Panicking because you don’t know what to do this weekend and you're short on cash? Don't worry—below, find all of your options for last-minute entertainment that won't cost more than $10, ranging from the opening weekend of three new exhibits at the Frye to the Saint Demetrios Greek Festival, and from the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival to Free Museum Day. For even more options, check out our complete EverOut Things To Do calendar, our list of cheap & easy things to do in Seattle all year long, and our roundup of major events to know about this weekend.
Heading to Portland or Tacoma? Check out EverOut to find things to do there and in Seattle, all in one place.
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- Bring Back the '90s
Bandit Theater will present a night of improv dedicated to the glory days of TRL and frosted tips, using music videos, photos, commercials, and more as springboards.
(Ballard, $10) - Laugh on Leary Comedy Showcase
Hear jokes from an eclectic group of comedians at this local showcase in the Double Decker Room. Grab some food at the Camion truck before you go.
(Fremont, $7/$10) COMMUNITY
- Park(ing) Day
Parking spaces throughout the city will turn into actual parks with interactive activities for one blessed day as Seattle frees itself from the tyranny of the car.
(Various locations, free) FOOD & DRINK
- Cheese & Tea Pairing
You may have tried cheese paired with wine, but have you had it with tea? This event at geek-themed tea shop Friday Afternoon will have you complementing your cup with a variety of fromage and comparing tasting notes.
(Wallingford, donation) MUSIC
- Aloha Screwdriver, Via Combusta, Don and the Quixotes
Aloha Screwdriver describe themselves as "a high-octane mix of surf and twang." They'll be joined by fellow local surf-rockers Via Combusta and Don and the Quixotes.
(Shoreline, $10) - Anthrocene, What's Wrong, The Cleanse
Local metal outfit Anthrocene will play thrashers off their debut album Nucleation with support from What's Wrong and the Cleanse.
(Eastlake, $8/$10) - Caitlin Sherman, Christy Hays, Kassi Valazza
Local singer-songwriter Caitlin Sherman of Evening Bell & Slow Skate will go solo after opening sets from alt-country singer-songwriters Christy Hays and Kassi Valazza.
(Ballard, $8) - Doom Lagoon, The Suffering Fuckheads, Guests
Self-proclaimed "fake jazz" quintet Doom Lagoon will get funky in the U-District with a little help from the Suffering Fuckheads.
(University District, $8) - FRANKIIE, Whalien, Eric Blu & The Soul Revue, Guero Brown
From Vancouver, B.C., Frankiie (who claim to marry "the lush qualities of Big Thief with an intimate anthemic approach reminiscent of Heart") will celebrate the release of their album Forget Your Head with support from Bellingham's Whalien and Seattle's Eric Blu & the Soul.
(Pioneer Square, $8/$10) - Mables Marbles, Millhous, The Aimlows, Dust Mice
Dance around to "loud blue-collar punk" from Mables Marbles, plus more from Millhous, the Aimlows, and Dust Mice.
(University District, $7) - Make Moves Vol. 1 Album Release Show
Tacoma rapper Noo Makes Music will celebrate the release of his new album with additional performances from Shelby and Salaysia and DJs Kween Kaysh and Blak Mic.
(Rainier Valley, $10) - Merlock, Hevvy, Skullbot
Psychedelic sludge rockers Merlock will journey from Spokane to thrash with local groups Skullbot and Hevvy.
(Eastlake, $8) - The New Triumph
The New Triumph perform mellow, jaunty jazz/funk hearkening to eclectic world influences.
(Downtown, free) - Pop Secret: Four Color Zack
Noted for being one of Jazzy Jeff's favorite DJs, Seattle native Four Color Zach will fuel you with pop, hip-hop, house, and future bass at this edition of Pop Secret.
(Capitol Hill, $10) - Sing Low, Indigo
Heidi Matthews (Spinning Whips) will perform with her other project, Sing Low Indigo, for an evening that's "equal parts jazz, Americana, indie-pop, and lounge."
