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
Studio Sessions: Jade Solomon Curtis
With an interest in how bodies retain memory, emotion, and experience, the award-winning choreographer and interdisciplinary artist Jade Solomon Curtis presents an immersive work at Seattle’s historic Union station.
Discover choreographer Jade Solomon Curtis and her immersive dance installation, Keeper of Sadness, at Seattle’s historic Union Station this August.
Northwest Tune-Up Bike and Music Festival Brings Big Air and Loud Sets to Bellingham
The three-day festival celebrates its fifth year with bike competitions and a genre-spanning music lineup—plus one unforgettable band of mummies.
If I were to summarize the sensation of attending Northwest Tune-Up, Bellingham’s three-day bike and music festival, in one image, it would be watching Tomomi Nishikubo—a Japanese street trials biker—doing acrobatic acts of derring-do on his bike while Seattle rockers Thunderpussy shred in the distance. My second lasting impression of the festival would be rounding…
Ferry Tales: Eight Indie Bookstores Worth the Ride
Plan a summer day around these bookshops in Seattle, Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Kingston, and Poulsbo.
Independent bookstores tend to be cornerstones of the communities in which they reside, and Seattle is no exception. In addition to helping customers discover their next read, these neighborhood hubs host weekly gatherings and events, like publication release parties, author talks, and book clubs. Many of them have cafés and reading tables that encourage lingering…
Rearview Mirror: Seattle Art Fair is Back, Nordstrom Throws a Block Party, and a Must-Try Ice Cream Sundae
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
SEATTLE ART FAIR RETURNS The buzziest event of the summer (well, aside from the World Cup), is returning next week. Now in its 10th edition, the Seattle Art Fair will once again take over the Lumen Field Event Center, packing it to the gills with art from 101 local, national, and international galleries. This year,…