The 62 Best Things to Do in Seattle This Weekend: September 18-20, 2020

Jimi Hendrix Memorial Events, the Bibliophilia Storytelling Festival, and More Top Picks
September 17, 2020
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The three-day Jimi Hendrix 50th Anniversary Memorial, co-hosted by King Couty Equity Now, will include a march from Garfield High School to Jimi Hendrix Park on Friday and more events through the weekend. Plus, now that the Museum of Pop Culture is back open, you can see the Seattle native's Woodstock Fender Stratocaster on display. (Courtesy of MoPOP)

It's technically still summer until next week, but with the concept of time growing dimmer in our collective subconscious, you can go ahead and drive to a haunted farm Past Event List and buy glass pumpkins for your mantle Past Event List this weekend. We've rounded up our picks for those and other socially distant happenings to keep you entertained (including non-fall-related things, like a Carpool Cinema Past Event List drive-in screenings of Beasts of the Southern Wild and Hugo House's Bibliophilia Storytelling Festival Past Event List ). For even more options, check out our guides to movies to stream this weekend List , and our complete streaming events and protests & resistance calendars.


Jump to: Friday | Saturday | Sunday


All events are online unless otherwise noted. Keep in mind that in-person events may be canceled due to poor air quality.

FRIDAY

COMMUNITY

Swifts Night In: Vaux’s Happening Past Event List
Every year, a screaming frenzy of Vaux's swifts (a long-winged bird named after the late mineralogist William Sansom Vaux) take off from the Frank Wagner Elementary School chimney to continue on their migratory journey. It's a sign that fall is coming! The Pilchuck Audubon Society is livestreaming this year's flight.  


FESTIVALS

Annual ChuSeok Korean Festival Past Event List
The Asian Pacific Cultural Center's take on the ChuSeok festival, a traditional Korean celebration of the fall harvest, will include a full day of streamed events, including Samulnori drum dances, paper lotus flower-making, and more such fun. 

FOOD & DRINK

Palace Kitchen | One Night Only Past Event List
Tom Douglas's storied Palace Kitchen was a casualty of COVID-19, but if you miss it, you can attend this one-night-only pop-up at Douglas's Serious TakeOut. Staff will don the restaurant's trademark blue kitchen jumpsuits and serve iconic dishes like the Palace Burger Royale, wood-grilled chicken wings, fried corn on the cob, and chocolate hazelnut tart with Frangelico whipped cream.
Serious TakeOut (Ballard)

Persian Favorites with Omid Roustaei Past Event List
Chef Omid Roustaei will walk you through his favorite Persian dishes (like szitoon parvardeh, kuku sabzi, and qhottab) as he shares stories of growing up in Tehran. 

MUSEUMS

Museum of Pop Culture Reopening Past Event List
The Paul Allen-founded music and pop culture museum will reopen for in-person visits at 75% capacity, requiring guests to wear masks and maintain at least six feet of distance. Guests will also be provided with stylus pens to use on interactive surfaces to avoid germ-spreading. They'll be open limited hours, from 10 am-6 pm on weekends only.
Museum of Pop Culture (Seattle Center)

MUSIC

Jeff Tweedy Live at the Drive-In Past Event List
The gently likable Jeff Tweedy is the former singer for '80s alt-country outfit Uncle Tupelo, the current/past singer for Wilco, and one of the more celebrated songwriters in music today. He and his band will perform live from McHenry, Illinois. 

Kremwerk Livestream Series: Sangwoo, 'nohup' Past Event List
Seattle DJs Sangwoo and nohup will treat you to some relaxing Afro-Atlantic jams and house beats. 

Sheryl Crow: Songs from the Big Green Barn Past Event List
Belt along to "If It Makes You Happy" as Sheryl Crow performs two nights of acoustic sets live from the Big Green Barn. 

READINGS & TALKS

Jill Lepore with Margaret O'Mara Past Event List
Those Instagram algorithms that prioritize faces over text and show you things based on what the internet aligns with your interests? That started all the way back in the Cold War. Hear more from Jill Lepore, author of These Truths, in conversation with fellow historian Margaret O'Mara (The Code).