(Downtown, free) - Southside Reunion Show with Huey & The Inflowentials, DJ Mullet
Seattle punk/hip-hop misfits Southside will celebrate "25 years of complete irrelevance" at this reunion show with fellow local hip-hop group Huey & the Inflowentials and DJ Mullet.
(Fremont, $8/$10) - The Together Collective
Groove to soulful jams with Seattle's Quinn & the Together Collective.
(Wallingford, free) PARTIES & NIGHTLIFE
- Seattle Dating App Launch Party
The Seattle Dating App, which allows you to see people close to you and thus avoid matching with someone who lives somewhere in Washington only accessible by boat, will celebrate its launch with "bottomless alcohol," free gifts, a dessert bar, and music from DJ Zeta.
(South Lake Union, free) PERFORMANCE
- The Fall Kick-off 2019
Dance season is here, folks. During kick-off week, Velocity will conduct workshops for those in the dance community and throw a Friday night party for all with 10 pop-up performances.
(Capitol Hill, free-$30) - Yen
The Kenan Fellowship for Directing will co-present this play about two teenage brothers whose porn-and-video-game-filled existence is interrupted by a stranger who changes everything.
(Downtown, $10) READINGS & TALKS
- Brad Smith: Promise and Peril in the Digital Age
Microsoft president Brad Smith will read from Tools and Weapons, co-written with Carol Ann Browne, about the urgent need to address the risks and challenges engendered by new technology: invasion of privacy, cybercrimes, AI complications, and more.
(First Hill, $5) - Gina Rippon: The Myth of the Gendered Brain
Recognized cognitive neuroscientist Professor Gina Rippon will keep you up to date on the science of differences in men and women's brains—or the lack thereof. Drawing on her book Gender and Our Brains, she promises to expose flaws and bias in research on the sexes. According to the event organizers, "Rippon presents the latest evidence which indicates that brains are like mosaics comprised of both male and female components, and that they remain plastic, adapting throughout the course of a person’s life."
(First Hill, $5) - Indelible in the Hippocampus: Writings from the #MeToo Movement
This new anthology from McSweeney's takes its title from one of the more powerful moments of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year. "Indelible in the hippocampus is laughter," she said, recalling the time Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh and another boy allegedly sexually assaulted her, laughing as they did so. Local writers Kamari Bright, Jalayna Carter, Sasha LaPointe, and Kristen Millares Young, plus editor Shelly Oria, will celebrate this collection of writing on the #MeToo movement, which includes fiction, essays, and poetry. I've only read one of Young's essays on the topic, and I remember it knocking me flat. So bring a helmet to this one. RICH SMITH
(Capitol Hill, free) - Lisa Congdon: Find Your Artistic Voice
Popular author Lisa Congdon's new book is chock-full of advice, interviews, and other resources for the developing artist.
(Capitol Hill, free) - Sara Donati: Where the Light Enters
Sara Donati, the author of The Gilded Hour, will read from her new epic novel about two trailblazing female doctors in 19th-century New York.
(Lake Forest Park, free) - Tina Schumann: Praising the Paradox
Poets Tina Schumann (winner of a Stephen Dunn Poetry Prize), Jill McCabe Johnson (winner of a Nautilus Book Award in Poetry), and Kay Mullen (a Rainier Writing Workshop graduate) will read from their latest collections.
(Wallingford, free) - VOW: Voices of Womxn Salon
This literary salon will be a social occasion—complete with a cash bar—for all women-identified writers.
(Capitol Hill, free) VISUAL ART
- Everyday Unseen Youth Art Gallery: Reclaiming Space
See art by kids aged 13 to 19, presented by foundry10.
(Pioneer Square, free) - Exhibitions Opening Reception
Fill your eyeballs with art in three new exhibitions—Dress Codes: Ellen Lesperance and Diane Simpson, Pierre Leguillon: Arbus Bonus, and Unsettling Femininity: Selections from the Frye Art Museum Collection—and have some drinks at the cash bar.
(First Hill, free)FRIDAY-SATURDAY
OKTOBERFESTS
- 4th Annual Oktoberfest!
