Ready or not and weather or not, the summer street fair season begins Saturday, May 17, with the 39th Annual U District StreetFair. For two days, five blocks of University Way -- from Northeast 41st to Northeast 50th -- will be completely closed to vehicles, allowing you to freely peruse the wares of some 300 arts and crafts dealers, and to enjoy performances by dozens of musicians and performers on three stages.

Kids will have lots of ways to play, from conducting their own "Mad Science" experiments to making beautiful noise in KING-FM's "Instrument Petting Zoo." Dogs are welcome; there will be a nice, big arena for them to run around in, and contests for them to enter.

Nearly 50 food vendors will serve up tasty vittles, and the Big Time Brewery beer garden will provide suds to wash it all down. And perhaps needless to say, all the shops that make the Ave such a fun place to buy stuff will be open for business. Large shopping bags will be available, and odds are good you'll need a couple of them.

Let's see, that's 300 times two days, divided by five blocks, and carry the 39 ... yeah, I'm not very good at this. Suffice it to say that it all adds up to a couple of fun days on the Ave, with thousands of ways for you, your family and even your pets to enjoy the first days of the fairest of all the seasons.

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