Culture Fix

Things to Do in Seattle

A hobbit dinner party, Jonas Brothers at Climate Pledge, and Oktoberfests begin.

By Taylor McKenzie Gerlach September 17, 2025

Oktoberfest comes to Fremont with beer, a giant slide, and dog dress-up competitions.

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 Food and Drink / Visual Arts / Live Music 
Performance / Film / Special Events / Readings and Lectures / On Sale Now


Seattleites are spoiled for choice when it comes to spending our leisure time. Just take a look at the sheer variety of options: We have an exceptional array of museums, independent bookstores, restaurants, bars (and bar trivia), record stores, nightlife options, local shops, and a rich music landscape.

And the actual landscape? Outdoor recreation opportunities abound, especially if you subscribe to the “no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing” mindset (if you don’t, are you really from Seattle?). From abundant hikesswimming holes, state parks, and campgrounds just beyond city limits to a voluminous urban trail system, there’s something for the outdoorsperson of every skill and stoke level. Those with little ones (human or furred) can rejoice at a bevy of great playgrounds, spray parks, and zoos

But if you just want a guide already, we've got plenty for food, outdoors, shopping, and entertainment. Plus, a shortlist of what to do in Washington this month. Or find below the best things to do in Seattle, updated weekly. 


Food and Drink

Omnivorous

september 18, 5:30pm | seattle center fisher pavilion, $100

Creative small plates crafted by some of Seattle's brightest culinary minds fill the menu at Community Roots' annual fundraising nosh fest. From Hello Robin and Communion on the food side of things to Finnriver and Figurehead pouring drinks, the fancy soiree won't leave ticket holders hungry as they support affordable housing.

West Seattle Wine Walk

september 19, 5pm | west seattle, $37

West Seattle diversifies the post-work happy hour with their fall event; tickets score fourteen tastes from local boutique wineries. With tasting stations spread throughout the neighborhood's stores, the evening holds equal doses of sipping and shopping.

Supper Fan Club

september 22, 6–8:30pm | mopop, $130

Superfans are called to supper at MOPOP's newest dinner series, each meal themed to a different fandom. Next up: a Middle-earth meal with large doses of hobbit hospitality; expect a feast fit for Frodo with swords, songs, and long roads of adventure.

Annual Salmon Derby Dinner

september 25, 6pm | ben paris, $175

Ben Paris, the Pike Place Market restaurant namesake, was known in his day for organizing Seattle's salmon derbies. With salmon season in full swing, the five course dinner returns with Washington wines and local PNW fare that would make him proud.

Visual Arts

Hugh Hayden: American Vernacular

through september 28, various | frye art museum, free

The sleek, always-free art museum houses sculptor and multimedia artist Hugh Hayden’s first solo museum spot on the West Coast. Filling the galleries are curiously reworked items from everyday American life, like the cherry bark encased Louboutins and a life-sized church nave.

Nina Katchadourian's installation at the National Nordic Museum displays lost stories.

Nina Katchadourian: Origin Stories

through october 26, various | national nordic museum, $5–20

Fresh art drops at the National Nordic Museum, courtesy of multidisciplinary artist Nina Katchadourian. Her works range from photographs, to video, to an immersive installation surrounding a real-life shipwreck disaster. On June 22, Katchadourian will join a survivor of the shipwreck, Douglas Robertson, in conversation at the gallery. 

Light bends; light shapes.

Anila Quayyum Agha: Geometry of Light

through april 19, various | seattle asian art museum 

Go ahead, interact with the art in Anila Quayyum Agha's new exhibition at the Volunteer Park museum, the first solo show from a Pakistani American artist in SAM’s 90-years. Laser-cut steel cubes suspend from the ceiling, lit by a halogen bulb that paints the room—and visitors—with intricate shadows that illuminate the light and dark of life. 

Walk Don't Run Art Marathon

september 20, 12–6pm | various, free

The thoroughfare from Pioneer Square to Belltown becomes a marathon route, but don't break out the sneakers just yet. The new art-walk-like event transforms the city's sidewalks, storefronts, and public squares into canvases for visual installations, stages for pop-up performances, and invitations to interact with fresh art. 

