Find a complete list of festivals in Seattle this winter on our Things To Do calendar, or check out our other picks for the best things to do in Seattle this winter from Seattle Art and Performance.
Get all this and more on the free Stranger Things To Do mobile app—available now on the App Store and Google Play.
DEC 7-23
Christmas Ship Festival
Sail around the beautiful, chilly Puget Sound and alight on a shore blazing with bonfires. All ships will have amenities like a full bar and kids' holiday craft bags; book a spot on the lead ship to hear an onboard choir perform.
Argosy Cruises at Pier 55
Dec 7- 24
Snowflake Lane
Get photos with Santa, then experience beautiful lights, "toy soldier drummers," animatronic characters, and pretty music in artificial snow.
Bellevue Collection
Dec 7- 31
Garden d'Lights
"Welcome to the garden of earthly delights / Welcome to a billion Arabian Nights," Andy Partridge sings on Oranges and Lemons. He'd probably never been to Bellevue, but it fits: Half a million tiny LEDs adorn the Botanical Garden to create outlandish forms in fairy-tale landscapes.
Bellevue Botanical Garden
Seattle Center WinterFest
If you find yourself on the Seattle Center campus at any point during the rest of the year, prepare yourself and your senses because you are entering a winter wonderland. From an ice rink to ice sculpting, all things ice will be present, whether or not (most likely not) there is snow. The classic Winter Train & Village will be set up in the Armory, where hundreds of performances will also be featured throughout the winter season.
Seattle Center
WildLights
See the zoo in a new light—500,000 energy-efficient LEDs, in fact! See luminous animal-themed designs, have an indoor snowball fight, meet Santa and his very real reindeer and some nocturnal animals, listen to carolers, and enjoy the holiday beer garden.
Woodland Park Zoo
Dec 7-Jan 1
Gingerbread Village
The Sheraton's chefs work every year with architects to confect fanciful houses and structures in the hotel lobby. The theme this year— the 24th year—is "Celebrate the Magic of the Holidays," so the houses are Harry Potter-themed.
Seattle Sheraton Hotel and Towers
Dec 8-9
Freakout Festival 2016
Rising new Seattle label Freakout Records, in conjunction with KEXP's Audioasis and City Arts, makes the holiday season more exciting with a two-night encroachment into the hot quartet of venues near Madison and 14th Avenue (Chop Suey, Pony, Bar Sue, LoveCityLove). The emphasis is on left-of-center rock that revels in the raunchy, noisy, reverb-y, and deeply spacey, although DoNormaal leans in to rep experimental hiphop. Among the 24 acts, highlights include Stranger Genius Erik Blood, Murder City Devils frontman Spencer Moody, baroque post punks Zen Mother, Day-Glo brat punks Mommy Long Legs, and Cali garage-rock shredders Melted. (Full disclosure: I'm DJing the fest's first night.) DAVE SEGAL
Capitol Hill
Dec 10
The Sylvan Series "Illum"
FnS—the people who brought you "Lusio" this summer—will offer you a desperately-needed chance to escape to outer space, creating an alien night land-and-soundscape to roam in the Volunteer Park Conservatory. (Hint: It's pronounced "ill-OOM," as in "illuminate.")
Volunteer Park Conservatory
Dec 16-17
Dope Music Festival
Get ready to wild out at Dope Music Festival 3 with sets and appearances from artists like Gucci Mane, Meek Mill, Jeremih, and more. The festival kicks off with Old School Night on December 16, featuring a lineup from an early '90s hiphop fantasy, including Busta Rhymes and Too $hort.
Tacoma Dome
Dec 17-18
GE2 Gaming
This festival focuses on everything gaming, VR, tech, and digital. Participate in a maker throw-down, watch drone racing, play enhanced dodgeball, and augment reality. The brand-new event looks to draw 10,000 players and makers.
CenturyLink Field Event Center
Dec 26-31
Celebration Lane
A panorama of animated characters, musicians, and dancers stationed along the sidewalks between Bellevue Square and Bellevue Place will help ring in the New Year.
Bellevue Square
Jan 13-15
RustyCon 34
A science fiction and fantasy convention that spans writing, science, art, costuming, and gaming. Look forward to nightly movie screenings, multiple dances, a masquerade, concerts, casinos, and special guests like Robin Hobb, Michaela Eaves, and Bill Doran.
Seattle Airport Marriott
Jan 17
Lunar New Year Festival
This cultural festival offers performances, a $3 food walk, a children's parade, and more.
Chinatown-International District
Jan 21-22
Tet in Seattle
Over two days, revel in Vietnamese music, food, performance, and art at this Tet (Lunar New Year) festival.
Seattle Center
Jan 27-28
Timbrrr! Winter Music Festival
It's counterintuitive to hold a music festival in the dead of winter, but Timbrrr! has turned a seeming con into a pro by attracting music lovers to Leavenworth, Washington's beautiful rustic grounds for high-quality diverse music bookings and extracurriculars like can tobogganing, skiing, and snowboarding. The 2017 lineup consists of Portland pop-punk luminaries the Thermals, Karen Dalton-esque singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus, tuneful electro-goths Crater, adventurous hiphop eccentric DoNormaal, saucy instrumental-soul revivalists Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, topically humorous punks Wimps, slacker-rock champs Sloucher, and more. Timbrrr! looks like a solid bet to lay waste to your seasonal affective disorder. DAVE SEGAL
Leavenworth Festhalle
Get all this and more on the free Stranger Things To Do mobile app—available now on the App Store and Google Play.
