Capitol Hill, like most Seattle neighborhoods, rewards a loose plan. You wander into a shop, follow music down the block, stop for a drink, admire a jacket in a window that you definitely do not need, and end up at the park watching an impromptu soccer game.

That spirit is behind Pike Pine Social, a new neighborhood-wide weekend happening Saturday, May 16 through Sunday, May 17, across Capitol Hill’s Pike/Pine corridor. More than 50 independent businesses are participating, with designer and vintage pop-ups, food and drink specials, live music, open studios, DJ sets, wine tastings, and in-store events spread across the neighborhood. Most of the programming will happen Saturday, though some pop-ups, discounts, and events will continue through the weekend. Visitors can walk through the corridor, stopping into shops, restaurants, studios, and creative spaces along the way.

The weekend also makes a larger point about why neighborhoods matter. Real estate developer Liz Dunn, whose company Dunn & Hobbes has spent more than 25 years building and renovating spaces for retail, restaurants, and creative work, sees Pike/Pine as an ecosystem built over time by small businesses and the people who keep showing up for them. “Small businesses are the heart and soul of any neighborhood,” Dunn wrote in an essay for the current issue of Seattle Business.

This spring’s event is meant to bring some of that energy back onto the street.

Melrose Market will be one of the weekend’s main gathering points, with food pop-ups, wine tastings, live music, and designer and vintage vendors including Glasswing, Barn Owl Vintage Goods, and Likelihood. Nearby businesses such as Standard Goods, Retail Therapy, Veridis, Mediums Collective, and others will host promotions and seasonal offerings throughout the weekend.

Chophouse Row will have two ticketed events on Saturday. At 1 p.m., The Cloud Room will host a spring bridal event. At 3 p.m., the Chophouse Row courtyard will become the site of a fashion show featuring spring looks from Glasswing, JackStraw, Flora and Henri, The Refind, Celine Waldmann, and The Finerie. Models will move through the courtyard’s steel walkways, making the space part of the show.

Visitors at Chophouse Row can also catch a spring hair demo from Yvey Valcin, check out Atelier Madrona’s scent and candle studio, stop by a Cake Skincare beauty pop-up, see an installation by LA Wiltbank, hear DJ Wax Witch, and take photos with Moment.Us.

Other events will stretch up and down the corridor at creative spaces such as Eleven:Eleven art center. The whole thing has a choose-your-own-adventure feel, which is probably the best way to experience city neighborhoods.

“At its core, this event is not about shopping,” Dunn wrote. “It’s about creating a reason for people to come together, to reconnect, and to experience the neighborhood as a shared space.”

Pike Pine Social runs May 16 and 17 across Capitol Hill’s Pike/Pine corridor. Details are available at pikepinesocial.com.