How heavy of a stein can you raise with your brute strength? Find out at this two-weekend bier fest, where you can dance around to live music from Prom Date Mixtape (Fri), feast on hearty delights (like German-style sausages), and drink lots of beer.
(Queen Anne, free) VISUAL ART
- Girlfriends of the Guerrilla Girls
This show at CoCA brings together Seattle artists who identify themselves as feminist and also do not have gallery representation. The lineup includes ceramicist Hanako O’Leary, who creates vagina vessels and Japanese Hannya-inspired masks that replace faces with labias. It’s pretty metal. Ann Leda Shapiro’s sexually explicit Anger—which the Whitney Museum of Art refused to hang in her one-person show in 1973—will also make an appearance. Stranger Genius Award winner C. Davida Ingram, as well as Sheila Klein, Alice Dubiel, Deborah Faye Lawrence, Cecilia Concepción Alvarez, Dawn Cerny, E.T. Russian, and the Guerrilla Girls themselves, round out the show. JASMYNE KEIMIG
(Pioneer Square, free)
Closing SaturdayFRIDAY-SUNDAY
FESTIVALS
- Bellwether 2019: Taking Root
This year's festival of arts and performance spreads from the Bellevue Arts Museum to various downtown Bellevue venues, including the Meydenbauer Center and City Hall. This week brings a pop-up market, a guided tour with Ben Beres of the SuttonBeresCuller artistic trio, a conversation about Bellevue with John Boylan, and more. See the full schedule here.
(Bellevue, free) - Saint Demetrios Greek Festival
This hallmark early-fall tradition is your chance to get a taste of Greek food, music, and tradition. Stop by the tent to feast on classic fare like gyros, loukoumathes (sticky-sweet deep-fried pastries), and baklava, enjoy live music with Taki and the Mad Greeks, and see dancing from St. Demetrios dance groups. Plus, you can take a guided church tour, taste wine, and more.
(Capitol Hill, free) OKTOBERFESTS
- Oktoberfest
Enjoy the traditional trappings of Oktoberfest: German-inspired foods from Das Wagon, ceremonial tappings of festbiers, and stein-holding competitions.
(White Center, free) VISUAL ART
- Mark Rediske
Rediske paints color washes and gestural abstraction in rich, Rothko-like colors.
(Pioneer Square, free)
Closing Saturday - Que Séra Séra
Columbia City Gallery members Dianne Bradley, Lori Duckstein, Osa Elaiho, and Joan Robbins hang new work.
(Columbia City, free)
Closing Sunday - Xenobia Bailey, Henry Jackson-Spieker, Marita Dingus, Nastassja Swift: Installations
Wa Na Wari—a collaborative project run by Inye Wokoma and other artists including Elisheba Johnson, Rachel Kessler, and Jill Freidberg—opened in April. The team curates group shows of three to four black artists per month. The current cycle includes excellent work by Xenobia Bailey, Henry Jackson-Spieker, and Marita Dingus, but it was artist Nastassja Swift's video piece in a hot room upstairs that struck a nerve with me. I think it was the masks. Larger than life-size, Swift's masks depict black female ancestors with half-closed eyes, hair neatly done in braids, Bantu knots, cornrows, and twists. In the video, Remembering Her Homecoming, black women dancers dressed in white, adorned with the giant wool masks, dance, walk, and sing freedom songs along the Richmond Slave Trail in Virginia. Swift's video, no more than 10 minutes long, grapples with the concept of home, being home, having a home, feeling at home in one's body and community. JASMYNE KEIMIG
(Central District, free)
Closing SundaySATURDAY
COMEDY
- Improv For Everyone: Free Workshop
Local improvisers will teach you the ropes of spontaneous acting in this free workshop.
(Seattle Center, free) - Live Stand Up Comedy
Join Birungi Birungi for another night of comedy at the low-key neighborhood pub Hopvine, with jokes by headliner Matt Eriksen plus Harlem Blu and Chelsea Tolle.
