Garry Kampen

This year is the 20th anniversary of Newcastle, a small city that ranks high in livability, and the 15th anniversary of Newcastle Trails, a nonprofit citizens group that has worked for parks, trails and open space, in close cooperation with the city, since 1999.

I’m writing to celebrate Newcastle’s amazing and still-growing trail system, and to encourage you to explore it and enjoy it. Check NT’s website, www.newcastletrails.org; download our latest map and trail guide; join NT by emailing info@newcastletrails.org (for trail news, no dues); attend our Oct. 6 board meeting (7 p.m. at Regency Newcastle); and consider volunteering for the board, or lending a hand with trail work, computer work (GIS, web, writing), lobbying, fundraising — whatever you’d like to do.

Newcastle’s trails are part of a regional network used by walkers, joggers, cyclists and equestrians. The city lies within a Grand Loop, a triangle of trail corridors with its base on the existing Lake Washington Trail (future Eastside Rail Trail) and its apex in Cougar Mountain.

The sides of the triangle are the May Creek Greenway (mostly in Newcastle) and the Coal Creek section of the Mountains to Sound Greenway (mostly in Bellevue). The triangle is crossed north-to-south by Coal Creek Parkway (continuous sidewalks) and the heavily used Waterline Trail (few sidewalks, many trees), with downtown Newcastle and Lake Boren Park sandwiched between.

You can walk the loop and its cross-trails now, with two exceptions: Renton’s May Creek Trail (partly complete, bridge needed), and the parkway underpass for the Coal Creek Trail (due soon). The Grand Loop is mostly wooded nature trails: The May Creek and Coal Creek trails include creeks, waterfalls, bridges, historic sites and sections of an old railroad; the Terrace Trail has switchbacks, lovely rock steps, views, fallen trees and giant moss-covered boulders. The Marshall’s Hill and Red Town trails (in Cougar Mountain Wilderness Park) link wilderness trails with the remains of Old Newcastle and its coal mines.

The west-to-east CrossTown Trail is Newcastle’s major urban trail (nature trails and sidewalks), a central connector linking schools, parks, neighborhoods and north-south trails. It starts near 116th Avenue Southeast and Newcastle Way, and winds past or through Hazelwood Elementary School, Hazelwood Park, Donegal Park, the historic Newcastle Cemetery and Lake Boren Park, continuing on sidewalks to Beit Tikvah and, after a gap, southeast along the DeLeo Wall (woods, views) from Newcastle Vista to Cougar Mountain.

Fall projects include new trail signs citywide, and changes to the CrossTown Trail: rerouting it at the new middle school and the planned Renton School District Newcastle development (between Olympus and Hazelwood), and rebuilding sections of trail between Newcastle Vista and Cougar Mountain.

Newcastle’s trail system has benefited from the cooperation of many groups, including Renton, Bellevue, King County and the Issaquah Alps Trails Club (check their websites for trail maps and guided walks). Volunteers were also essential. Much of the trail work was done by Boy Scouts, and parents, from Newcastle’s Hazelwood Troop, and other troops from Bellevue, Kirkland and Renton.

The event aims to heighten crime prevention awareness, strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships, and send a message to criminals about neighborhoods organized against criminal activity.

National Night Out is celebrated with neighborhood block parties, often visited by local law enforcement.

The Donegal Park neighborhood event begins at 5:30 p.m. at Donegal Park, 7319 125th Ave. S.E. Neighbors are encouraged to bring folding chairs and food for grilling on the park’s barbeque, said event coordinator Lorinda Ecklund.

Members of the Newcastle Police Department, as well as representatives from the Bellevue Fire Department, are expected to stop by Donegal Park, she added. Child safety and neighborhood-watch education will also be provided.

Neighbors will break in the city’s newest park, when they gather at Little Rhody Park from 6:30-8 p.m. The National Night Out celebration at the park, at the northeast corner of Southeast 80th Street and 113th Avenue Southeast, will offer a refreshing summer treat in strawberry shortcake.

Residents will also hold an official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new park at 6:30 p.m.

Check with your local neighborhood leaders to see if your community is planning anything for National Night Out.

