The summer is slowly (slowly!) winding down, and this weekend brings an abundance of festivals that only come around this time of year. This weekend, you can sip aquavit and shop from a marketplace at Nordic Sól, take a road trip to Port Townsend for the inauguaral music and arts festival THING, catch a live set from Lisa Prank at Linda’s Fest, and much more. Read on for festivals happening in every genre.
ART
Arts in the Garden
Nearly 40 artists will display their for-sale art throughout the Bellevue Botanical Garden, so you can see how the 3-D pieces might look in your own flowerbeds. You can also take a garden tour with Ciscoe Morris, grab food from Buns on Wheels and Gemini Fish Too, sip brews in a beer garden, and enjoy live music from Journey cover band Infinity Project.
Saturday-Sunday, Bellevue Botanical Garden
SAM Remix
SAM Remix is a recurring and ever-changing art party that includes performances, tours, and dancing, all inspired by their current special exhibitions, in this case Victorian Radicals and Regina Silveira: Octopus Wrap.
Friday, Olympic Sculpture Park (Belltown)
Seattle Design Festival 2019
Now in its ninth year, Design in Public’s Seattle Design Festival explores how urbanism, architecture, and design can further justice, ecology, and community by featuring art installations and events in public spaces. The theme this year, “balance,” is inspired by the equilibrium of the natural world contrasted with institutional injustices within our society, offering attendees plenty of opportunities to ruminate on changes they’d like to see happen in Seattle. This weekend brings a screening of The Garden of Secrets at the Northwest Film Forum (Sat) and the Seattle Design Festival Block Party at Lake Union Park (Sat-Sun).
Friday-Sunday, Various locations
COMMUNITY
B-Town Fiesta
This community celebration will feature activities for the kiddos, local food vendors, and live music.
Sunday, Burien Town Square Park
BubbleFest
Since you can never outgrow the magic of iridescent globules, kids can spend the day playing with bubbles in the courtyard, seeing live demonstrations, and participating in hands-on activities.
Sunday, Pacific Science Center (Seattle Center)
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)
TWIF Turns 10 – Adult Summer Camp
To celebrate their 10th birthday, local volunteer-run charitable club The World is Fun will invite adults to partake in some nostalgic summer camp memories. Bring camping gear, a floating device, and a flashlight; they’ll provide food, drinks, and classic summertime activities like crafting and outdoor-adventuring.
Friday, Carnation
Washington State International Kite Festival
Sometimes the best part of living in the city is leaving it, and there’s no better time to explore the Pacific Northwest than the summer. One excellent excuse to get out of town is the annual International Kite Festival in Long Beach. Called the “the greatest, grandest kite festival on the North American continent” by KiteLife.com, you’ll see kites here you’ve never imagined. There are competitions for speed, for beauty, and for the best photos. Over 10,000 kite lovers come from all over the world to commune together, kite, and look toward the skies. KATIE HERZOG
Friday-Sunday, Long Beach
CULTURE
Nordic Sól
Seattle loves a good opportunity to bliss out over our Nordic culture (Reykjavik is our sister city, in case you haven’t heard), and this summer extravaganza billed as a re-imagining of Viking Days is no exception. Over the weekend, sports lovers can try out five Indigenous games based on the hunting and survival skills of the north with Inuit Games. Plus, look forward to an artisan marketplace (Sat-Sun), an aquavit garden and fashion show at Night at the Nordic (Sat), an exhibition of Nordic photography by Ragnar Axelsson (all weekend), and more.
Friday-Sunday, Nordic Museum (Ballard)
Tibet Fest
Enjoy a glimpse into the fascinating cultures of Tibet. Make a sand mandala, brush up on herbal medicine, try traditional food, hear music, and buy cool art and trinkets.
Saturday-Sunday, Seattle Center
FOOD & DRINK
Belltown Crush 2019
Plymouth Housing, whose mission is to provide safe, affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness, puts on this annual block party-style fundraiser with tons of beer and wine, a grape-stomping competition, live music, and food from local eateries.
Saturday, Bell Street Park (Belltown)
Upper Left Beerfest
This two-day beer festival (formerly the Everett Craft Beer Festival) will feature craft beer from over 30 Northwest breweries and cideries, including Diamond Knot, Kulshan, and Lazy Boy, plus music from DJ Action Jackson and plenty of food.
Friday-Saturday, Downtown Everett
Washington State Garlic Fest
Revel in a classic umami flavor, ward off vampires, and scoop up new recipes and facts to store in your brain at the Washington Garlic Fest, whose myriad offerings range from garlic fries to garlic ice cream.
Friday-Sunday, Southwest Washington Fairgrounds (Chehalis)
GEEK
Burien UFO Festival
Whether you’re a UFO enthusiast, a skeptic, or an alien, you’re invited to a big geeky space party in Burien. There will be guest speakers, live performances, a beer garden, a costume contest for both humans and dogs, custom alien drawings, and more.
Saturday, 953 SW 152nd Ave (Burien)
HangarFest 2019
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)
Harvest Festival
Experience medieval history at this festival, where you can see sword fights, watch puppet shows, pet sheep, hear 14th-century music, taste traditional foods at the Harvest Feast, and more.
Saturday-Sunday, Camlann Medieval Village (Carnation)
Mahou Shoujo Day – a Magical Girl Celebration
Sailor Moon fans of all ages can celebrate the anime icon and her contemporaries with a day of themed crafts, an artist alley, a cosplay contest, a fashion show, and more glittery fun.