(Capitol Hill, free) - NW Peaks Comedy Night
Enjoy "comedy club-level comedy" by Scot Losse, Adam Luckey, and Cavin Eggleston at this pizza and craft beer joint. Alex Goldwell will host.
(Hillman City, $10) COMMUNITY
- Circus Party
Circus enthusiasts of all ages can spend the afternoon juggling, hula hooping, dancing to live music, and eating food in Othello Park.
(Beacon Hill, free) - NW Indigenous Peoples: Sharing Powwow Ways
Celebrate the natural resources of the Pacific Northwest with local Indigenous communities through social dances, traditional songs, artist demos, raffle prizes, and more.
(Downtown, free) - Seattle CityClub Debate: Districts 5 & 6
District 5 City Council candidates Deborah Juarez and Anne Davison Sattler will debate, followed by District 6 candidates Heidi Wills and Dan Strauss.
(Greenwood, free) FESTIVALS
- Auburn Main Street Festival
This free street fair promises a beer and wine garden, local bites, and live music and performances for the whole family (except for the booze, of course).
(Auburn, free) - Fishermen's Fall Festival
The North Pacific fishing fleet's annual return to their home terminal gives occasion to this waterfront fundraiser for the Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial Foundation to assist families of fishermen lost at sea. You can learn about where your seafood comes from, make fishing-themed art projects (like a wooden boat, for instance), and cast a line into a pond for some catch-and-release practice.
(Ballard, free) - Luminata
The Fremont Arts Council will hop over to Green Lake for their annual autumnal equinox celebration filled with bright paper lanterns to help ease you into the less-sunny season. You're invited to bring any other luminary you have on hand (they suggest light-up umbrellas and costumes) to help make the post-ceremony parade even brighter.
(Green Lake, free) - Metaphysical & Wellness Fair
You have several chances to join dozens of intuitive readers and non-traditional healers for a day (or days) of astrology, crystals, body work, and more.
(Across Seattle, free) - Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival
Take part in UW's version of the Mid-Autumn festival, a Chinese and Vietnamese tradition that welcomes the new season and honors departed loved ones. This year, they promise a lantern-filled quad, carnival games, mooncakes, and much more.
(University District, free) - Second Use Fall Fest
Second Use is turning a quarter-century old! To celebrate, they'll offer free food, all-ages games, local beer, and sustainable goods from over 35 local vendors.
(Beacon Hill, free) FILM
- The Boys Who Said No!
See a sneak preview of a documentary-in-progress about 1960s youth who refused the military draft and exercised other forms of protest during the Vietnam War.
(Madrona, free) FOOD & DRINK
- End of Summer Bash
Get your very-late summer kicks on the patio with music, wine, and a BBQ food truck. Deals will be available on select bottles.
(Georgetown, free) GEEK
- Batman Day 2019
Celebrate the growly-voiced, pointy-eared vigilante by picking up free special Batman Day comics ("Batman: Nightwalker: The Graphic Novel and "The Batman Who Laughs").
(Wallingford, free) - DinkyCon
This inaugural geek convention promises an artist alley, games, panels, food, and a cosplay contest, but not a set theme. Come dressed as your favorite pop culture icons and revel in the freedom of creativity.
(West Seattle, $10) MUSIC
- Autumn Beats
If you're in the mood for some genre-blending, join DJ Chromatic for a mix of dance and hip-hop beats, soul and funk, breakbeats, and some "international flavor."
(Belltown, free) - DEVH, Lovely, Julz, Creation, Molecule
Local artists DEVH, Lovely, Julz, Creation, and Molecule will span the spectrum of hip-hop.
(Rainier Valley, $7/$10) - Dolly & The DJ: Gurl, It’s Pumpkin Spice Season
Local drag queen Dolly Madison will get "savory and sassy" for pumpkin spice season with a far-from-basic edition of Dolly and the DJ.
(White Center, free) - Haute Sauce x Heat Check
DJs Famous, Siracha, M0mlyn, and Han will be the DJs at "Seattle's home for hip-hop and dance music."
(Capitol Hill, $10) - Jaspar Lepak, Avery Hill, Mandy Troxel: A Special Trio Performance!
