🥞 Wear Flannel to This Pancake Breakfast and You're Already in the Raffle Pancakes, plus a raffle you enter just by wearing flannel. The City of Redmond's 2nd Annual Flapjacks & Flannel Breakfast is this weekend on Saturday at the Redmond Senior & Community Center, 8703 160th Ave NE. The pancake breakfast runs 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., then it's seasonal snacks, games, and crafts for all ages until noon. Tickets are $10 to $12, and registration is required so they know how many pancakes to make. Spots are limited, so sign up ahead. Register here: https://www.redmond.gov/Calendar.aspx 📚 A Scrap Kid, a Mouthy Robot, and a Fight He Probably Shouldn't Take A scrap scavenger, a smart-mouthed homemade robot, and a fighting tournament that seems too good to be true. That's the setup of Django Wexler's new fantasy novel, The Only Way Out Is Up, and he's celebrating its release at Brick & Mortar Books on Wednesday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wexler, a local author who came to Seattle to work at Microsoft, will be in conversation with fellow local author Alexandra Oliva, who hosts the store's Word Craft series. It's free, and it includes a signing. Brick & Mortar is at 7430 164th Ave NE, Suite B105, in Redmond Town Center. Event details: https://www.brickandmortarbooks.com/ 🐶 Free Pup Cups, a Bandana, and a Crown for the Goodest Doggo Your dog gets a pup cup, a bandana, and a shot at Pup of the Month, and you get all-day happy hour. That's Bark & Bourbon, the first-Sunday-of-the-month dog party at Northwest Spirits, and this month it lands this weekend on Sunday, starting at 2 p.m. The distillery is at 15029 Redmond-Woodinville Rd. NE, Suite 400, in Woodinville, just up the road from Redmond. It's free and all ages, with complimentary pup cups, treats, and bandanas for every dog. Enter the Goodest Doggo contest, and the pup with the most Instagram votes gets crowned Pup of the Month. Details and RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bark-bourbon-dog-friendly-event-at-northwest-spirits-woodinville-tickets-1992173881708 🎤 You Get Three Songs at SoulFood's Open Mic, So Pick Good Ones Three songs or 15 minutes. That's all you get at SoulFood CoffeeHouse's Community Open Mic this weekend on Saturday, and that rule is exactly why the night keeps moving. It runs from 6 to 9 p.m. at 15748 Redmond Way, on the first Saturday of every month. Performers pay $5, and the sign-up list opens in the store at 5 p.m. Musicians, poets, and first-timers share the same stage, and setup and breakdown count against your 15 minutes, so show up ready. Or skip the list and just come to listen. 🚲 Ten Kids, One Afternoon, No More Walking the Bike Home A flat tire shouldn't end a kid's ride, and this weekend on Saturday, Move Redmond and the Redmond Library are teaching kids to fix one themselves. The Youth Basic Bike Maintenance Class runs from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at the Redmond Library, 15990 NE 85th St., for ages 10 to 16. It's hands-on: fixing a flat, then cleaning and lubricating the chain. Bring your bike, or work on one of theirs, and every student takes the tools and supplies home. It's capped at 10 kids, so register ahead. Sign up here: https://moveredmond.org/events/ 🍷 A Sommelier Walks Beginners From the Vine to the Glass on Sunday You know what you like in the glass, but do you know how it got there? This weekend on Sunday, SAMĀ Cellars' Taste & Talk session, Vine 2 Wine, walks beginners through how grapes are grown, fermented, and aged. Certified Sommelier JR Seebach leads the tasting from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the wine lounge at 7425 166th Ave NE, Suite C-110, in Redmond Town Center. Tickets are $25 for club members and $35 for everyone else, and a full-price ticket is credited toward select wines bought that day. Reserve here: https://samacellars.com/winery-events/ Simply Leak Detection If you've got a hidden leak, the worst plan is grabbing a shovel and hoping. Simply Leak Detection uses ground microphones and tracer gas to find the exact spot, then marks it with an X. Your plumber digs one hole instead of five, and your driveway and landscaping stay in one piece. Lincoln and his team have over 300 five-star reviews on Google and cover Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue and the whole Eastside. Call 253-800-1412 or visit SimplyLeakDetection.biz. 📞 (253) 800-1412 🌐 https://simplyleakdetection.biz 🚶 Walk Marymoor Village With the People Who Decide What Gets Fixed Marymoor Village is changing fast, and on Friday you can walk it with the people who decide what gets fixed. Move Redmond is hosting a Marymoor Walk & Talk with neighbors, elected leaders, and city staff, looking at pedestrian safety and wayfinding. Meet at 1 p.m. at Marymoor Village Station, 17301 NE 70th St. The roughly one-mile walk starts at 1:30 and ends at Qamaria Yemeni Coffee, 17527 NE 67th Ct. Wear good shoes and plan for weather. Register here: https://moveredmond.org/events/ 🕰️ Redmond History Minute It's time for the Redmond History Minute, where we share a piece of history, a tidbit, or some trivia about life in and around Redmond. Today's trivia question is... The Sammamish River, the waterway that runs through Redmond, was originally called what? A) Squak Slough B) Bear Creek C) McRedmond's Run D) Salmon Freeway The answer's at the bottom. 👂 Redmond Rumor Mill: A Fermentation Lab on the Cleveland Street Corridor? We've heard a community fermentation lab is in early planning for a space on the Cleveland Street corridor. Kombucha, miso, kimchi, natural wine. Part retail, part workshop, part tasting room. The founders apparently want it to feel more like a science classroom than a wellness boutique. None of this is confirmed. We don't have a name, an address, or an opening date. So here's the question: would you sign up for a weeknight kimchi class, or are you just there for the natural wine? If you've got a guess or have heard something, head to our Facebook page at facebook.com/BestOfRedmond and drop it in the Redmond Rumor Mill Guesses post. 🗳️ Your Picks And while you're at our Facebook page, find the Your Picks post and answer this question... We want to know who you think the best yoga studio is. 🎧 Love the Newsletter? Try the Podcast If you enjoyed this newsletter, you're gonna love the companion podcast. Find it at bestofredmond.com. ✅ History Minute Answer A) Squak Slough. The funny one was D, Salmon Freeway, which is technically accurate. The name Squak came from the Indigenous people who lived along the river, and it's the same name that eventually became Issaquah. Newspapers called it Squak Slough as early as the 1870s. Sammamish Slough and Sammamish River started showing up in the 1890s, and by the 1920s Squak Slough had faded out, though old-timers probably still used it into the 1940s. Plenty of longtime locals still call it the Sammamish Slough. That fits, because a slough is a slow, marshy, meandering channel, which is exactly what it was before the Army Corps straightened it.
