Must List: Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, Beecher’s Cheese For All, ‘Urinetown’

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MUST SMELL THE FLOWERS

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
(4/1–4/30) Every year since the early 1900s, the fields of Skagit Valley bloom with tulips of all colors and varieties during the month of April. The gardens of RoozenGaarde and Tulip Town (both located in Mt Vernon off Interstate 5) are perennial favorites among visitors, with over one million bulbs planted in these locations. Though tulips are the main attraction, other events are organized throughout the month, including the Anacortes Quilt Walk, English Tea at Willowbrook Manor and tulip country bike tours. Times, prices and locations vary; 306.428.5959; tulipfestival.org

MUST LOVE CHEESE

Beecher’s Cheese For All
(4/6) Seattle-based famed cheesemaker is hosting its first PNW event series, with Seattle part of the lineup. Taste your way through cheesy goodness prepared by renowned local chefs including Ethan Stowell, Sawyer’s Mitch Mayers and Adana’s Kalen Schramke. General admission and VIP tickets are available—the latter includes early entry, an open bar featuring locally brewed beer and a Beecher’s goodie bag. Times and prices vary. Block 41, 115 Bell St; 206.956.1964; beechersforall.com

MUST SING

Urinetown
(4/6–5/26) Rare is the musical that becomes timelier with each passing year, but Urinetown – about a dystopia where, because of a severe water shortage, “It’s a Privilege to Pee” – follows the threat of climate change and environmental depredation to a cutting satiric conclusion. If you think that its blithe ultra – meta parody of music-theater convention (in this joint production by ACT and the 5^th Avenue Theatre) will ease the blow of the message, think again. Times and prices vary. ACT – A Contemporary Theatre, downtown, 700 Union St; 206.292.7676; acttheatre.org

MUST HEAR

Morgan Parker Reading
(4/4) In her new collection of poetry, Magical Negro—whose title refers to the phenomenon Salon calls the “offensive movie cliché that won’t die”; cue Morgan Freeman as “God” or Will Smith as “Bagger Vance”—this prolific, prize-winning, degree-accumulating Los Angeles–based author, poet and arts organizer explores in expansive prose what has been described as “an archive of Black everydayness, a catalog of contemporary folk heroes, an ethnography of ancestral grief, and an inventory of figureheads, idioms and customs.” Parker reads from the collection. 7 p.m. Free. Hugo House, Capitol Hill, 1634 11th Ave; 206.322.7030; hugohouse.org

MUST PLUNGE

Northwest Brain Freeze
(4/6) With a goal of raising $50,000, the Northwest Brain Freeze is a polar–plunge–style event bringing awareness to brain cancer research and treatment, while letting participants honor and remember loved ones. The first installment of this annual event will take place at the Golden Gardens Boathouse, where teams and individuals are encouraged to don their boldest outfits before diving into the frigid waters. 11:30 a.m. $40. Golden Gardens Bathhouse, 8498 Seaview Pl. NW; braintumor.org