Northwest songwriters Jaspar Lepak, Avery Hill, and Mandy Troxel will team up for a night of three-part harmonies supplemented by soul food and espresso drinks.
(Redmond, $10) - Nasty Bits, Beretta, RC Lokos
Thrashers from Blood Of Kings and Nox Velum will team up as Nasty Bits for some bristling metal. They'll take the stage after opening sets from Beretta and RC Lokos.
(Eastlake, $8) - NOITE BRASILERA!
Dance into the night to Sertanejo, Brazilian funk, Samba, and more with Noite Brasilera.
(Sodo, $10) - Oktoberfest with Platinum Spandex
Stuff your face with soft pretzels, kielbasa, and sauerkraut while you dance around to the stylings of hair metal cover band Platinum Spandex.
(Shoreline, $10) - Pickled Okra, Tangletown String Band, Brittany Collins
Get your banjo fix from local bluegrass groups Pickled Okra, Tangletown String Band, and Brittany Collins.
(Greenwood, $7) - Rainboy, New Born Babies, Pulling It Off, Bone Spurs
Boogie to some PNW rock with Seattle's Rainboy and Bone Spurs, Olympia's New Born Babies, and Portland's Pulling It Off.
(University District, $5) - Rat City Brass
"Ameriachi" band Rat City Brass will perform in celebration of the legacy of Whipped Cream-era Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, with touches of classic American pop, cantina sounds, and mid-century instrumentals.
(Columbia City, $8/$10) - Silent Party Seattle: R&B Lovers & Friends
Bring your smoothest dance moves (headphones will be provided) to this trap and R&B silent disco.
(Pioneer Square, $8) - Stereo Embers, Rosso Viti, The Pop Cycle
Stereo Embers will draw on their favorite rock bands of the past at this cover night with Rosso Viti and the Pop Cycle.
(University District, $10) - SURF SEPT: The Boss Martians, Don & The Quixotes
The Boss Martians will break out their retro sounds of surf and frat rock for a rowdy crowd alongside Portland's Don & the Quixotes (who usually specialize in Christmas music, but we can only imagine they'll tailor their tunes to the current season for this appearance).
(Pioneer Square, $10) - SØLVE, The Blood of Others, Jet Shea
If you like to get gloomy at the party, join up with ambient industrial folk-punks SØLVE, the Blood of Others, and Jet Shea 9 in Belltown.
(Belltown, $7) OKTOBERFESTS
- Hillman City Oktoberfest
Big Chickie will offer special German-style menu items and Slow Boat Tavern will provide authentic festbiers at "the biggest little Oktoberfest in Seattle."
(Hillman City, free) - Oktoberfest 2019 Andechs Brain Games
Beer- and brat-loving brainiacs not interested in stein-hoisting competitions can participate in a "Bier Olympics of the mind" at this Oktoberfest event.
(West Seattle, free) - Oktoberfest Tasting
Quaff malty, German-style Marzens and lagers from Sierra Nevada, Reuben's Brews, Occidental Brewing, and other favorite spots.
(Ballard, free) PERFORMANCE
- Color Theory: Circus Protégé Show
Emerald City Trapeze Arts students will sail overhead on silks and bars.
(Sodo, free) READINGS & TALKS
- Amanda Frame: Into the Void
Not unlike Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in The Lakehouse, Amanda Frame's novel follows two people who are separated by the Void—a "mirror image of our own world." Join the author for a reading and Q&A.
(Bothell, free) - Francesca Bell and Brian Laidlaw
Poet and translator Francesca Bell, the former poetry editor of River Styx and the author of Bright Stain, will appear alongside poet-songwriter Brian Laidlaw, a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Denver.
(Wallingford, free) - Kathryn Trueblood: Take Daily as Needed
A woman's highly dysfunctional family becomes even more stressful when she's diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. But her determined spirit makes Kathryn Trueblood's novel a comfort to "anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed, underappreciated, underpaid, and underwater," according to the event organizers.
