Dear friends,

Welcome to Kirkland! Whether you are a transplant from within Kirkland or from anywhere else in the world, you have chosen a true jewel of a community to join. There are many adjectives that describe Kirkland. A word puzzle created by citizens a few years ago highlighted “vibrant, livable, accessible, green, walkable, sustainable, and friendly."

We are a city with a boutique “funky” downtown packed with small storefronts, restaurants and a dense residential population. We have 14 different neighborhoods with organized associations to assure our neighbors are informed and heard. We have smaller business clusters located throughout the city to provide many services within walking distance from households. Much of our city is transected by a 5-mile-long developed trail called the Cross Kirkland Corridor with connections to downtown and to the newly developed Village at Totem Lake.

We have parks. We have more beachfront parks than any other city in the Northwest. We have 45 parks within our 18 square miles that range from active organized sports parks, to neighborhood cubby parks to miles of trails accessible to all. Check out our webpage: www.KirklandWA.gov for more information.

We host many activities throughout the year from runs, to cycling events, to festivals and celebrations. For over 20 years we have hosted the annual Girls’ Softball World Championships. Wednesday and Fridays from spring until Halloween, we host Open Markets downtown and at Juanita Beach.

     

We are a community of volunteers. We volunteer with Service Groups like Hopelink and Attain Housing. We join service groups like Kiwanis (we have two) and the Rotary (we have two), Kirkland Women’s Club, The Eagles and many more. We work in our parks maintaining sustainable, healthy green infrastructure.  

Besides all of this with our picturesque waterfront setting and central location immediate to Seattle, Redmond and Bellevue, we offer an abundance of fabulous schools, great jobs and family-friendly neighborhoods. All of this drew Money Magazine to identify us as number five in the top 50 “Best Places to Live” in the U.S.

On behalf of the City and the Kirkland City Council, I invite you to be an active participant in your new community.  

Sincerely, 

Penny Sweet, Mayor