Register your neighborhood for a visit from local police and city officials by emailing Newcastle Police Department officer Kathy Decker at Kathleen.Decker@kingcounty.gov. In the email, provide the location of the gathering, the estimated number of attendees and an event time frame.

The Newcastle City Council has canceled its regular meeting, in order to participate in National Night Out festivities. The council will instead hold a budget retreat Aug. 6 from noon to 6 p.m. at The Golf Club at Newcastle, 15500 Six Penny Lane.

Newcastle News wants to see your National Night Out photos. Email photos or video to newcastle@isspress.com, tweet them to @NewcastleNewsWA or post them on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/NewcastleNewsWA.

The Hazelwood Community Association will hold a community picnic at Donegal Park, 7319 125th Ave. S.E., from 5:30-7:30 p.m. All are welcome attend. A grill will be available for use, but attendees must bring their own food.

Newcastle Police Officer Ryan Olmsted is organizing this year’s event. Call him at City Hall at 649-4444, ext. 120, or email him at ryan.olmsted@kingcounty.gov if you are interested in setting up a gathering in your neighborhood.

That was the largest quantity of his signature, blistering hot sauce anybody could down. It was that hot sauce — known as “the man” — and succulent, Louisiana-style barbecue that launched Porter’s Bellevue restaurant, Dixie’s Barbeque, to fame.

Gene Porter

His friends remember him being as lively as his hot sauce, and it hit the community hard when the Newcastle resident died of bone cancer Feb. 28, 2010.

The Hazelwood Community Association and Newcastle Trails banded together early this year to raise funds for a memorial for Porter in Donegal Park. However, the memorial won’t just be a bench or a tree — it will be a 41-inch-wide charcoal barbecue southeast of the park’s gazebo.

“It’s a totally fitting memorial,” said Garry Kampen, a member of the Hazelwood Community Association board of directors.

Hazelwood Community Association President Gordon Bisset said the group hopes to finish fundraising by June 1 and have the memorial completely installed by Aug. 2, just in time for the annual National Night Out barbecue.

Organizers have already raised more than $1,500 of the estimated $4,500 total cost. If they reach their goal, the memorial could include a plaque with a dedication, trash and ash cans, wood benches and a seat wall on the nearby sloping ground.

“When he died, quite a few of us knew him and thought we should do something,” Bisset said. “He was a much-liked individual. Just a really great personality.”

Gene Porter, who grew up in Mississippi and Louisiana, settled in the Hazelwood area with his wife Dixie in the early 1970s. It was around that time that he also opened an auto repair shop in Bellevue.

Although he worked on cars during the week, he spent his weekends barbecuing for church fundraisers and neighbors.

Kampen moved into a house near the Porters in 1980.

“He was kind of the neighborhood social guy,” he said about Porter. “He pounded on my door and said, ‘Hey Kampen, you’ve got to come to my barbecue.’”

Dixie Porter remembers the rave reviews his barbecue received.

“Everybody said his food is so good, why don’t you just open up a barbecue in Bellevue?” she said.

Porter did exactly that, converting his garage into a restaurant in 1994. The business took off, and Porter took his craft to the next level by creating “the man,” which he took around in a vat to customers as they ate.

“Have you met ‘the man?’” he asked.

Kampen said the sauce was scorching.

“This was very potent stuff,” he said with a laugh. “You just get a little drop on your tongue, and you’d be breathing fire for an hour after that.”

Dixie laughed as she remembered Gene interacting with customers. She said he also had fun with customers when they asked about his barbecuing tactics, such as how long he cooked his meat.

“It cooks until it gets done,” she recalled him saying.

Dixie’s Barbeque gained such a reputation that Bill Cosby, former NBA player and coach Lenny Wilkens and former Seattle Seahawk Cortez Kennedy came by for meals.

Dixie Porter said the idea of a memorial barbecue for her husband is a kind gesture. Bisset said that although it will be the site of many barbecues to come, its first purpose will always be to remember the friendly man behind the grill.

“We want to let his family know that he’s remembered and that people loved him,” Bisset said.

Call or email Bisset at gdbisset@msn.com or 226-9345 for more information about the memorial.