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ARTS
Arts in Nature Festival
The Arts in Nature Festival presents a series of acoustic, unplugged performances by musicians, dancers, actors, and other performers across several stages, plus participatory art happenings set against the most beautiful backdrop: Mother Nature. Also come for artsy hikes, food, and a beer garden.
Friday-Saturday, Camp Long (West Seattle)
COMMUNITY
Evergreen State Fair
Monroe's summer festival will once again bring carnival games and rides, Native dancers, live music, duck races, and more.
Friday-Sunday, Evergreen State Fairgrounds (Monroe)
Kawabe SummerFest! 2018
Enjoy food, music, and fun at this annual benefit for Kawabe Memorial House, which provides "affordable housing with culturally sensitive programs and services."
Sunday, Kawabe Memorial House (Atlantic)
Kitsap County Fair and Stampede
The good people of Kitsap County invite you to "stirrup some fun" with a weekend of "entertainment, shows, exhibits, and contests."
Friday-Sunday, Kitsap County Fairgrounds (Bremerton)
Washington State International Kite Festival
Go fly a kite at Long Beach, or just watch other people's fancy air choreography.
Friday-Sunday, Long Beach
CULTURE
Festival Centro Americano
Celebrate Costa Rican, Guatemalan, and other Central American communities and cultures in Seattle with food, art, and music.
Sunday, South Park Community Center
Hai! Japantown
Join Seattle’s Japantown (Nihonmachi) community in celebrating local Asian diaspora cultures with a historic heritage walk, the dedication of Nihonmachi Alley art, Hawaiian music, a beer and sake garden, a Spam musubi making contest, nashi (Japanese pear) picking, and more.
Saturday, Various locations (Chinatown-International District)
Tibet Fest
Join a group dance, create a sand mandala, and learn about the ancient art of herbal medicines. You'll also find handcrafted goods, prayer flags, children’s activities, and traditional food.
Saturday-Sunday, Seattle Center
Makah Days
The Makah Tribe of Neah Bay will welcome neighboring tribes and community members to celebrate their ancient culture and the anniversary of the first American flag raised on Neah Bay in 1913. Expect traditional dancing, canoe races, salmon bakes, a grand parade, the coronation of the Makah Royal Court, and more.
Friday-Sunday, Neah Bay
NorthWest Ukrainian International Festival
Celebrate the Northwest's Ukrainian community and culture by sampling traditional foods, seeing traditional embroidered costumes (vyshyvanky), seeing live music and dance performances, and shopping from vendors.
Saturday, Crossroads Park (Bellevue)
FAMILY
Kidchella
If your kids wanted to go to Coachella but you, for obvious reasons, didn't want to send them to Indio by themselves for the weekend, head to Kidchella instead for an afternoon of live music from Caspar Babypants, Recess Monkey, and The Not-Its alongside carnival games, bounce houses, face painting, and food trucks.
Saturday, Magnuson Park Hangar 30 (Sand Point)
FILM
North Bend Film Festival
The hometown of many Twin Peaks shoots debuts a new film festival of strange, Northwest-themed movies.
Friday-Sunday, North Bend Theatre
FOOD & DRINK
Belltown Crush
Belltown’s fifth annual block party includes representation from more than 20 local wineries, breweries, and cideries. Street food includes eclectic nosh from the beloved and recently revived bar Babirusa, Spanish tapas from Pintxo, Mexican food from Mama’s Cantina, and pub grub from Belltown Brewing. Plus, take in live music, watch live chalk art by artist Raziah Roushan, and literally crush the competition in a grape-stomping contest. Proceeds benefit Plymouth Housing, which provides housing and support for people experiencing homelessness.
Saturday, Bell Street Park (Belltown)
Little Saigon Festi-Roll
Each year, the Little Saigon community festival—which celebrates American Vietnamese street food, culture, and entertainment—pays tribute to a different Vietnamese specialty; past festivals have honored banh mi or café sữa đá (Vietnamese iced coffee). This year, revel in rice-paper-wrapped goodness as they salute the spring roll. Food offerings will include a Cajun Vietnamese seafood boil from Crawfish King; pho from the esteemed Pho Bac; authentic Hawaiian poké from goPoké; macarons in flavors like guava, lychee, and durian from Macadons; and more. Plus, there’ll be a bia (Vietnamese beer) garden courtesy of Sugar Hill, live performances, activities and games for kids, and a market with local vendors like Moksha and Trichome. And should you want to put your pho-slurping and spring-roll-shoveling abilities to the test, you can enroll in contests to do just that. JULIANNE BELL
Sunday, Various locations (Chinatown-International District)
Washington State Garlic Fest
Stave off vampires and boost your immune system by surrounding yourself with garlic-centric foods—including garlic ice cream, chocolate-covered garlic cloves, and deep-fried garlic, among other unusual and aromatic treats—and crafts. Dixieland bands will provide tunes throughout the festival.
Friday-Sunday, Southwest Washington Fairgrounds (Chehalis)
West Seattle Beer & Music Festival
At the first edition of this new annual event, try an array of craft beers from breweries near and far and explore tastes of brews with food pairings, all accompanied by the sounds of local bands and DJs. The festival will raise funds for the Westside Baby Co., "the only social service agency in the western King County area that collects, inspects and distributes free diapers, clothing, cribs, and safety gear for babies and children."
