Here at Wallyhood, we usually keep our stories nestled within the cozy confines of our beloved Wallingford neighborhood. But when a 15-block-long extravaganza pops up just a stone’s throw away, we can’t help but make an exception. Enter the 54th Annual U District Street Fair, held on May 17–18, 2025, along University Way NE.

Today marked day one of the two-day festival, and I made the dry and comfortable walk along 45th into the U District, only for the skies to open up and deliver a full-on downpour! Despite the persistent drizzle (read: relentless rain), the fair was bustling with …

Wallingford has a new contender for the best burrito in town, and it’s not where you might expect. Nestled into the corner of a Shell gas station parking lot at NE 45th Street and Thackeray Place NE, Taqueria Juarez is serving up some seriously delicious Mexican fare. Even with Chipotle setting up shop in the former Taco Time space just up the street, this food truck is proving that a great meal doesn’t have to come from a national chain, or even a brick and mortar restaurant.

 

 

The menu at Taqueria Juarez is impressive, offering everything from tacos to quesadillas …

When I first moved to Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood, I joined a few local Facebook groups to get more connected with the community. It wasn’t until later that I realized one of them was actually for Wallingford, Connecticut. I never left the group—and over time, I became oddly invested in their town debates and local drama.

Last week, someone in the Connecticut group asked AI to roast their town and turned it into a humorous tourist video. Inspired, I decided to see what AI had to say about both Wallingfords in a side-by-side comparison.

And so, for your amusement…

Seattle, WA, …

Schools are truly the heart of any neighborhood, and in Wallingford, we’re lucky to have some wonderful options. When my family was deciding where to put down roots, finding the right schools quickly became a priority. At the time, we were told to look at the high school rankings first and assume the elementary and middle schools feeding into it would be solid. Others suggested focusing on elementary schools, given how much can change in the years between now and high school.

Our family is zoned for Green Lake Elementary (which sounds like a great school), but we chose to …

The budget challenges facing Seattle Public Schools are widely recognized, but here in Wallingford, the implications hit particularly close to home — for my family and for many others at John Stanford School, which is not scheduled for closure, but still rumored to be considered for significant change. Students have been bracing for impact as the district initially proposed, then reversed, plans to close 21 schools, ultimately narrowing it down to a potential four “under-enrolled schools” (and leaving the wildly underfunded budget issues still largely unsolved). The plan is a revised version of the earlier proposal, which was canceled after …

Wallingford neighbors concluded Veterans Day weekend with an unsettling experience on Ashworth Avenue North, between 41st and 42nd streets. People in the neighborhood reported that round 8:15 PM, a black SUV drove by and fired 4-6 rounds of gun fire into the air. This left many with the familiar hope that it was just fireworks, but the arrival of police officers confirmed otherwise – they found shell casings on the ground.

Thankfully, no one was hurt, but it was a frightening experience for all, including children who were extremely close to the incident. The reason for this action and location …