Must List: Tulip Festival, Mariners’ Opening Weekend, Become Desert
Your weekly guide to Seattle's hottest events.
By Seattle Magazine Staff March 29, 2018
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
Follow Us
Studio Sessions: Jo Cosme
The Seattle-based multimedia artist and 2026 Neddy Award winner challenges the postcard version of Puerto Rico and centers the persistence of its people.
Jo Cosme knows how seductive a postcard can be. The Seattle-based Boricua (Puerto Rican) multimedia artist works across photography, installation, video, sound, and interactive elements to examine and pull apart how Puerto Rico is seen, sold, and misunderstood from the outside. Trained in photojournalism, with a BFA in photography from Puerto Rico School of Fine…
Seattle’s Drag Brunch Has History
The city’s Sunday shows started long before the mimosas got bottomless.
There was a time not too long ago, when drag performances—now a mainstay of Seattle’s queer scene—were kept under wraps. And when brunches, complete with singing and dancing queens dressed in dazzling drag as you sipped mimosas, weren’t a Sunday staple. During the 1940s and ‘50s, an era largely shaped by restrictive laws and bias…
Studio Sessions: Sangram Majumdar
Working at the confluence of history, culture, and various painting traditions, UW associate professor Sangram Majumdar is one of this year’s Neddy Artist Award winners.
Discover the art of UW professor Sangram Majumdar, a 2026 Neddy Artist Award winner. Learn about his inspiration and upcoming Seattle exhibition at Cornish.
Rearview Mirror: A Georgian Dinner, Sidewalk Sips, and One-of-a-Kind Clothing
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
A new life for old clothes To celebrate one year in its current studio, the FXRY—a clothing repair service available via in-person appointments, home pickup, or mail-in drop off—is dropping its first collection. A small batch of reworked pieces, Second Mark will feature 13 vintage barn jackets, cropped, chain-stitched, and renewed into a completely unique, one-of-one…