In just four days the City of Kirkland will nearly double in size as it incorporates the neighborhoods of Finn Hill, Juanita and Kingsgate. City officials have set up a series of three events to not only celebrate “One City; 1 Kirkland” but give new Kirkland residents a chance to learn about their new city.

“We put together a celebration committee that had council members and annexation area residents,” said Kirkland City Manager Kurt Triplett, who will attend all three events. “They found that they had three different needs and came up with three solutions.”

Those needs are allowing residents to explore the services of Kirkland, meet the city staff and council and bring together businesses from current Kirkland and the annexation neighborhoods.

Incorporation of the new neighborhoods will officially take place June 1 the day the city will host an open house at City Hall from 4-7 p.m. The event is designed so that new residents can meet with city staff, advisory board members and neighborhood association members to learn about the city and the services it provides. A special presentation and welcome will be presented at 5:30 p.m. with light refreshments.

The Casino Caribbean will be the site of a special business breakfast from 7:30-9:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 2. Reservations are needed for this event that will feature keynote speaker Kirkland Police Department Capt. Mike Ursino. For reservations, e-mail businessbreakfast@kirklandwa.gov.

The biggest celebration will take place at 6 p.m. at Juanita Beach Park. The community celebration will feature a special welcome to the city by elected officials and city staff. There will be free dessert served at 6:30 p.m. and the event will also have live music by the Kamiakin Junior High School Jazz Ensemble, Juanita High School Pep Band and Back Burner, a bluegrass band, from 7-9 p.m.

Special information booths will be set up for new residents to learn about the city, along with Kirkland Police and Fire Department vehicles on display. The event is also in coordination with the Juanita Friday Market, which will have its normal hours of 3-7 p.m. on the north side of the park and the Outdoor Movie in the Park that will begin at dusk, presented by Carillon Properties.

“These events will also show just how many people it takes to knit together two communities,” said Triplett. “It takes a village to create and even bigger village.”

The events will also allow citizens to voice some of their concerns.

In addition, there will be an unofficial unveiling of a “Welcome to Kirkland” sign at midnight between May 31 and June 1 on 124th Ave N.E. near N.E. 149th Street in the Kingsgate neighborhood.

“It is an unofficial event, but we wanted to have something to mark the transition,” said Johanna Palmer, a member of the annexation celebration committee. “It has been very nice to work with the city. We want to make it as successful as possible. We know that people are still apprehensive, but I definitely think it will be beneficial for everyone.”

Triplett supports the unofficial event and said he may even attend.

The city manager said he is aware of the trepidation from some annexation residents who did not vote for the annexation process. But being a former King County Executive he also knows what was looming for the area without annexation and the county as a whole.

“The annexation area would have seen a slow withdrawal of resources,” said Triplett. “The county has always done what it could to maintain the services, but it is not funded the way cities are. One of the reasons I was so excited to come to Kirkland was because when I was with King County I had to watch the inability for us to provide services and now I get to see those services be provided to that area again.”

Triplett said that he hopes residents will see that Kirkland has taken on the responsibility of this annexation in a different way than many cities.

“The council and city staff have gone out of their way to try and make room for annexation residents,” said Triplett. “They have made room on boards and committees for annexation residents to serve immediately. Annexation residents can run for city council this year. Not many cities will do that, that quick.”

Palmer chaired the Annexation YES committee and said that she hopes those from the annexation area will run for city council.

“One reason I wanted this was to give people a voice at the local government level,” said Palmer.

The filing period to run for city council is between June 6-10.

“Many of these people have not seen a local government in a long time,” said Triplett. “We want them to know how excited we are for the chance to serve them.”

For more information on the annexation events go to www.kirklandwa.gov/annexation.