Salon of Shame presents Salon of Shame #97: Who's Zoomin' Who? Past Event List
Writing that makes you cringe ("middle school diaries, high school poetry, unsent letters") is read aloud with unapologetic hilarity at the Salon of Shame, which will move online this time.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY

COMEDY

SketchFest Seattle presents StreamFest 2020 pt. 2 Past Event List
Those SNL reruns aren't going anywhere—for this monthlong sketch comedy festival, turn your attention to livestreamed performances and classes with local comics on Zoom and Twitch.

FILM

Carpool Cinema Past Event List
Scarecrow Video is co-hosting three weekends of drive-in movies at the Phinney Center parking lot. Load up on snacks and enjoy a screening of Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Phinney Center

HALLOWEEN

Maris Farms Spooky Trail Past Event List
Let's see if this spooky trail can out-freak 2020. Probably not, since it's the "toned down," socially distant version of their haunted woods experience. Haunt enthusiasts who "appreciate a haunt with very detailed scenes" should have a good time. 
Maris Farms (Buckley)

PERFORMANCE

Revive Past Event List
After a successful first run in January, multi-disciplinary artists Porscha Shaw and Jay O'Leary will perform dance and spoken word that aims to "resuscitate the image of Blackness in America" (online this time).

SPORTS & RECREATION

Wag Love Life 5K 2020 Past Event List
Run, walk, or hike at your own pace and enter your results virtually at this fundraiser for canine cancer research, which is inspired by a centuries-old Nepalese festival where dogs are honored and thanked for their loyalty and friendship.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

COMMUNITY

Imagine Change: Real Change 26th Anniversary Celebration Past Event List
Real Change, a local newspaper centering and sold by the Seattle homeless community, will celebrate its 26th anniversary with a week of livestreamed activities, including a panel discussion moderated by Founding Director Tim Harris and featuring All in for Washington's Juan Jose Bocanegra, community organizer Nikkita Oliver, and Low Income Housing Institute's Sharon Lee.

NAACP National Convention Past Event List
The 111th NAACP National Convention will take place online, promising nearly two weeks of virtual events addressing issues of police brutality, racism, economic empowerment, and health and wellness in the Black community.

Porch-a-Glowing Past Event List
Instead of taking place in Dottie Harper Park, Burien's annual lantern-based art gathering Arts-a-Glow will invite community members to decorate their own porches and front yards in glowing lights and to post photos on the Arts-a-Glow Facebook page for all to enjoy.

FESTIVALS

Refuge Outdoor Festival Past Event List
This three-day camping experience geared toward people of color looking to build community through outdoor recreation will return this year for a virtual camp-in. Look forward to a weekend of workshops, live DJs, performances, art shows, and more. White allies are welcome.

FILM

Crypticon Seattle Film Festival Past Event List
The Pacific Northwest was made for fall. This is our fucking season. We thrive in darkness, solitude, and moisture. This is our time to patiently sit through this uncontrollable wildfire smog, then don our best comfy sweater and pick out our favorite seat on the couch for three days’ worth of creepy-crawly movies that can lead us into the season that is our birthright. Doing that festive labor for us this year is Crypticon, the annual horror film festival that is now online thanks to insert-2020-extenuating-circumstance-here. This weekend fest, now in its 14th year, serves up the full horror spectrum in a series of shorts (plus one feature film) that run the gamut from gross to gory and eerie to electrifying. If your favorite season of American Horror Story was 1984, I highly recommend the “In the Woods” film block. Have a nasty fantasy about boning Viggo Mortensen in The Road? Then buy a ticket to “Traveling Fears & More!” Or go right ahead and buy a weekend pass to get access to each delicious morsel of sick, twisted, pre-Halloween action. KIM SELLING

Local Sightings Film Festival 2020 Past Event List
This always-great, hyper-local film festival highlights indie filmmakers who eschew New York or LA for the earnest and eccentric Northwest. "Local Sightings acts as a showcase and watering hole for regional filmmakers, VR artists, and others who range from emotional storytellers to nature documentarists to political essayists," wrote former Stranger Arts Calendar Joule Zelman last year. The 23rd annual event is, natch, entirely online, with feature blocks like 24 Hours in the CHOP and Hope is Not Cancelled, about the recent clashes between police and protestors on Capitol Hill and the resilience of Black Lives Matter activists, and Fall Back Down, which press materials describe as "simultaneously a murder mystery, a rom-com, and an anarchic ride through the Vancouver B.C. underground."

