West Seattle families can skip the RSVP and just show up Sunday morning for KindieWest Music Fest, a free community concert packed with nationally recognized kindie rock performers, food trucks, and an instrument petting zoo in the back parking lot behind Fauntleroy Schoolhouse. The event runs from 10 am to 1 pm at the schoolhouse, located at 9131 California SW.
As reported by West Seattle Blog, the lineup includes Eli Rosenblatt, The Harmonica Pocket, and Brian Vogan and His Good Buddies, with a finale presented by a Westside School teacher. While admission is free, organizers are collecting voluntary donations to support the Fauntleroy Children's Center tuition scholarship fund, which helps local families who cannot afford standard childcare tuition rates, according to ParentMap.
The performers bring more than local charm to the schoolhouse lawn. Keeth Monta Apgar of The Harmonica Pocket won the 2025 ASCAP Foundation Joe Raposo Children's Music Award for his single “Imperfection is a Gift,” an honor that recognizes outstanding national achievement in children's music songwriting, per Town Hall Seattle.
A Lineup Rooted in Seattle's Kindie Rock Roots
Rosenblatt built his performing career on movement-focused shows that weave in salsa, klezmer, reggae, and Afro-Cuban cumbia, using those global rhythms to teach kids body positivity and self-expression, according to Seattle's Child. He got his start performing with adult salsa bands before turning his focus to children's music. Vogan, meanwhile, writes songs directly inspired by ideas from his own preschool students and performs with a band, the Good Buddies, that includes rock producer Barrett Jones, who has worked with Nirvana, Foo Fighters, and Pearl Jam, per the City of Auburn.
That kind of professional pedigree isn't an accident in this corner of Seattle. The city's kindie rock movement gained national attention in the late 2000s through the Kindiependent Collective, a coalition of local indie musicians who produced joint records and hosted biweekly family concerts around the city, including at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, as detailed by Seattle Met. The movement largely grew out of Pacific Northwest rock musicians who started writing original family music after having kids of their own.
Food Trucks, Games, and a Petting Zoo for Instruments
Beyond the music, KindieWest brings a full slate of family activities to the schoolhouse grounds. La Casa Del Sabor will operate a food truck onsite, Sugar and Spoon will run a dessert truck, and FilterAndShotCoffee will offer coffee for parents needing a jolt before the noise starts. Off the Block Games is providing lawn games, and Sunshine Music Together is presenting an interactive program for young kids.
The West Seattle Community Orchestras will present an instrument petting zoo, letting children try out string, woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments under guidance. The grassroots non-profit operates six ensembles where K-12 students play free of charge alongside adult musicians, and frequently brings its petting zoos to community festivals like this one, according to the West Seattle Community Orchestras. The Fauntleroy Children's Center will also open its student-led store and playground to festival attendees.
A Schoolhouse With a Community Rescue Story
Sunshine Music Together's presence at KindieWest reflects deeper year-round ties to the venue. The organization runs early childhood music development programs across Seattle, including weekly classes held inside Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, and has earned eight Golden Teddy Awards for best music program from Seattle's Child, per the outlet's own reporting.
The schoolhouse itself carries a preservation story that predates any of Sunday's performers. Built in 1917 as a neighborhood elementary school, the building closed in 1981 after 64 years of educational service as Seattle Public Schools enrollment declined districtwide, according to West Seattle Blog's earlier coverage of the schoolhouse's 2017 centennial celebration. Seattle Public Schools moved to sell the site in 2007, but the non-profit Fauntleroy Community Service Agency acquired the building, parking lot, and playground in 2010 using city and state grant funds, keeping it in community hands, according to the Fauntleroy Community Service Agency.
The Fauntleroy Children's Center, whose scholarship fund benefits from Sunday's donations, has operated inside the schoolhouse since 1981. Founded in 1978, it became the first childcare center in West Seattle to earn national accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children in 1987, a rigorous quality benchmark for early childhood programs, per the same agency's history. Families looking to take part in KindieWest need only show up Sunday morning between 10 am and 1 pm — no advance registration is required.
