SPECIAL EVENTS

July 26 & 27
Timber! Outdoor Music Festival
New this summer: a rural alternative to Capitol Hill Block Party’s urban music fest. Carnation’s parks are the perfect setting for two days of outdoor activities, community, and some of the Northwest’s top singer-songwriters and indie rock bands, including Portland’s atmospheric-rock duo the Helio Sequence and Seattle’s own dream-pop two-piece Lemolo. Tolt MacDonald Park, Carnation, $45–$1,000.

July 26–28
Capitol Hill Block Party
Psychedelic rock band the Flaming Lips, mashup king Girl Talk, and Seattle garage R&B band Pickwick headline this three-day music fest in the streets and clubs of Capitol Hill. This has the makings of a dance-happy weekend. Capitol Hill, $40 (single-day pass), $115 (three-day pass).

FILM

July 26
Clips Beer and Film Tour
Enjoy beers in Gas Works Park without feeling like a loiterer. New Belgium's annual traveling showcase of 18 of its brews and 18 short films returns to Seattle, with beer sales going to local nonprofit the Nature Consortium, a grassroots organization that supports art and nature education. Gas Works Park, free admission, $1.25 (3-oz samples), $5 (12-oz pours).

Opens July 26
Fruitvale Station
In the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin ruling, there's been much anticipation about the local premiere of Fruitvale Station, a timely and tragic true story about the final day in the life of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old black man who encountered the wrong police officer on a BART train in Oakland on New Year's Eve 2008. It won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and continues to make waves this summer. Screening at Landmark Guild 45th, Regal Meridian 16.

July 26–28
The Hitchcock 9
Part of the largest restoration ever undertaken by the British Film Institute, The Hitchcock 9 offers up newly restored prints of the nine oldest surviving Hitchcock films. The movies screen at SIFF Cinema Uptown, accompanied by all-new live soundtracks composed by local musicians. SIFF Cinema Uptown, $10–$20.

THEATER

July 27
Wooden O double header: The Tempest and Henry V
Seattle doesn't skimp on the Shakespeare in the park when the sun finally comes out, and the finest of these outdoor plays comes via Seattle Shakespeare Company's Wooden O program. Catch back-to-back productions of The Tempest (2pm) and Henry V (6pm) at Seattle Center. Fisher Pavilion, free.

Thru Sept 15
Intiman’s Trouble in Mind
Despite being written in the 1950s, Alice Childress’s Obie-winning satrirical drama about a racially integrated acting company rings as true today as ever. Powerful performances by Tracy Michelle Hughes as Wiletta, the veteran black singer who wants only to be heard and respected as an actress, and G. Valmont Thomas as Sheldon, a yes man who suppresses his dark past, left us craving more theater, not less. Cornish Playhouse (formerly Intiman Playhouse), $20–$50.

DANCE

July 26 & 27
Strictly Seattle 2013
For local movers and shakers, July's month-long dance intensive is a chance to work with some of Seattle’s most innovative contemporary choreographers—KT Niehoff, Mark Haim, and Ellie Sandstrom among them—and show off what they’ve learned about improvisation, ballet, and modern movement in a final-weekend performance, this Friday and Saturday. Broadway Performance Hall, $12–$18.

VISUAL ART

July 26–28
Bellevue Arts Museum ArtsFair
The 67th annual event is a “show-and-sell” of the Northwest’s finest artwork. On display are hundreds of works in mediums ranging from ceramics and woodworking to glassblowing and jewelry. This year's festival is held in conjunction with the Bellevue Festival of the Arts and 6th Street Fair. Bellevue Square, BAM, free admission.

July 27–Oct 20
Austere Beauty: The Art of Z. Vanessa Helder
A Washington pioneer in every sense of the word, painter Z. (for Zama) Vanessa Helder used watercolors to show the "austere beauty" of the Grand Coulee Dam and mountainside jackhammer crews of the 1930s and '40s—the West Coast version of Edward Hopper's America. (She also had a pet skunk named Sniffy.) Tacoma Art Museum presents the first major survey of her work. Tacoma Art Museum, $8–$10.

Don't forget about all those outdoor movies and concerts around town.