29 Festivals to Check Out in the Seattle Area This Weekend The Seafair Weekend Festival, CID Block Party, and More

Jason Tanaka The Seafair Weekend Festival in Genesee Park is famous for Blue Angels' air shows, hydroplane racing, and more family fun.

With another summer weekend comes another torrent of festivals for all your sunny vacation longings. The next few days are jam-packed with options, from the Seattle Art Fair to the Seafair Weekend Festival, and from CID Block Party to opening weekend of the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire. Find them all below, and check out our complete festivals and outside calendars to plan ahead for weekends to come.

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ARTS

Anacortes Arts Festival

Fine artists and artisans will sell their wares at this beloved festival, which will also have three stages—one for mainstream rock/pop, one for jazz, and one for diverse genres of performance—and lots of food booths to nourish the 80,000-some visitors.

Friday-Sunday, Downtown Anacortes

Art in the Garden

The community garden will stock up on ice cream, baked goods, beer and wine, and more at this family-friendly affair where you can learn about growing your own organic produce.

Saturday, Ballard P-Patch

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This multidisciplinary festival offers the chance for photographers, multimedia artists, dancers, and others to create artwork on intersectional identities. Among the participants are some of Seattle's most active and appreciated: singer-songwriter JusMoni, filmmaker/artist/musician Clyde Petersen, slam poet J Mase III, visual artist Ryna Frankel, queer indigenous hip-hop artist Dakota Camacho, choreographer Alice Gosti, and many others.

Saturday-Sunday, Capitol Hill

Seattle Art Fair

The five-year-old international art fair has quickly become one of the most indispensable cultural events in the Northwest, gathering gallerists from Seattle, across the US and Canada, and cities in Asia and Europe. Among the most-anticipated events is Infinite Color & Sound (with a performance on Friday), a collaboration between Pearl Jam's Mike McCready and abstract artist Kate Neckel, who met during last year's Art Fair. Other attractions include an interactive exhibit featuring the Instagram ASMR star Bread Face, a talk by artist and videographer of mega-fires Jeff Frost (Saturday) and a display of banners by autistic Seattle artist Gregory Blackstock.

Friday-Sunday, CenturyLink Field Event Center (Downtown)

COMMUNITY

Adult Recess Seattle

Adults can re-experience the thrill of recess by enjoying a day of schoolyard games like kickball and four-square (if you were one of the few who played such games voluntarily), dancing to old-school hits by live bands and DJs, and eating childhood snacks from food trucks. Proceeds will benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Western Washington and Alaska.

Saturday, Cal Anderson Park (Capitol Hill)

Feast in the Street!

Seattle Neighborhood Greenways—a local organization that advocates for safe transportation for pedestrians, drivers, cyclists, and everyone else—will host a family-friendly festival in the street. Go for the buffet from Manu's Bodega, local beer and wine, e-scooter demos, a bike decoration station, music by DJ Topspin, and corn hole.

Sunday, Plaza Roberto Maestas (Beacon Hill)

Jake The Alligator Man's 75th Birthday Bash

Head to Long Beach for the annual event that celebrates Jake the Alligator Man (an alleged half-man, half-alligator on mummified display at Marsh’s Free Museum), which the organizers say put the Peninsula town "on the map" when it started in the 1940s. Attractions include a car show, a "bride of Jake competition," live music, and a burlesque show.

Friday-Saturday, Long Beach

Jet Blast Bash

This Seafair Weekend festival offers great views of the Blue Angels' air show, a car show, and plenty of food and beer to go around.

Saturday-Sunday, Museum of Flight (Tukwila)

Lake City Summer Festival

Give Lake City some love by spending the day taking in car shows and feasting at a salmon bake before marching in the grand parade.

Saturday, Lake City

Lander Flea Market & Block Party

Lander Street will close to make way for a vintage flea market, outdoor music video and film screenings, a BBQ, and more.

Saturday, Lander Street (Beacon Hill)

Magnolia Summerfest

Parades, live music, food, Urban Craft Uprising vendors, outdoor movies, bouncy houses, and much more will all be within reach at the Magnolia Summerfest throughout Seafair Weekend.

Friday-Sunday, 32nd Avenue West and West McGraw (Magnolia)

Orting Summerfest 2019

Hear live music, shop from local vendors, run in a 5K or 10K, nosh on free hot dogs, and let your kids play on the bouncy houses, obstacle courses, and more at this community festival.

Saturday, Orting City Park

Seafair Weekend Festival

The summer-long Seafair Festival culminates in a three-day extravaganza of signature outdoor activities like the Blue Angels' air shows, hydroplane racing, the Graham Trucking Seafair Cup, and a wakeboarding championship.

Friday-Sunday, Genesee Park (Columbia City)

Substation Street Fair

This all-ages street fair promises food, music (like School of Rock Seattle, Beverly Crusher, and Goodtime Hustle), art (like a Push/Pull pop-up gallery), vendors, and hands-on workshops.

Saturday, Substation (Ballard)

WildNights

With the exception of sunbathing, everything you can do in the daytime is more fun at night. At these after-hours events, you'll get to explore the zoo's exhibits and hear keeper talks while you sip watermelon sangria and snack on s'mores.

