AIA 2007 President R K Stewart FAIA joined the AIA Seattle Diversity Roundtable and co-hosts, as part of a festive crowd on the 8th Annual Summer Solstice Procession, a "Natural and Community Wonders Tour" of the historic, diverse, and proud South Park neighborhood at Seattle's edge. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors and others in the procession, the event delivered benefit to the AIA Seattle Fund for Diversity at UW College of Architecture & Urban Planning, supporting students from under-represented ethic minority and disadvantaged backgrounds.

This year's procession began with a Thursday noon luncheon at which AIA Seattle EVP Marga Rose Hancock Hon. AIA, a Diversity Roundtable co-founder, offered remarks.

Then on a fine Friday evening, R K Stewart FAIA joined a distinguished group of AIA Seattle past and future Presidents for a TGIF in Seattle's Belltown, helping inaugurate planning toward a local observance of 'AIA-150,' a national celebration on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of The American Institute of Architects.

On Saturday morning, an adventuresome group convened at Randy's Restaurant on East Marginal Way for breakfast, a welcome by Diversity Roundtable Chair Clarence Kwan AIA, a briefing on South Park sites by M. Mario Campos AIA, and orienting remarks by Nancy Callery AIA of the AIA Seattle Board of Directors.

The group continued on by caravan to a strategically-located espresso stand in downtown South Park, where ECOSS Executive Director Charlie Cunniff gave a briefing on the history and future of South Park, a diverse business and residential community located adjacent to the huge Boeing operation and on the Seattle-King County boundary.

At the next step, the Duwamish Watershed Restoration urban nature walk/bird-watching tour, the group heard from John Beal of I'm a Pal Foundation, whose remarkable and wide-ranging efforts over the past 29 years have restored life to Hamm Creek. In the company of Denis DeSilvis of Seattle Audubon Master Birders, and other stewards and activists, procession participants observed nesting ospreys (with hatchlings' heads just visible at the edge of the nest, high atop an electric wiring tower), a willow flycatcher (which Denis noted as the first sighting of the species in this area), a mallard with five ducklings, savannah sparrows, and other birds and wildlife along the Creek, including darting dragonflies. Watchers of all ages made their way through flowering grasses, alert for the sound of birds in quiet intervals between roaring flights on landing approach to SeaTac.

In a drive-by mode, attendees noted South Park community features and prospects, including the site of the South Park Library, by Johnston Architects, slated to begin construction later this year.

At Cesar Chavez Park, Mark Johnson of Jones + Jones noted some of the park's features and described the active role of the community in bringing the park to life.

The tour concluded at Marra Farm, the site of a garden shed design/build project undertaken by 2005 Denice Hunt K-12 Intern Greg Squires and his project partner Mark Haizlip, along with neighbors of all generations including youth from nearby Concord Elementary School. A fresh salad picked that morning by Marra Farm Master Gardener Sue McGann complemented delicious casuelas from Muy Macho, a South Park restaurant. In closing, the procession formed a bridge of hands and together sang a chorus of a design/build song, 'If I Had a Hammer."

On Saturday evening at the AIA Seattle Honors Gala, a celebration of diverse professional achievements included the AIA Seattle 2005 Community Service Award to Dr. Sharon E. Sutton FAIA, a Roundtable veteran/heroine, among other honorees.

At the Gala, with AIA Seattle President Peter David Greaves AIA as Master of Ceremonies, R K Stewart spoke of the qualities and actions that materialize the profession's ideals, and joined colleagues, family, and friends in congratulating two AIA Seattle nominees advanced to the AIA College of Fellows this year, the late Rick Buckley FAIA and Henry Hardnett FAIA, introduced by Fellows/Honors Council President Don Carlson FAIA.

Fellows/Honors Nominating Committee Chair Don Miles FAIA introduced recipients of AIA Seattle 2005 Honors: the Allied Organization Award to ARCADE; AIA Seattle Honorary Members Thomas L. Berger ASLA (accepted by David Scott FAIA in the absence of this honoree), Karen Guzak, Bill Ptacek (for whom Don Miles read a letter of acceptance, in his absence), Ellen Southard, Diane Sugimura, and Lara Swimmer.

Accepted AIA Seattle highest honor to an architect, the AIA Seattle Medal, David Hewitt FAIA spoke of the early days and later culminations of his civic activism and work in urban design.

Other festivities included a chorus of Happy Birthday to AIA Seattle President-elect Randy Everett AIA, and presentation of a Presidential Citation offered by AIA President Douglas Steidl FAIA to AIA Seattle CEO Marga Rose Hancock Hon. AIA. The Citation reads: "No prose is too purple nor flight of fancy too high to adequately acknowledge her pride in the achievement of Seattle's architects, whom she embraces as members of a loving extended family; or enumerate the good she has done through her passionate advocacy of healthy and beautiful communities by design; or to honor sufficiently her inspired commitment to a diverse profession distinguished by the joyous fellowship of mutual respect. Reputation built on a single good deed like grass soon perishes; reputation, like hers, anchored by a lifetime of service is a gift of the gods, proof against time."

Again this year, Procession proceeds benefit the Roundtable's program to support students from diverse backgrounds at the University of Washington College of Architecture and Urban Planning – targeting advanced-level endowment of a second student scholarship, the AIA Seattle Fund for Diversity. (In 1998, the Roundtable endowed the Denice Hunt K-12 Internship, joining her family in honoring Diversity Roundtable founding member Denice Johnson Hunt AIA, the first woman of African American heritage to serve as President of an AIA component.)