opportunities, special events, a discounted food pantry once a month, educational opportunities, and more. The senior center also provides discounted coffee to all visitors, sourced locally -- we wrote about the program in our Spring 2024 Auburn Magazine.
(Click the photo to view the magazine)
The City of Auburn is fortunate to have a thriving community of older Americans who deserve recognition for their contributions and sacrifices to ensure a better life for future generations.
I truly believe the City of Auburn is stronger when people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds are included and encouraged to make their mark. We have so much to learn by their experiences and resilience.
 SISTAHS, an exhibit of four Pacific Northwest artists of African descent, is now open at Postmark Center for the Arts.
Brenetta Ward is a fabric artist, third-generation quilter, and oral historian. Jite Agbro is known for her colorful figurative artwork featuring layered patterns, sharp contrast, and fabric and paper collage. Debra Harris-Branham conjures the energy of her storytelling into artistic imagery. Marita Dingus is an environmental feminist and mixed-media sculptor focused on using recoverable materials.
Here's an excerpt about SISTAHS, from our upcoming Summer 2024 Auburn Magazine, written by Arts Assistant Amanda Jenkinson.
A major thematic element for SISTAHS is figurative presence: people, history, and Black culture. Debra’s pieces have occurrences of portraiture among elements of aged paper, fabric, and rustic items. Brenetta’s quilts include fabric-printed photographs, imagery of ancestry, black-and-white film shots of cowboys and cowgirls. Marita creates almost entirely figurative work, creating pieces that speak on how slaves were discarded, just like the materials she uses in her work. The final member of SISTAHS, Jite Agbro, collages together paper and fabric scraps to create her larger-than life encaustic assemblages.
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Jite got her start in art at a young age. “I started making art after taking classes at a local art center in Seattle that was walking distance from where I lived. I was 9 or 10 years old,” she says. Jite was taking classes at Pratt Art Center in Seattle, her teacher being one of Marita’s previous students when she worked as a professor at Central Community College. Jite’s teacher made Marita aware of her talent, telling Marita, “You have got to meet this young woman. She’s incredible.”
You can see SISTAHS and the rest of Postmark during opening hours, Wednesday from noon to 4 p.m., Thursdays noon to 6 p.m. and Fridays noon to 4 p.m.
(Click the photo to watch the video)
King County TV put out an amazing little video on our great, big Auburn Food Bank and its new building! I'm so happy for Debbie Christian and remain in awe of her work in getting this new building up and running.
(Click the photo to watch the video)
King County TV also featured our Community Court program, which recently began accepting in-custody participants from South Correctional Entity, or SCORE. So far this year, community court has graduated over a dozen participants, with many more on the way. I think we have a great program, and I hope you will, too.
Give the short video a watch, if you have a moment!
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