Friday-Sunday, Alki Masonic Center (West Seattle)
GEEK
BubbleFest 2018
This end-of-summer event, open to all ages, invites you to kayak through the ponds, build a bubble wand in the Tinker Tank, play life-sized board games, and discover the physics behind bubbles on the Live Science stage.
Saturday, Pacific Science Center (Seattle Center)
Harvest Festival
In celebration of harvest season, enter King Arthur's realm of Camlann for two days of medieval theatre, knightly combat, puppetry, crafts, archery, and minstrels.
Saturday-Sunday, Camlann Medieval Village (Carnation)
MUSIC
9th Annual Linda's Fest
Capitol Hill brunch-and-brews institution Linda’s Tavern continues to give back to the community with a yearly sample of free local music. And while the average income of the restaurant’s neighbors continues to change, the sonic fare of Linda’s Fest does not—heavy, rhythmic, and loud continue to be adjectives of consequence. Because, really, what is the sound of brunch? It is the aural equivalent of that which quenches the hangover: grease, carbon, caffeine, and further blood-borne ethanol. This year’s amp-worship seminar features Helms Alee as keynote speaker. Support comes from Sandrider, Wild Powwers, Trash Fire, and Nox Novacula. JOSEPH SCHAFER
Saturday, Linda's Tavern (Capitol Hill)
Bass Canyon
Join up with your fellow celestial headbangers for three days of bass-heavy beats echoing through the Columbia River Gorge, featuring artists like Excision, Zomboy, Bear Grillz, 12th Planet, Barely Alive, and many more.
Friday-Sunday, Gorge Amphitheater (George)
Fourth Annual Freak Out Weekend!
This weekend boasts a "Something Weird Video Trash-O-Rama" movie night at the LFP Starlite Cinema, and a "Rock n Roll Freak Out" courtesy of the Fall-Outs, Alan Milman Sect/Freddie Dennis/the Boss Martians, the Mal Thursday Quintet, the Reverberations, the Knights Of Trash, and F-Holes.
Friday-Saturday, Darrell's Tavern (Shoreline)
Nudestock
Go au naturel and feel the breeze as you listen to live sets from Champagne Sunday, Jeff Herzog & the Jet City Flyers, the Groovetramps, and the Spin-offs. Before the music starts, enjoy a five-dollar breakfast and shop from vendors.
Saturday, Tiger Mountain Nudist Park (Issaquah)
Pain in the Grass 2018
KISW's Pain in the Grass will take over Auburn for three straight days of rock and punk warfare thanks to massive headliners like Slayer, Alice in Chains, and many more.
Friday-Saturday, White River Amphitheater (Enumclaw)
Poverty Bay Blues & Brews Festival
Because beer and blues are perfect bedfellows, spend a day alongside folksy musicians like the Eric Rice Band, Randy Oxford All-Stars, Rae Gordon, and the CD Woodbury Trio while sipping brews from many local breweries.
Saturday, Des Moines Beach Park (Des Moines)
Seattle Acoustic Festival 2018
If acoustic guitars are your jam (GET IT??), then this is the late-summer festival for you. The fifth annual Seattle Acoustic Festival will feature over 40 bands and artists for two whole days.
Friday-Saturday, All Pilgrims Church (Capitol Hill)
PERFORMANCE
BeerCircus
This touring act from the California-based brewery, which will come to Seattle for the first time ever, promises to show you "things you can't unsee," with beer, food trucks, and "freaktacular entertainment" including but not limited to music, live shows, a costume contest, and a roaming marching band.
Saturday, Lagunitas Tap Room (Ballard)
READINGS & TALKS
Seattle Urban Book Expo
The Seattle Urban Book Expo, aka the "Black and Brown Literary Get-Down," is an opportunity for local urban authors to gather and to present their work to the community. Stop by to eat food, listen to some tunes, and chat with the writers about their work.
Saturday, Centilia Cultural Center (Beacon Hill)
VEHICLES
41st LeMay Annual Show
Get special access to the museum's collections, which boast over 1,500 vintage rides and neat automobile paraphernalia, as well as antique dolls, vintage radios, and other Americana.
Saturday, LeMay Marymount (Tacoma)
European Theater Day
See WWII-era aircrafts, vehicles, and other military machines on display. You can even see a few of them in action on the field.
Saturday, Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum (Everett)
Gigantic Bicycle Festival
Every summer, the Gigantic Bicycle Festival prompts us to rethink how we access our activities. First you ride your bike (for 50 miles), and then you're done (hopefully) and you get to hang out, listen to music, check out art installations and food trucks, watch outdoor movies, and camp out. You also can just drive. This year, the likes of Karl Blau and LAKE will perform in celebration of the Northwest's favorite populist transit option: the bicycle.
Friday-Sunday, Centennial Fields Park (Snoqualmie)
HangarFest
Aviation nerds can delight in aircrafts like the Concorde or the Boeing 787 Jumbo Jet, dance to classic rock, explore a futuristic transportation exhibit, and enjoy food and games.
Saturday, Museum of Flight (Tukwila)
