Must Design
Good Ideas Galore at the Seattle Design Festival
(9/12 to 9/25, times vary) Good design, it has been said, starts with a question, and this year’s city-wide Seattle Design Festival asks how can we best approach equality in a modern-day metropolis? Topics will include design for elders, and indigenous land rights and decolonization.

Must Cheer
Standup Paddleboarders Race to the Finish
Saturday (9/12, 9 a.m.) It might feel like a workout just watching the annual 13-mile standup paddleboard (SUP) Round the Rock race, in which more than 100 fit folks will compete for an approximately $10,000 purse. Patrons without paddles are welcome to cheer from afar and exercise their social skills in the shade at Newcastle Beach Park in Bellevue.

Must Stay Indoors
La Melancolie Des Dragon at On the Boards
(9/10 to 9/13, times vary) When you think about it, a heavy-metal amusement park is a pretty good idea. In this poignant French comedy from Philippe Quesne, it’s the dream of a bunch of long-haired misfits, who pursue their vision—realized in an eye-poppingly artful set—in the face of car trouble, a snowstorm and the inevitable ennui that arises during the search for a greater purpose.

Must See
Whim W’Him Hits the Stage
(9/11 to 9/19, times vary) For its new production, Choreographic Shindig, the company founded by former Pacific Northwest Ballet dancer Olivier Wevers put out an international call for choreographers—and received 95 applicants. The company members chose three (from Texas, San Francisco and Switzerland) et voilà, the contemporary ballet party begins.

Must Listen
Hugo House Literary Series
Friday (9/11, 7:30 p.m.) This annual series—wherein diverse writers are asked to pen new work along a theme—starts with the prompt “Beating a Dead Horse,” which novelist Dinaw Mengestu, fiction writer Alissa Nutting and hilarious Seattle poet Sarah Galvin will attempt to address without hammering us over the head.

Must Root for the Home Team
Where to Watch Seahawks
Sunday (9/13, 10 a.m.) The NFC champs take on the St. Louis Rams in their first-regular season game on Sunday, September 13. If displaying your ultimate 12th fandom in your living room just won’t do, here are a host of bars where you can cheer your ‘Hawks to victory.