Here’s our weekly round-up of events from July 31 – August 6 on Mercer Island:

Where’s Waldo? Community Event
July 1 – July 31
At participating locations on Mercer Island

July 31st is the last day to find Waldo! It’s the 30th anniversary for the world’s best-loved missing person, Waldo, and Island Books (along with other Mercer Island merchants) are celebrating! Throughout the month of July, look for businesses on Mercer Island with the “Shop Local–Find Waldo” sticker on their windows. Hidden somewhere within them, you’ll find a hidden Waldo or his friend Wendy. Get your passport stamped for proof. Three stamps earns you a button and a discount coupon; a stamp from every participating business enters you in a drawing for the grand prize at the end of the month! Local institutions on the Waldo hunting trail include: Island Books, Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce, Banner Bank, Mercer Island Orthodontics, and Yogabliss.
Learn more >>

---

National Night Out: Neighborhood Block Parties
Tuesday, August 1, 5- 8 pm
Various Locations

Lock your doors, turn off your lights, and join your neighborhood for a block party on National Night Out! This event is designed to increase crime prevention awareness, to generate support for family emergency preparedness and to strengthen neighborhood spirit and community partnerships. If your neighborhood isn’t throwing a party, come on down to the Mercer Island Police Station and have some hotdogs!

---

Community Coffee Hour
Wednesday, August 2 & Friday, August 4, 9 – 10 am
Mercer Island Community & Event Center, 8236 SE 24th Street

Join Mercer Island Parks & Recreation for Community Coffee Hour every Wednesday and Friday! This is a free program for kids, teens, adults, seniors, and families. Enjoy a hot cup of coffee in a fun and engaging atmosphere with people from the community.

For more information, call MICEC at 206-275-7909 or email at [email protected].

---

Storybook Corner
Wednesday, August 2, 10:30 – 11 am
Island Books, 3014 78th Ave SE

Bring your little ones in to enjoy popular picture books read by our staff or special guests.
Learn more >>

---

Kaleidoscope Play & Learn
Wednesday, August 2, 10:30 am – Noon
Mercer Island Library, 4400 88th Ave SE

Have fun singing songs, telling stories, reading books, creating art, and playing. Kaleidoscope Play & Learn is in English. Ages 5 years and younger with caregiver. Sponsored by the Friends of the Mercer Island Library.

---

Movies at the Library: The LEGO Batman Movie
Thursday, August 3, 1 -3 pm
Mercer Island Library, 4400 88th Ave SE

Sponsored by the Friends of the Mercer Island Library, all ages are welcome to come see this week’s movie, The LEGO Batman Movie (PG). Bruce Wayne must not only deal with the criminals of Gotham City, but also the responsibility of raising the boy he adopted. Registration is not required, but space is limited.

---

Tabletop Thursdays
Thursday, August 3, 4 – 7 pm
Mercer Island Community & Event Center, 8236 SE 24th Street

Drop by for an afternoon of board games, video games, playing pool or ping-pong, and hanging out. There’s a huge selection of games, and the staff is always up to taking on a new competitor. Games include: Codenames, Mission Red Planet, Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Connect 4, Monopoly, and more. Free for ages 7 – 14.

For more information, call MICEC at 206-275-7909 or email at [email protected].

---

Jennifer Burd and Laszlo Slomovits, Receiving the Shore
Thursday, August 3, 6:30 – 8 pm
Island Books, 3014 78th Ave SE

Island Books is pleased to welcome the creative pair behind Receiving the Shore, an inspired collection of music and poetry. Jennifer Burd has published lyric poetry and haiku in a variety of print and online journals. She is the author of a book of poems, Body and Echo, and a book of creative nonfiction, Daily Bread: A Portrait of Homeless Men & Women of Lenawee County, Michigan. Laszlo Slomovits is one of the twin brothers in Ann Arbor’s nationally-known children’s folk music duo, Gemini. In addition to his music for children, Laszlo has set to music the work of many poets. Come and meet this duo in person at Island Books’ special event.
Learn more >>

---

Shakespeare in the Park: Much Ado About Nothing
Thursday, August 3, 7 – 9 pm
Luther Burbank Park, 2040 84th Ave SE

Seattle Shakespeare Company will be performing free shows in Luther Burbank Park, open to the public! Bring a blanket or a chair and come watch an all-ages friendly performance of Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s screwball romantic comedy. Schemes are afoot to ruin everyone’s happiness through dire accusations — will love win out in the end?
Learn more >>

---

Mostly Music in the Park 
Thursday, August 3, 7 – 8:30 pm
Mercerdale Park, 77th Avenue SE and SE 32nd Street

Mostly Music in the Park is Mercer Island Arts Council’s annual summer concert series in Mercerdale Park.  Concerts feature various bands and artists from around the region performing a wide variety of music. This week’s featured group is Joe Ross and the Birdwatchers, a New Orleans-style honky-tonk band!

---

First Friday Art Walk
Friday, August 4

Come out for Mercer Island’s First Friday Art Walk. Art galleries on Mercer Island will be hosting their art walk events on the first Friday of the month (and some have free wine!). Mercer SOURCES, Clarke + Clarke, and SZ Gallery will be participating.

Clarke + Clarke Art + Artifacts
Hours: 11 am – 6 pm
7605 SE 27th St Suite 105
Learn more >>

Suzanne Zahr / SZ Gallery
Hours: 5 – 8 pm
2441 76th Ave SE, Suite 160
Learn more >> 

Mercer SOURCES
Hours: 5 – 9 pm
7605 SE 27th Street, Suite 107
Learn more >>

---

Shakespeare in the Park: Pericles 
August 4 – 5 | Friday & Saturday, 7 – 9 pm
Luther Burbank Park, 2040 84th Ave SE

Seattle Shakespeare Company will be performing free shows in Luther Burbank Park, family-friendly and open to the public! Bring a blanket or a chair and come watch an all-ages friendly performance of Pericles. Prince Pericles romances maidens, gets chased from port to port, finds his true love, and then loses her and his infant daughter in the storm-tossed sea. With only the stars and his heart as a guide, Pericles charts one man’s epic lifetime voyage to reunite with the family he thought he had lost forever.
Learn more >>

---

No Sugar Challenge: The Many Faces of Sugar with an NSM Nutritionist
Saturday, August 5, 10 – 11 am
New Seasons Market, 2755 77th Ave SE

Challenge yourself this month by eating no sugar! Join the NSM nutritionist for a series of classes focused on resetting your relationship with sugar, where they’ll give you the tools you’ll need to develop a naturally sweet relationship with food. This class is free, but registration is required.
Learn more >>

---

Writers Read Out
Sunday, August 6, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
Mercer Island Library, 4400 88th Ave SE

Writers read 5 minutes of their unpublished work. We welcome funny, feisty, fantastic, historic, erotic, mysterious, poetic, genre-bending, device wielding, shape-shifting, mind-blowing, but no drama over the time limit. 5 means 5. Want to read? Reserve a spot online at our website. Questions? Contact [email protected] Ages 18+. Listeners welcome!