FOOD & DRINK

Oktoberfest! Beers/Brats/Fun Past Event List
The Hop and Hound offers three days packed with Oktoberfest happenings, including ceremonial casks, oompah music, brats, lederhosen, and dirndls, capped off with a street beer garden on Sunday night.
The Hop and Hound (Bothell)

Washington Cider Week Past Event List
Freak out about cider at approximately a billion tastings (for pickup or delivery) during a week so special, it lasts 11 days! Cideries across the state (like Tacoma's Incline and Chimacum's Finnriver) are doling out specials and food pairings that you can enjoy at home, or on your picnic blanket if you're so inclined. See our complete Cider Week events guide here List .
Various locations

GEEK & GAMING

PAX Online Past Event List
Promising a 24/7 (or 24/9, since the event runs for nine days straight) stream of content, events, discussions, and gameplay, the virtual edition of this hugely popular gaming festival is doing things a little differently his year. If you've attended PAX in the past, you know that it's infamously quick to sell out, but that won't be the case this year—it's free!

MUSIC

Nocturnal Wonderland Virtual Rave-A-Thon Past Event List
Assemble your glowsticks and blacklights and join your host Pasquale Rotella online for "America's longest-running rave" (can't confirm), featuring sets from Benny Benassi, Drezco, Mark Knight, and other DJs on ye olde festival circuit.

PERFORMANCE

A Thousand Ways Past Event List
In this three-part interactive virtual performance lasting an entire year, Obie Award-winning theater-makers 600 Highwaymen respond to social distancing rules that "deliver us from isolation to congregation." In the first installment, A Phone Call, you'll glean a telling portrait of the performer on the other end of a mysterious phone call. (You can and should read Jasmyne Keimig and Chase Burns' experience of that installment here.)

PROTESTS & RESISTANCE

Jimi Hendrix 50th Anniversary Memorial Past Event List
On the 50th anniversary of legendary Seattle-born guitarist Jimi Hendrix's death, join three days of in-person and online music and art activities (including a noon-to-evening march from Garfield High School to Jimi Hendrix Park on Friday culminating in racial equity speakers and live music) co-hosted by King County Equity Now and benefiting the Jimi Hendrix Music Academy, a nonprofit that provides musical education to at-risk youth.
Garfield High School (Central District) and online

READINGS & TALKS

Bibliophilia Storytelling Festival Past Event List
Bibliophilia is back! Rather than force audiences to sit and listen to four writers simply read from their work for two hours (which can be great!), you can look forward to three days of virtual events, like a meet-and-greet with author Daudi Abe in a live edition of the local talk show Z-Sides Past Event List  (where he'll be reading from his new book, Emerald Street: A History of Hip Hop in Seattle). The next day brings improv performances Past Event List from Storyboard, and Sunday brings the Word Lit Zine Quiz Show Past Event List , where two contestants will play a series of nerdy quiz games in pursuit of a prize.

SHOPPING

Mask Parade! Past Event List
The Museum of Museums is partnering with local youth outreach nonprofit Coyote Central to raise money for arts education by selling locally designed masks. 
Museum of Museums (First Hill)

SPORTS & RECREATION

Boats Afloat Show Open House & Virtual Show Past Event List
Trying to take up boating? This annual show offers aquatic vessels for boaters of all stripes, which you can bid on virtually or in-person. 
Chandler's Cove (South Lake Union) and online

Walk'n Wag Past Event List
Make your way to Lake Sammamish State Park through September 20 to complete a 3K course with your dog at your own pace. If you're so inclined, you and your pup can dress up for the chance to win a photo contest.

VISUAL ART

The Art of Protest Past Event List
Artists like Dre Gordon, Lynda Sherman, Kerstin Graudins, Andrea Marcos, Colleen Maloney, Kate Hoffman, Eileen Jimenez, and many others show work dealing with social, ethical, economic, environmental, racial, health, and political issues facing the world. 
Columbia City Gallery
Closing Sunday

CathartĂŠ Aura Past Event List
Artist Valerie Herron invites you to escape reality with fantastical worlds filled with mythic creatures in her newest collection of paintings, which you can check out online or in-person.
Gargoyles Statuary (University District)
Opening Friday

Schacktoberfest 2020 Past Event List
Immortalize your fall spirit by choosing from over 100 glass pumpkins and gourds (plus harvest-themed paintings and pottery), handcrafted in the Schack glassblowing studio, to "pick" and purchase.

