Community festivals are a dime a dozen this time of year, but a couple really separate themselves from the pack. Lake Citys Pioneer Days is one such festival. Why? Model fucking trainstheyre part of a weekend program that also includes a street fair, vintage car show, salmon bake, 5K run, and parade. Seattles most northeasterly neighborhood is such a newfangled-retail coldbed that there are still brick and mortar storefronts devoted to miniature trains. Also, need a watch or clock fixed? Lake Citys got you. The neighborhood also boasts a Dicks, Claires Pantry, Toyoda Sushi, a great Thai restaurant with an awful name (Thai One On), and Seattles top-ranked dive bar, the Rimrock Steakhousealthough its best to forget that the steakhouse part of this moniker exists. The festivities will not kick off with a live set from a band that intentionally misspells the word weird or fire juggling. Instead, the national anthem will be sung and a white dove released into the sky by a proper color guard. God bless Americana. MIKE SEELY
Fri., Aug. 6, 12-7 p.m.; Sat., Aug. 7, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., 2010
