Must List: Tulip Festival, Mariners’ Opening Weekend, Become Desert

MUST LOVE FLOWERS

35th Tulip Festival in Skagit County
(4/1–4/30) This renowned monthlong festival is jam-packed with daily activities: salmon barbecues, bike tours, 5K family runs, art walks and a lot of beautiful tulips filling fields and demonstration gardens. Join people from around the country who flock to this springtime event, and avoid the biggest crowds by touring during the week. The tulips will not be in bloom this weekend but will open up for us next week. Times, prices and locations vary. tulipfestival.org

Photo via Seattle Mariners’ Facebook page

MUST ROOT

Mariners’ Opening Weekend
(3/29, 3/31, 4/1) Join the crowd cheering on the Mariners during their season opening weekend against the Cleveland Indians. Fans will be watching to see how former teammate and outfielder Dan Robertson fares (he joined Cleveland’s team last year) and wondering if this is the year that the Mariners finally turn it around. Times and prices vary. Safeco Field, SoDo, 1250 First Ave. S; 206.346.4000; mlb.com/mariners

MUST DISCUSS

Laura Lippman and David Simon Talk
(3/30) Best-selling crime writer and Baltimore Sun veteran Laura Lippman joins former Sun colleague and The Wire screenwriter David Simon in a conversation about what makes good crime reporting and detective fiction. If the secret to successful crime writing is a busy marriage, this wedded couple would know: Simon is currently at work on his new TV drama, The Deuce, starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal; Lippman’s latest is her 2018 novel, Sunburn. 7:30 p.m. Prices vary. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St.; 206.215.4747; seattlesymphony.org

MUST LISTEN

Become Desert
(3/29 & 3/31) What happened the last time the Seattle Symphony commissioned a piece from Alaska-based composer John Luther Adams? The piece, Become Ocean, won a Pulitzer Prize and the orchestra’s recording of it won a Grammy, that’s all. One of the most anticipated new-music events of the season is the premiere of Adams’ sequel, Become Desert, not just for the symphony’s audiences, but for any listener who fell in love with Become Ocean’s vast, roiling waves of sound and meditative reflections on humanity’s connections to nature. Times and prices vary. Benaroya Hall, downtown, 200 University St.; 206.215.4747; seattlesymphony.org

Photo by Cheryl Barth

MUST LOOK OUT

Welcoming the Whales Ceremony
(3/31) The once endangered gray whales will be welcomed as they migrate north toward their summer feeding grounds at the 11th annual Quileute Tribe welcoming ceremony. The ceremony features traditional tribal songs, dances and prayers. A meal and more festivities will follow the ceremony at the Akalat Center. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Free. Quileute Nation, La Push, First Beach; 360.640.9023; forkswa.com