(Ravenna, free) - Paula Becker: The House on Stilts
Becker, much appreciated locally for her biography of Betty MacDonald (Looking for Betty MacDonald: The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I) and other works, chronicles how the opioid crisis has affected her personally: Her son became addicted to heroin.
(Downtown, free) - Petina Gappah: Out of Darkness, Shining Light
Gappah's novel of colonialism, exploration, and religion follows the journey of those who carried the real-life missionary Dr. Livingstone's body across Africa.
(Capitol Hill, free) SHOPPING
- Fall Native Plant Sale
Find a large selection of native trees, shrubs, perennials, ground covers, bulbs, and seeds ideal for Washington gardens (and beneficial for local birds and pollinators).
(Sand Point, free) - Filson & Mossy Oak Present Sportsman's Expo
Sportspeople can go ham by shopping from pop-up vendors (like Danner and Gunner Kennels), seeing demos from champion duck and goose caller Bill Saunders, and much more.
(Ballard, free) - Rare Treats Pop-Up
Buy stuff (vintage clothes, household goods, gifts, and more) from lovely local vendors and artists like Real Bazaar, Bitchfit Vintage, Crop Pop Soda Shop, Precious Wares, Cucci Binaca, Kate Crumbley, Ab Glanz, and Dylan Spencer.
(Capitol Hill, free) - Tacoma Night Market: September Edition
Pay a visit to the South Sound for an evening of vendors, local food, sweet treats, live music, and more for all ages.
(Tacoma, free) SPORTS & RECREATION
- Badminton, Pickleball & Volleyball
Play some midday badminton, pickleball, and volleyball using provided equipment.
(Pioneer Square, free) VISUAL ART
- Art Show Opening: Nick Leppmann
Seattle-based artist Nick Leppmann explores the impact our smallest actions have on the natural world in his paintings.
(Queen Anne, free)
Opening Saturday - Free Museum Day
Get cultured for free at one of the museums participating in Smithsonian's Museum Day. All you need to do is download the ticket from the Smithsonian's website, grab a companion, and show your pass at the Museum of Pop Culture, the MOHAI, the Wing Luke, the Bellevue Arts Museum, the National Nordic Museum, the Museum of Flight, Seattle Art Museum, or other institutions out of town. Choose carefully, though, because you only get one.
(Various locations, free) - Julie Alexander: Yellow
Blue can generate sensations of coldness, sadness, and artificiality; red can be anger, passion, or heat. What's yellow? According to Julie Alexander, yellow can represent "uniqueness, atomized value of individuality, and our struggles to build community as we create things in this commodified culture." Nicholas Nyland and Dalani Tanahy are also featured in this exhibition.
(Pioneer Square, free)
Closing Saturday - TUF Art Collective Takeover
The Seattle art and electronic music collective TUF will provide a platform for Seattle artists and performers who are marginalized on account of their race or gender. Through visual work and performances, they'll pose questions like "How do we build the spaces that we want to live in? Why is space needed in a city for art? How do we hold space for each other?"
(First Hill, $10) - Twyla Sampaco and Lana Blinderman
See nature photos by self-described "Filipina-Cascadian" photographer Twyla Sampaco and urban documentary photographer Lana Blinderman.
(Central District, free)SATURDAY-SUNDAY
FESTIVALS
- Sammamish Arts Showcase
Unfettered to any one art form, this two-day festival will bring in painters and sculptors, ballet and hip-hop dancers, jazz musicians, and tons more creatives.
(Sammamish, free) - Seattle Children’s Festival
I want to go somewhere where, instead of getting head-turns and raised eyebrows, no one even blinks when my daughter issues her piercing pterodactyl shriek—where it simply blends into the background of thousands of other tiny voices all raised to the sky in a chorus of noise. Seattle Children’s Fest seems like the place. Plus, there’s plenty to keep her entertained, including five stages worth of performances (dance from around the world included), interactive music-driven workshops, arts and crafts, and “tactile learning activities.” I’m sold. LEILANI POLK
(Seattle Center, $10 suggested donation) SHOPPING
- 2019 Cascade Gem and Mineral Show
Rock and mineral collectors can sort through a bevy of selections from over 30 vendors, see lapidary arts demonstrations, and check out a portion of the Green River College fossil and mineral collections on display.
