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The Must List: Spring Book Sale, Northwest Paddling Festival

What to do this weekend in Seattle

By Seattle magazine staff May 3, 2016

A group of people on kayaks in a lake.
A group of people on kayaks in a lake.

Must Relate
Heartwarming Tales of Motherhood at Town Hall

Saturday (5/7, 1:30 p.m.) Production company Listen to Your Mother brings Seattle-area writers and bloggers to the stage at Town Hall to share their heartwarming and hilarious original stories celebrating motherhood. The event ($18), which in part benefits nonprofit writing and communications center The Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas, is not to be missed. Why? Because I said so.

Must See
Seattle Shakespeare Company Presents Romeo and Juliet

(5/4 to 5/22, times vary) As part of its 25th anniversary season, Seattle Shakespeare Company presents the Bard’s tragedy of young love. Directed by Vanessa Miller.

Must Browse
Prep the Book Shelf for the Spring Book Sale

(5/6 to 5/8, times vary) Dog-ear the corner of your current read and book it over to the Seattle Public Library Spring Book Sale at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. The annual event offers stacks and stacks of titles to bury your nose in, from $1 children’s books to $2 hardbacks. All remaining items will be sold at half-price on the final day of the sale.

Must Watch
Femme at Velocity Dance Center

(5/5 to 5/8, 8 p.m.) Enjoy Femme, a concert of dance with featured works by Holly Logan, Samantha Weissbach, and Lindsay Johns with the intention to provoke conversations and further awareness around women’s issues.

Must Paddle
Go East for the Northwest Paddling Festival

(5/6 to 5/7, times vary) The long-anticipated sunshine is the perfect companion to a water-focused day at Lake Sammamish State Park. Free for all, the Northwest Paddling Festival at Sammamish draws paddle sports enthusiasts of all ages and abilities with its open waters, more than 60 booths of retail paddling equipment and activities such as guided kayak tours, stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) clinics for newbies and SUP jousting for those who’ve already got their sea legs.

 

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Studio Sessions: Jade Solomon Curtis  

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

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

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

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,…