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The Must List: Neighborhood Fests, Pixar Films in Concert and Live Theater at Volunteer Park

Things to do in Seattle

chicken-coop

Must Fest
Neighborhood Celebrations Galore

(Dates and times vary) — No matter which ‘hood you’re in this weekend, there is on-the-street, food-in-hand fun to be had. Seafood lovers, make your way to Ballard for the annual Seafood Fest, honoring the nabe’s maritime heritage. Up on the hill, the streets will be filled with festival goers for Queen Anne Days (with a morning fun run, kids’ parade and one heck of a sidewalk sale along Queen Anne Avenue North). Francophiles swarm Madison Park for the annual Bastille Day Bash, featuring buskers, burlesque dancers, a roving Marie Antoinette and tres bien wine tastings. And West Seattle’s Alaska Junction becomes a pedestrian paradise for its annual Summer Fest, filled with a beer garden, carnival rides for kids and beyond.

Must Hear
Your Favorite Pixar Films in Concert

(7/11 to 7/12, times vary) — Round up the kids and the animation freaks in your life—the Seattle Symphony is taking an exciting cinematic turn this month, performing snippets of scores from Pixar’s 13 feature films, including Wall-E, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Up, The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc. Seattle conductor Adam Stern directs this first-time compilation, which is augmented with video clips shown on the big screen above.

Must See
Arts And Crafts From Japanese Internment Camps On Display in Bellevue

(Through 10/12, times vary) — Commemorating the endurance, resourcefulness and dignity of the 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry held in internment camps during the Second World War, The Art of Gaman: Arts And Crafts From Japanese Internment Camps, 1942–1946 showcases sculpture and ceramics made in the camps from found objects (wood, metal, shells, bottle caps), including a large array of intricate, hand-painted pins in the shape of birds and animals.

Must Bard
The Seattle Outdoor Theater Festival at Volunteer Park

(7/12 to 7/13, times vary) — Experience live theater in the best way possible–whilst wandering through beautiful Volunteer Park. All the world will feel like a stage as you chance upon performances of Shakespeare (and funny spinoffs) by local companies Greenstage, Wooden O, Theater Schmeater and Jet City Improv.

Must Tour
Seattle Tilth’s 2014 Chicken Coop & Urban Farm Tour

Saturday (7/12, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) — Lace up your best walking shoes for a self-guided tour of Seattle’s top 25 chicken coops and urban farms, where you’ll encounter heritage chickens, dairy goats, ducks, rabbits, bees and artfully arranged gardens.

 

Rearview Mirror: Godzilla, Cork, and a New Sushi Spot

Rearview Mirror: Godzilla, Cork, and a New Sushi Spot

Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).

POPPING OUR SENSES I don’t think I’ve ever given much thought to a wine cork beyond the satisfying pop it makes when opening a bottle, but after spending a morning at DeLille Cellars in Woodinville with about 50 other people, I have a new appreciation for it. The occasion was “(Pop) Open Your Senses,” a…

Best Bookstore: Beguiled Books

Best Bookstore: Beguiled Books

This Pioneer Square darling is easy to spot: pink doors and candy-striped details mark its home near Occidental Square. Beguiled Books started in 2024 as a mobile bookstore, making its way from table to tent to trailer, and finally to its current brick-and-mortar space. Labelling itself as “Seattle’s Original Romance Bookstore,” Beguiled specializes in just…

Best Art Gallery: Foster/White Gallery

Best Art Gallery: Foster/White Gallery

A pillar in Pioneer Square’s arts ecosystem, Foster/White Gallery opened in 1966 (then called Richard White Gallery) as the first space of its kind in the neighborhood. It soon gained notoriety for showing preeminent Northwest artists such as Morris Graves, William Morris, George Tsutakawa, and Dale Chihuly. In the decades after founding the gallery, its…

Best Museum: Seattle Art Museum

Best Museum: Seattle Art Museum

A vote for Seattle Art Museum is really a vote for three different art outings. The downtown museum pairs ambitious exhibitions with a global collection; the Seattle Asian Art Museum occupies SAM’s original 1933 Art Deco home amid the 43 acres of Capitol Hill’s Volunteer Park; and the Olympic Sculpture Park puts art out in…