(Capitol Hill, free) OKTOBERFESTS
- Oktoberfest Celebration!
The West Seattle brewery the Beer Junction will tap German-style beers, host a stein-hoisting contest, and serve up sausages from Bavarian Meats. There may also be some oompah music.
(West Seattle, free) - Oktoberfest at Rhein Haus
Revel in a tap list of Oktoberfest biers from Silver City, Wasteiner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Ayinger, pFreim, Reuben’s, and others, and test your strength with a stein holding contest. There's bocce and live Bavarian music, and kids can amuse themselves by crafting paper Lebkuchenherzen heart cookies.
(Central District, free) VISUAL ART
- Dress Codes: Ellen Lesperance and Diane Simpson
Lesperance and Simpson use grid forms to interpret the values and significations of historical clothing. Lesperance paints the garments of nuclear disarmament activists, rendering "American Symbolcraft, the visual shorthand of knitting patterns" with gouache instead of stitches, while Simpson constructs three-dimensional sculptures based on gridded interpretations of "illustrations found in antique clothing catalogues, window dressing manuals, and histories of dress."
(First Hill, free)
Opening Saturday - Edmonds Art Studio Tour
Meander through Edmonds and discover the work of 36 local artists on this free tour of private studios.
(Edmonds, free) - Layne Kleinart: Nature / Nurture
Using recycled linens stained with coffee, beet juice, and wine, Layne Kleinart explores the "joy in the unpredictable interaction of materials and excitement in subtle nuances."
(Pioneer Square, free)
Opening Saturday - Pierre Leguillon: Arbus Bonus
French artist Leguillon's medium is the exhibition itself. In this show, he uses 256 photographs by or inspired by the 20th-century photographer Diane Arbus, as well as appropriations of her eerie postwar Americana. In the words of the museum, "Arbus Bonus reveals the ways larger cultural histories are assembled and disseminated, and encourages us to form our own, more inclusive counter-narratives."
(First Hill, free)
Opening Saturday - Unsettling Femininity: Selections from the Frye Art Museum Collection
Why does femininity "unsettle"? The museum curates a selection of mostly 19th- and 20th-century German paintings of women that either challenge or reflect the traditional "female" traits of meekness and sexual submission. Many mysteriously suggest a narrative without overt indications of a story. This exhibition asks viewers to consider the act of looking and its relationship to power, gender, religion, and morality.
(First Hill, free)
Opening SaturdaySUNDAY
COMEDY
- Vonnegut Unexpected: Kurt Vonnegut Improvised
The improvisers of Unexpected Productions will take some instinctual liberties (paired with audience suggestions) with Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions, and other works by the late writer Kurt Vonnegut.
(Downtown, $10) FILM
- Manual of Photography
French artist Pierre Leguillon, whose exhibition Arbus Bonus is currently showing at the Frye, will present a screening of his film anthology about how to frame, light, shoot, and develop photographs.
(First Hill, free) FOOD & DRINK
- Ice Cream Social Pop-Up
You scream, I scream, we all scream for this curbside festival showcasing frozen treats from a variety of vendors.
(Fremont) - International Food Truck Rally
Tuck into international flavors from over a dozen Tukwila food trucks.
(Tukwila, free) - One-Day Cookbook Sale
Peruse hundreds of donated cookbooks covering all types of cuisine and topics, starting at just four buckaroos.
(Capitol Hill) - Sour Beer Sunday
Pucker up and try barrel-aged sours from Three Magnets, Dirty Couch, Matchless Brewing, and Urban Family. BYOT (bring your own Tums).
(Ballard, free) MUSIC
- Bad Luck, Animal|Inside, Fix
Stranger music contributor Zach Frimmel has written of Bad Luck, "The avant-jazz duo proficiently constructs their numbers with cymbal splashes of Zen and sax-looped echoes (Colin Stetson status) while seamlessly being able to combust into tirades of clustered cacophony." They'll be joined by Animal|Inside and Fix.