SATURDAY

COMMUNITY

SAFe Rescue's Nine Lives Gala: 9 Events for 9 Lives! Past Event List
Seattle Area Feline Rescue invites you to support their homeless kitties by tuning into a live performance from comedian Pat Cashman.

Scream: Coca's Annual Gala & Auction Past Event List
This virtual fundraiser invites you to make a "collective SCREAM of hope, love, self-care and forward momentum" for the Center on Contemporary Art by bidding on pieces in both live(streamed) and silent auctions. 

FILM

Scarecrow Academy: The Art In Horror Past Event List
It's almost spooky season, baby! Join film critic Robert Horton for an in-depth look at great horror films throughout time—like tonight's The Shining—in these online one-off classes.

FOOD & DRINK

Bosk Oktoberfest Past Event List
Fill your stein with Bosk Marzen and Smugglers Hold Helles lager, dine on hearty German sausages from Big White Food Truck, and fill up on pretzels and pastries from Kaffeeklatsch Pretzels & Pastries. German games and other fun will be on the agenda, too.
Bosk Brew Works (Woodinville)

GEEK & GAMING

Seattle Indies Expo Past Event List
Try out 24 up-and-coming indie games made in the Pacific Northwest every Saturday in September at the virtual edition of this annual festival.

MUSIC

Bushwick Book Club: Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing Past Event List
The Bushwick Book Club presents a night of original music inspired by Jenny Odell's bestselling capitalist critique How to Do Nothing. 

Clearing the Smoke with the Winterlings Past Event List
Stay home for an evening of stories and songs with alt-folk Northwesterners the Winterlings. 

Greg Vandy Rock Show: A Live Quality Stream Past Event List
KEXP's Greg Vandy and Freakout! Records will bring you a live, rock-heavy set from Screwdriver Bar. Tune in and donate some dollars on In.Live. 

José Gonzålez and The Life You Can Save Past Event List
"I’ve been waiting for the right occasion for a livestream, and when The Life You Can Save contacted me, it felt like a great opportunity. Especially as a fan of Effective Altruism and the work that TLYCS does to promote effective charities." That's straight from the mouth of your performer for the evening, Swedish singer-songwriter JosĂ© GonzĂĄlez. Tune in to his performance, streamed live from BohuslĂ€n, and support people in extreme poverty.

Kremwerk Livestream Series: Succubass, IVVY, Yamanaka Past Event List
Dance to some woozy prerecorded sets from Seattle DJs Succubass and Yamanaka, plus a live one from IVVY (aka Madi Levine).

Perfume Genius - Streaming Show! Past Event List
Sean Nelson wrote, "When 'genius' is right there in your band name, you’re going to have to deliver. Fortunately, Mike Hadreas figured out how to summon the goods. The first two records were real good, but Perfume Genius achieved a glory on 2014’s Too Bright that only grew more glorious on this year’s No Shape. If there’s any justice, he’ll be carried out of [the 2017] Block Party on a team of white stallions." Join the artist for a special livestreamed performance with STG.

Please Freakin' Vote Live Stream Performing 'Born On Flag Day' Past Event List
Deer Tick will perform their 2009 record Born on Flag Day in its entirety, and in exchange, they ask that you make sure you're registered to vote in the November election. A portion of proceeds will benefit voter participation nonprofit HeadCount. 

Season Opening Reimagined Past Event List
The Seattle Symphony will open their fall season with a live show on their new streaming platform, Seattle Symphony Live, with Seattle-based vocalist and guitarist Whitney Mongé and the orchestra. The program includes Five Movements in Color: Soul of Remembrance by composer and pianist Mary D. Watkins.

READINGS & TALKS

BLM Book Club @ Ada's Past Event List
Join a Zoom conversation of Jonathan Metzl's Dying of Whiteness in this edition of Ada's Black Lives Matter Book Club. 

Jill Lepore: The New Truth: or, A Short History of Evidence Past Event List
Historian Jill Lepore will draw from her Harvard course The History of Evidence, in which she examines the history of Western Europe and the United States, from the middle ages to the present, looking at the evolution of what is considered "proof," alongside communications expert and multimedia producer Hanson Hosein.