Saturday, Red Lion Hotel (Bellevue)
MUSIC
10th Annual Linda’s Fest
Last year, Stranger music contributor Joseph Schafer wrote, “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 lineup features punks both hard and soft, including Fucked and Bound, Gag, Lisa Prank, Tacos!, and Dyed.
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, 12th Planet, Boogie T, Blunts & Blondes, and many more.
Friday-Sunday, Gorge Amphitheatre (George)
Big Flip
The people who brought you the Mercer X Summit Block Party will take their all-ages music festival to the waterfront, featuring live sets from local dream-pop band Hibou, Darksoft, Beverly Crusher, Jo Passed, Sloucher, Spirit Award, and others.
Saturday-Sunday, Waterfront Park (Downtown)
Fifth Annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Freaks Weekend
After spending Friday watching a Trash-O-Rama screening at Grand Illusion and partying at Cafe Racer, spend all Saturday rocking out to live bands the Fireballs of Freedom, Machine Animal, the Mants, the Vicious Cycles MC, and the Hauer Things at Darrell’s Tavern.
Friday-Saturday, Various locations
Nudestock
Go au naturel and feel the breeze as you listen to live sets from Champagne Sunday, the New Rhythmatics, Jeff Herzog & the Jet City Flyers, and Auditorious. Before the music starts, enjoy a five-dollar breakfast and shop from vendors.
Saturday, Tiger Mountain Nudist Park (Issaquah)
Olympic Music Festival
The Olympic Music Festival features classical programming almost every weekend of the summer. This weekend brings a Midsummer Gala with musicians from GardenMusic, who will perform George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Saturday-Sunday, Fort Worden State Park (Port Townsend)
Poverty Bay Blues & Brews
Because beer and blues are perfect bedfellows, spend a day alongside folksy musicians like the Eric Rice Band, the CD Woodbury Trio, the Rae Gordon Band, and others while you sip offerings from local breweries like Spire Mountain, Deschutes, Georgetown Brewing, and Pike Brewing Company. Plus, play “giant beer pong”!
Saturday, Des Moines Beach Park
Rawkstock X
Journey to La Conner for a music festival benefiting the Seattle Cancer Alliance and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. This year’s lineup includes twangy Americana bands like J.W. McClure, the Meadow Roads, and Alabama Threeway.
Saturday, 17549 SneeOosh Rd (La Conner)
THING
With Sasquatch! cancelled after a 17-year run, fest founder and STG chief programming officer Adam Zacks is attempting to fill that void with a new arts festival called THING, which will include music, comedy, film, visual arts, dance, podcasts, food, and even a mentalist. “It’s shaping up to be a pretty relaxed affair, and that’s not a bad thing. In fact, that’s part of the allure,” writes The Stranger‘s Leilani Polk. “This is smaller, more thoughtful, and alluring in a way that a festival hasn’t been in a while.” The full lineup is “a refined, wide-ranging combo of buzzy indie selections like Japanese Breakfast and Tank and the Bangas with heavy-hitting headliners in older school vets like Jeff Tweedy, Violent Femmes, and De La Soul,” plus celebrities like Todd Barry and Lindy West. It all goes down on three main stages, including a decommissioned zeppelin hangar (McCurdy Pavilion), the art-deco Wheeler Theatre, and the Parade Grounds near Puget Sound—not to mention the beautiful on-site hiking trails and beaches available for independent exploration.
Saturday-Sunday, Fort Worden State Park (Port Townsend)
WAV.fest
If your summer isn’t hot enough, get sweaty dancing around to live chiptune music from LA electro indie-folk artist Azuria Sky, Idaho’s Lateralis, Seattle’s hellstar.plus, and others at this second annual dance party.
Friday, Substation (Ballard)
West Seattle Beer & Music Festival
Cool off with microbrews from over 20 local and national breweries while grooving to a mix of funk and soul from acts like Fly Moon Royalty, Marmalade, Crystal & Quiet, Mega Run, and others.
Friday-Saturday, Alki Masonic Center (West Seattle)
WOMBO Music Festival
Electronic musicians from all over the Pacific Northwest will get the spotlight at this two-day, two-stage festival. Some of the many performers include Wombo buxom, 1ndev, Captain Folley, CreepyHandz, Jake the Cat, and Frogman.
Friday-Sunday at TBA
PERFORMANCE
Island Shakespeare Festival
Head to Whidbey Island to see performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, and Inferno at this festival in its 10th season.
Friday-Sunday, Langley
The Scratch: Seattle Workshop Series
Join more than 100 theater artists for a week of networking and workshopping 12 new plays and musicals, including 10-minute shorts by five young writers, two developmental labs, and five staged readings by professionals.
Friday-Sunday, 18th & Union (Capitol Hill)
What the Funk?! Fest
Spend a whole weekend with POC burlesque talent like Egypt Blaque Knyle, Nox Falls, Tre` da Marc, the Luminous Pariah, and about 50 others at this festival of performances and classes.
Friday-Saturday, Columbia City Theater
QUEER
Fifth Annual Alki Beach PRIDE
This late-summer West Seattle Pride celebration brings live music, food trucks, and an outdoor movie to Alki Beach.
Sunday, Alki Beach (West Seattle)
SPORTS & RECREATION
The Everett Yum Run (and Food Truck Festival)
Run or walk a 5K course through Everett, stopping to snack on tasty small bites at every mile mark. After the run, grab more food from local trucks and peruse handmade goods at a street market.
Saturday, Wetmore Theatre Plaza (Everett)
