Must List: Polar Bear Plunge, Free Day at WA State Parks
What to do this weekend in Seattle
By Seattle magazine staff December 29, 2015
Must Rock
Patti Smith Rocks The Moore
(1/4 to 1/5, 8 p.m.) Punk rock songwriter, musician and poet Patti Smith brings her world tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of the release of her seminal debut album, Horses, to the Moore Theatre. Hear her sing the songs that helped make her an icon.
Must Get Outdoors
Free Day at WA State Parks
Friday (1/1, times vary) Celebrate the first day of the new year in grand Pacific Northwest fashion and access any Washington State Park without the need for a Discover Pass.
Must Plunge
Enter 2016 with a Splash
Friday (1/1, 12 p.m.) Earn your “cold badge of courage” at the annual Matthews Beach Polar Bear Plunge, where brave revelers leap into Lake Washington’s chilly waters.
Must Cheers
Spend NYE with the Seattle Symphony
(12/31, 9 p.m.) Lift your glass of New Year’s bubbly to toast the musical splendor of Beethoven’s Ninth performed by the Seattle Symphony, and then dance into 2016.
Must See
Last Chance to See Intimate Impressionism at SAM
(Through 1/3, times vary) In the show Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art, SAM fills its walls with tiny treasures: small-scale paintings by a bunch of French guys you may have heard of, such as Monet, Cezanne, Degas and Renoir, and one from the Netherlands who goes by Van Gogh.
Follow Us
Little Ways to December in Seattle
A few (mostly) local things worth picking up, wandering through, or falling into as the year wraps.
December always sneaks up on me even though every year I convince myself I’m going to be organized (I’m not). So I’ve been collecting these simple outings and local spots that feel like unwrapped gifts. If you’re looking for a way to escape or lean in, here are some recommendations. A sip of history You…
Back to Gander
Seattle Rep revisits its original world premiere with a new staging that pulls you straight into the heart of the story.
When you walk into the theater, the cast is already onstage in what looks like a Gander high school gym—setting out dishes for a potluck, chatting, and then cleaning up. It feels like you’ve arrived in the middle of a reunion, which is the point. This run marks 10 years since Come From Away first…
Seattle’s Big Holiday Arts Guide
A full lineup of seasonal performances across local theaters and venues.
In the words of William Shakespeare, “All’s well that ends well.” Local theater and arts organizations are hoping for exactly that. Holiday productions often account for as much as half of their annual ticket sales. A 2018 Dance/USA survey found that The Nutcracker alone represented 48% of yearly revenue for many companies producing the Tchaikovsky…
Outside the Frame
In their first solo museum exhibition in Seattle, artist Camille Trautman uses photography to reclaim history, narrative, and self-expression.
You have probably seen Camille Trautman’s work without even realizing it. A huge photograph—20 feet wide—is currently hanging across the exterior of the Frye Art Museum, visible to passersby driving along Boren Avenue. The image is of a wooded landscape in black and white. Its edges are vacuous, with trees swallowed by darkness, but the…