(Fremont, $5/$8) - Chastity Belt In-Store
Two days after the release of their self-titled album, post-party-punk quartet Chastity Belt will play a free, all-ages show at Easy Street while you shop for records.
(West Seattle, free) - Femme Day Party
For this final event of the summer, femmes will get the spotlight with a DJ dance party complete with sweet treats and other pop-ups.
(Capitol Hill, $5) - Seattle Flute Society's Flute Celebration Day
Celebrate virtuosos of the woodwind instrument (including members of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Ah Tempo Flute Choir, Bellevue Youth Symphony, the Jolly-Jones Duo, and Flûtes-en-Bois) with an evening of flute chamber music followed by contemporary pieces by Pacific Northwest composers.
(Greenwood, free) - Show Tunes Sing-Along with Tanya and Aidan
Sing along to songs from your favorite musicals both classic and contemporary. Costumes are encouraged.
(Belltown, free) - Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! with Nic Masangkay, Son the Rhemic, and Miss Broadway
Wrap up your weekend with performances from queer pop artist Nic Masangkay, hip-hop artist Son the Rhemic, and Miss Broadway.
(Beacon Hill, $5) - Whiskeydick, Stoned Evergreen Travelers, James Hunnicutt, Dog Bite Harris
Country and metal intersect with local duo Whiskeydick, who will grace the stage with their presence after opening sets from local rockers Stoned Evergreen Travelers, James Hunnicutt, and Dog Bite Harris.
(Eastlake, $5/$7) PERFORMANCE
- Queen Crawl
Five local drag queens have been working hard to raise as much money as they can for various nonprofits. At this final portion of the fundraising competition, you're invited to join the participants as they hop to Capitol Hill bars in pursuit of the coveted Queen of the Crawl title.
(Capitol Hill, free) READINGS & TALKS
- Carley Moore: The Not Wives
Three women navigate the Occupy Wall Street protests, their own love triangle, and their home lives in Carley Moore's The Not Wives. The author will be joined in conversation by local memoirist and novelist Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore.
(Capitol Hill, free) - Clyde W. Ford: Think Black
This prizewinning author will read from his new book about his father, John Stanley Ford, who became the first black software engineer at IBM in 1947 and had to weather his white coworkers' harassment and cruelty. Ford (junior) reflects on the cost of enduring a racist environment for both John Stanley Ford and his family, and delves into "how his hiring was meant to distract from IBM’s dubious business practices including its involvement in the Holocaust, eugenics, and apartheid."
(First Hill, $5) - Ginny Hogan: Toxic Femininity in the Workplace
Ginny Hogan will share her humorous takes on pervasive subjects like sexism, workplace gender dynamics, and challenges faced by women in STEM.
(Ravenna, free) - Leta Hong Fincher: China's Feminist Awakening
In her book Betraying Big Brother, Hong Fincher brings to light the suppressed history of feminism in China, using, among other resources, interviews with the "Feminist Five"—five women activists who were jailed by the government in 2015—as well as lawyers, civil rights and labor advocates, performance artists, and others.
(First Hill, $5) - WITS Student Anthology Launch
Seattle Arts & Lectures will present the fruits of Writers in the Schools, a program in which local writers help students explore creative writing, at this anthology launch featuring 140 pieces from last year's kids.
(Downtown, free) SHOPPING
- South Seattle Plant and Art Swap
Bring plants, cuttings, and seeds to swap with ones that better suit your gardening needs. Or, just show up empty-handed to purchase plants and art (including paintings, prints, and handmade plant hangers) from a handful of vendors.
(West Seattle, free) VISUAL ART
- Ikebana Exhibit Opening Demonstration
To kick off their fall chrysanthemum season, the greenhouse's Seasonal House will honor the centuries-old Japanese floral arrangement tradition of Ikebana with carefully crafted displays. On opening day, stop by for a live demonstration.
(Capitol Hill, $4)
Opening Sunday
