Fave Five: Settling into Fall

Warm light, early sunsets, and the comfort of small adventures.

Two people walk between rows of blooming fruit trees in an orchard under a blue sky with scattered clouds—a scene reminiscent of art and food during the impressionism era.

Bellewood Farms & Distillery

Photo courtesy of Visit Bellingham

This article originally appeared in the September/October 2025 issue of Seattle magazine.

September and October are my favorite months in Seattle. It’s still lovely outside—plenty of sun—but the air is cooler. I find myself scanning the day for something good to do before dark: a last farmers market tomato, a long walk, or a reason to make soup. It reminds me of childhood, squeezing in one more game of tag before the streetlights came on. Now the question is: what’s worth leaving the house for, and what’s worth coming home to?

This season, these five things make it easy to step out and bring a little something back with you.

1. Let it glow

Oct. 11 | Green Lake

Show up to the Water Lantern Festival before sunset, decorate a lantern with whatever’s on your mind—names, dreams, things you need to let go—and watch it join hundreds of others on the lake. As they drift, the water begins to glow, a good reminder that even as the days get darker, there’s light to carry forward. The lanterns are eco-friendly and collected afterward. Bring a blanket and the people you want beside you as we head into winter.

2. Re-frame of mind

Oct. 16–23 | SIFF Cinema Uptown

Fall is for turning inward, and there’s no better way to do that than sitting in a dark theater with a documentary that challenges how you see the world. SIFF DocFest presents a week of new, thought-provoking films from around the globe—stories of wild escapes, layered histories, and people chasing something bigger than themselves. Expect filmmaker talks, special events, and that post-screening feeling where you walk out changed.

3. Pick a good one

Now through October | Lynden, WA

This is the season to venture out of the city in search of apples and country air. Bellewood Farms & Distillery is the largest orchard in Western Washington, with 22 apple varieties, including a full Honeycrisp grove. U-pick runs Wednesday through Sunday, with cider, pastries, and orchard-distilled spirits waiting at the farm store. It’s a two-hour drive north of Seattle, and the views of Mount Baker and the turning leaves makes it a beautiful day trip. Come home, put cider on the stove, and start coring apples for pie.

4. Stirring the pot

Ongoing | Ballard

There’s nothing like cooking as the weather cools and we start to nest. The Pantry offers small group classes on everything from ramen to Roman pasta in a space that feels more like a friend’s kitchen than a classroom. A glass of wine (or a nonalcoholic drink) kicks things off, and another accompanies the meal. By the end, you’ve cooked with strangers who don’t feel so unknown anymore.

A busy outdoor market scene with people selling and buying vegetables, women in traditional clothing, baskets of produce, and a dog in the foreground under tall trees—capturing art and food during the impressionism era.

Le Carreau des Halles (1880) by Victor Gabriel Gilbert (France)

Photo courtesy of American Federation of Arts

5. The art of eating

Oct. 23–Jan. 18, 2026 | Seattle Art Museum

Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism is SAM’s new exhibit exploring how food and farming historically shaped everyday life and how artists captured that in 19th- century France. Market scenes, country tables, and lush still lifes by Monet, Gauguin, and other talents appear alongside works that explore themes of labor, class, and identity. A good reminder that food has always been more than just what’s on the plate.