Quarantine Book Club: 'Beloved' Past Event List
Toni Morrison's seminal 1987 novel Beloved was deemed the single best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years in a 2006 author poll taken by the New York Times, and that still holds up—if not in the eyes of those same authors, then in the eyes of literally millions of people who like books. This installment of Christopher Frizzelle's Quarantine Book Club will revisit the Nobel Prize in Literature-winning author's famously haunting novel in six weeks of virtual discussions held on Saturdays, starting this weekend.

SPORTS & RECREATION

Auburn's Dog Trot 3K/5K 'Virtual' Fun Run Past Event List
Complete a 3 or 5K route of your choice, at your own convenience, and submit your results online to kick off Auburn's Petpalooza. 

Frida 5K Past Event List
The PNW Ladies Running Group is hosting this remote 5K celebrating Mexican painter Frida Kahlo for National Hispanic American Heritage Month. Run or walk the distance anywhere you want, even if it's in circles around your house, by September 19, then submit your results online. Bonus points for pinning braids atop your head while doing so.

Peace Peloton Bike Ride Past Event List
Hop on your bicycle and join a 14-mile ride supporting economic reform for Black communities, where you'll stop at Black-owned businesses from Rainier Beach to Georgetown, hearing speeches along the way.
Drae’s Lake Route (Rainier Beach)

VISUAL ART

Melted Riot: CMYK Past Event List
On the Boards' Artist-in-Residence Fox Whitney and his Gender Tender collaborators' Melted Riot series evokes the queer community's reactions to oppression and support through durational performance, visuals, and dance. In collaboration with the Henry Art Gallery, this virtual installment is modeled after the four-color printmaking process: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY

COMMUNITY

2020 Fall Days Past Event List
Usher in the new season with pumpkin- and sunflower-picking Past Event List , a corn maze, and more fall activities through Halloween. 
Stocker Farms (Snohomish)

Craven Farm 2020 Opening Day Past Event List
This Snohomish Farm's 38th Annual Fall Festival will bring back its 15-acre corn maze (plus a kids' adventure maze), farm animal visits, apple slinging, cider doughnuts, scarecrow building, and more good clean fall fun. 
Craven Farm (Snohomish)

MUSEUMS

Burke Museum Reopening (Members Only) Past Event List
While hands-on interactives and playspaces will remain on hold, all other galleries in this beloved, recently renovated natural history museum will reopen to the masked public for timed, limited-capacity visits. There will be guided pathways throughout the museum, and rooms will be monitored for occupancy. The café will also be open with to-go options, as well as limited outdoor seating. This weekend is open to members only; the public will be able to visit starting next week.
Burke Museum (University District)

SUNDAY

COMMUNITY

Urban Poverty Forum: Native Voter Suppression: Election 2020 Past Event List
Following a screening of two short films—The Right to Vote: North Dakota and Reclaiming Their Voice: The Native American Vote in New Mexico and Beyond—Representative Ruth Anna Buffalo (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation) will moderate a discussion between panelists Fawn Sharp (Quinault) and Robin Little Wing Sigo (Suquamish) to discuss the history of suppression in the American Indian and Alaska Native communities, how that connects to the restrictive voter identification laws in North Dakota and New Mexico, how Washington State tribes share information about voting rights with their communities, and what is happening now in preparation for the 2020 election. 

FILM

Emmy Awards Past Event List
Jimmy Kimmel will host the 72nd annual Emmy Awards, which honor the best TV of the year (according to a select few), yet again on ABC. The program also includes Entertainment Weekly and PEOPLE's red carpet pre-show, hosted by Jeremy Parsons and Makho Ndlovu. See our roundup of nominated shows and where to watch them here.

FOOD & DRINK

Tacoma Curbside Chowder Social Past Event List
Safely indulge in a smorgasbord of local chowders at this contactless event benefiting the historic Foss Waterway Seaport.
Foss Waterway Seaport (Tacoma)

Tea: The Meal Past Event List
You're invited to don your frilliest hat and spend an afternoon learning about the history of teatime through the ages, from cream tea to high tea to afternoon tea, at this virtual class with local tea shop Friday Afternoon.

MUSIC

NVCS presents: Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio Past Event List
It didn't take long for Delvon Lamarr to take his killer Organ Trio worldwide. Really not a surprise, because while Lamarr tickles the traditional Hammond B-3 jazz grooves, he can drive it into some kind of soulfulness in a blink. It's something I'm not sure if contemporary Seattle deserves, but that's another story. MIKE NIPPER

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