Friday, Woodland Park Zoo (Phinney)

CULTURE

CID Block Party 2019

Head to Chinatown for a day dedicated to Asian Pacific American culture, featuring live music by local greats like Chong the Nomad, Prometheus Brown, Bambu DePistola, and Kronika; a boozy boba beer garden hosted by East Trading Co.; an outdoor screening of Crazy Rich Asians; a Bar Hunt; and much more.

Saturday, Various locations (Chinatown-International District)

Seattle Russian Festival

Celebrate all things Russki at this community festival with performances by Russian artists, traditional food (pelmeni, anyone?), and more.

Sunday, Seattle Center

Umoja Fest

Celebrate African diaspora culture in the Northwest by joining the Africatown Heritage Parade (featuring dance troops and drill teams), dancing to live music (including Soul N the Park, a roots stage, and a hip-hop stage), watching the Heal the Hood Basketball Tournament, eating from food trucks, and shopping for goods at a marketplace.

Friday-Sunday, Judkins Park (Atlantic)

FOOD & DRINK

Experience Woodinville 2019

Experience all that the wine country of Woodinville has to offer at this evening festival dedicated to locally crafted wine, beer, and spirits. Plus, try bites from local businesses like Barking Frog, Ezell's Famous Chicken, and Ecolibrium Farm; dance to live music by Robbie Christmas; and bid on cool stuff in a silent auction. Tickets include eight tasting tokens.

Sunday, Willows Lodge (Woodinville)

GEEK

Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire

Is your alter ego a hero or a villain? More importantly, which persona makes for a better costume? For the first portion of this annual three-weekend renaissance festival at Kelley Farm (aka the village of Merriwick), the real fun will be getting to dress up in your best 17th-century cosplay. When you’re not showing off your armor, your ominous cape, or your spindly fingernails (be creative), you can watch knights “vie for the favor of crown and court” in jousting duals, shop from an artisan marketplace, and feast like royalty on turkey legs and meat pies.

Saturday-Sunday, The Kelley Farm (Bonney Lake)

MUSIC

24th Annual Mt. Baker Rhythm & Blues Festival

Gather in the woods for three days and nights of blues and Americana from genre lifers at the 24th iteration of the Mt. Baker Rhythm & Blues Festival.

Friday-Sunday, Deming Log Show Fairgrounds (Bellingham)

Pain in the Grass 2019

KISW's Pain in the Grass will take over Auburn for three days of rock and punk warfare thanks to massive headliners like Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, and Disturbed.

Friday-Saturday, White River Amphitheatre (Auburn)

Pickathon 2019

Popular bluegrass-and-more festival Pickathon will return to Pendarvis Farm for some rootin'-tootin' and new-boot-scootin' and whatever else qualifies as country fun. Despite staying true to its bleedin' bluegrass heart for over 20 years, Pickathon has expanded its reach in recent iterations to include popular artists of all genres. This year's lineup is no exception, with key headliners like Phil Lesh, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Khruangbin, Mandolin Orange, Tyler Childers, Lucius, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Fruit Bats, and Mountain Man, and performers like Karma Rivera, Viagra Boys, Ora Cogan, Reptaliens, Caamp, Lambchop, H.C. McEntire, YOB, Mdou Moctar, Bonny Light Horseman, Damien Jurado, Laura Veirs, Courtney Marie Andrews, Julia Jacklin, the Marías, Lido Pimienta, Jupiter & Okwess, Sudan Archives, Miya Folick, B Boys, the Beths, and Black Belt Eagle Scout, among many others, to round out the bill.

Friday-Sunday, Pendarvis Farm (Happy Valley, OR)

Summer Meltdown 2019

Nestled in the mountains of central Washington, Summer Meltdown aims to provide a weekend of high-energy live music performances in a lush woodland setting. Headliners will include Tipper, Umphrey's McGee, Gramatik, and Nahko and Medicine for the People, and there will also be "adventures" like rafting, helicopter rides, and kayaking.

Friday-Sunday, Darrington Bluegrass Music Park

Summer Stag Party IV

Power-pop rippers Stag will throw their fourth annual summer party to celebrate the reunion of bluesy noise-makers Claw Hammer in their first show in Seattle since 1997. Plus, enjoy live sets by Stag (natch), Danny Newcomb and the Sugarmakers, Uncle Joe's Big Ol' Driver, Bearaxe, and Intercom, and DJ Kingblind.

Saturday, Slim's Last Chance (Georgetown)

Watershed Festival 2019

Watershed Country Music Festival will return to the Gorge for a wild weekend of twangin' goodness. Put on your "Shedder gear" (trucker hats?) and get ready for three whole days of down-home studs. This year's headliners include Jason Aldean, Maren Morris, Zac Brown Band, Miranda Lambert, the Pistol Annies, Kane Brown, Midland, Brothers Osborne, and many more.

Friday-Sunday, Gorge Amphitheatre (George)

PERFORMANCE

Island Shakespeare Festival

Head to Whidbey Island to see performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winter's Tale, and Inferno at this festival in its 10th season.

Friday-Sunday, Langley

Open Air Outdoor Aerial Festival

Watch visiting artists and local acrobats soar and contort high over your heads at this festival of aerial performance. It's a little out of town, but promises some impressive feats if you make the trip to the beautiful island.

Open Space for Arts and Community, Vashon

Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation

The Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation, presented by Velocity Dance Center, is a diverse weeklong exploration of the art, with intensive classes, drop-in workshops, talks, jams, and performances.

Friday-Sunday, Velocity Dance Center (Capitol Hill)