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The Must List: Westlake Holiday Market, Argosy Cruises Christmas Ship Festival and More

By Seattle Magazine Staff December 22, 2016

2016 Westlake Holiday Tree Lighting
2016 Westlake Holiday Tree Lighting

Must Shop
Holiday Market at Westlake Park
(Through 12/24, times vary) The perfect last-minute gift awaits you at the Holiday Market at Westlake Park, a festive, seasonal pop up market in the tradition of the Christmas bazaars of Europe. Organized by Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) and Urban Craft Uprising, the market features unique works of art and special gift ideas created by 24 local artists and makers offering original photography, stationery, soap, jewelry, ceramics and much more. downtownseattle.com/holidays

Must Hear
Home for the Holidays at the Royal Room
(12/22, 12/26; times vary) Gather at the city’s south end jazz capitol with renowned jazz heads, up-and-coming soloists and exciting ensembles for two nights of this year’s 5th annual festive concert series, Home for the Holidays. Because nothing says Christmas like Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, and you’re guaranteed to hear a swinging version here. theroyalroomseattle.com

Must Cruise
Argosy Cruises Christmas Ship Festival
(12/23, 7 p.m.) On this culminating night of the festival (see website for other dates, times and stops at local parks), lit-up boats (and occasional lit-up boaters) from all over follow the Christmas Ship as it sails from the Kirkland City Dock through the Montlake Cut, Portage Bay and Lake Union, ending in a grand finale at Gas Works Park, where passengers and spectators will enjoy a choral performance. Gas Works performance at 8:45 p.m. argosycruises.com/argosy-cruises/christmas-ship-festival/

Must Listen
Straight No Chaser 20th Anniversary Tour
(12/27, 7:30 p.m.) Take one part male a cappella group, add 10-part harmony, stir in extraordinary music, shake ingredients with a sense of humor, carefully pour over a live audience and you’ve got Straight No Chaser—a live act that still packs a punch after 20 years. stgpresents.org

Must Humbug
A Christmas Carol/Inside a Christmas Carol
(Through 12/28, times vary) With Inside a Christmas Carol, ACT is offering a behind-the-scenes look at its annual theatrical classic with backstage tours of the Allen Theater (Saturdays only, through 12/24). Stay to watch Ebenezer Scrooge’s intervention. acttheatre.org

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