THE WORLD IS WATCHING

We’re about halfway through the FIFA World Cup 2026, and for the past two weeks, Seattle has been abuzz with gametime spirit. As a host city, we’ve seen an influx of international visitors who, in the hours outside of the games, filled our streets with their home country colors, waved their flags, and spent time exploring the Emerald City. While I haven’t attended a match in person, I watched the United States Men’s National Team beat Australia 2-0 during a local watch party at the Showbox SoDo.

Photo by Liz Tiamzon / courtesy of Visit Seattle

Afterwards, I decided to walk home to avoid an overcrowded light rail, and it was one of the most joyous experiences I’d had in a long time. It felt like being in New York, London, or Chicago. People were filling up the sidewalks, spilling out of bars, gathering around live street performers, and high-fiving strangers. The energy was infectious. By the time I emerged from Pioneer Square and headed north towards Belltown, I was joining in random bursts of song and “USA, USA!” chants. I’m not much of a sports person in general, but there is something about a match, a game, or a tournament that is incredibly uniting. Everyone seems to forget the things that drive us apart, and for a fleeting few hours, we come together to celebrate a common goal—and, if we’re lucky, a win. 

Courtesy of Death Cab for Cutie

SUMMER SOUNDTRACK

Funny enough, while I was at the aforementioned World Cup watch party, Seattle indie band Death Cab for Cutie played a set. (It doesn’t get any more Seattle than that.) While I was happy to catch the game, in all honesty, the main reason I attended was to see Death Cab for Cutie. The band, which provided the soundtrack for my extreme teenage angst, had just released a new album, I Built You a Tower, and I had already influenced my Spotify algorithm with repeated listening. Although DCFC had released new music over the past decade, nothing really clicked for me in the way that this album does. Perhaps it’s the way it harkens back to the band’s golden years—the lyrics, the melodies, the underpinnings of sadness—but for me, at least, it plucked a nostalgic chord, hurtling me at moments into the years where I was still trying to figure out who I was. Often dramatic, always emotional. Like me, lead singer Ben Gibbard brings the lens of maturity to his lyrics, filtering them through a sense of self-awareness that comes from a second failed marriage and the experience of growing older—in other words, the stuff of life: the good, the bad, and everything in between. 

Mural by Mauricio Ramirez; it is one of 14 new pieces created for a collaboration between nonprofit public art organization Forest for the Trees and FIFA World Cup 2026.

Courtesy of Railspur Seattle

ART OF THE GAME

Last night at the First Thursday art walk—where we unveiled the July/August issue with a big, sold-out party—Railspur Seattle opened three art exhibitions. On level 3, Hello My Name Is, curated by Al-baseer Holly, is an exhibition featuring nearly 20 artists from around North America; level 4 was a celebration for FWC26, presented by Forest for the Trees, which brings together the beautiful game with local artists to produce large-scale public works in response to the FIFA World Cup 2026. (A map of mural locations in and around Pioneer Square is accessible here.) The third exhibition, curated by artist Tommy Gregoryof the Port of Seattle and Arcade NW, is Grand Gesture, which examines the importance of public art as a shared experience and showcases work by Barbara Earl Thomas, Holly Ballard Martz, and Jennifer Steinkamp. 

World Cup spirit, one grain at a time: Sand artist Jamie Louks works on a 9-foot sand sculpture at Seattle Center.

Courtesy of Seattle Center

SAND IN SEA

I love all of the World Cup activations popping up around the city. From visual art to public installations to live music and more, the spirit of the game is permeating Seattle with a unifying effect. The latest in these creative endeavors is a public sand sculpture installation as part of the LET’S PLAY SEA ’26 – World Cup Soccer Fan Celebration. Located at Seattle Center’s Artists at Play Plaza, the 9-foot sculpture—made with only sand and water by Jamie Louks—titled A World United through Soccer and Sand, is currently in process. Louks will be on-site working between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily through July 8. Once completed, the work will remain for free public viewing through July 19.