Live Music

The Lone Bellow

september 18, 8pm | tractor tavern, $33–113

Folksy, Americana trio The Lone Bellow brings mesmerizing three-part harmonies and beautifully-built tracks to Ballard's Tractor Tavern. Hot off the heels of their Grand Ole Opry debut, the band brings intimate and deep energy to every stage. 

Jonas Brothers

september 22, 7:30pm | climate pledge arena, $55.50–182.70

Attention all Jonatics...the early 2000s are calling. Joe, Nick, and Kevin bring a tour filled with career-spanning hits to Climate Pledge, pairing Camp Rock nostalgia with contemporary solo hits. 

White Denim

september 24, 10pm | sunset tavern, $31.93

The Austin rock band's early show is sold out, but the late show brings tracks from their twelve studio albums to the Ballard venue's night owls. Helmed by core members James Petralli and Steve Terebecki, the group shifts like a kaleidoscope to add new sounds and energies.

Performance

And some like a rip-roaring good time.

Some Like It Hot

through september 21, various | paramount theatre, $55.60–165.60

The historic Paramount Theatre becomes a Prohibition-era world of song and dance in the Tony and Grammy Award-winning Broadway musical. Our protagonists are chased by gangsters and dazzled by love interests yet manage to fox trot through it all. 

The Play That Goes Wrong

through september 28, various | bagley wright theater, $35–135

The show must go on...but should it? A meta physical comedy about a play that—you guessed it—goes all wrong, Seattle Rep’s season opener brings laughs at the expense of the fictional Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society and their problem-riddled show.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

september 18–october 12, various | charlotte martin theater, $25–62

Playful children's book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom gets a stage adaptation, the mischievous alphabet climbing off the page and into the Seattle Children's Theater. Nearly one hour of music and interactive storytelling serves as an introduction to theater for even the littlest patrons. 

FILM

Star Wars

through september 18, various | siff, $22

Buckle in: SIFF is going on a journey of cinematic endurance, screening the entire Star Wars universe as two weekend-long marathons. The first weekend will run the intergalactic saga in chronological order; the second in order of their original release. 

Retro Nights: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

september 17, 7pm | majestic bay theatre, $13

Ballard's independent theatre highlights throwbacks this summer, screening nostalgia-filled faves chosen by audiences. Next up is Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind

HUMP!

september 18–october 11, various | various, $18–25

Dan Savage's bi-annual film fest spreads the gospel of sex-positivity with homemade kinky shorts showing at three Seattle venues this fall. Not sure what to expect? He once told us, "Anything comes and goes at HUMP!, literally.”

Local Sightings Film Festival

september 19–28, various | northwest film forum, $

Capitol Hill's Northwest Film Forum curates films—both shorts and features—from local PNW filmmakers. The fest kicks off with a meet-and-greet brunch and closes out this year's run with a series of shorts alongside a vendor market, trivia, and mingling with cast and crew. 

SPECIAL EVENTS

Brunch Club

september 21, 9am | woodland park zoo, $79

Has your morning coffee routine gone stale? Woodland Park Zoo's brunch club allows visitors to sip that latte while watching sloth bears, Asian small-clawed otters, and Malayan tigers greet the morning. French toast shooters, avocado smoked salmon toast, and veggie quiche fuel a day of zoo-going ahead. 

Tap into a childlike side for the giant fair slide at Fremont's Oktoberfest.

Fremont Oktoberfest

september 19–21, various | fremont, $18.87–41.16

Sure, an Oktoberfest is going to be mostly about the beer. But Fremont boasts more than full steins with a bratwurst eating contest, awards for Sunday's best-dressed dog, an outdoor dance floor helmed by a DJ, and a towering carnival-style slide. 

Lion dances are a mainstay at the CID Night Market alongside a host of live performances.

Chinatown International District Night Market

september 27, 1–9pm | chinatown-international district, free

Three city blocks turn into a street festival in the highly-anticipated 18th rendition of the CID Night Market. Expect great food, stunning performances (lion dances, taiko drumming, even yo-yo), and dozens of local vendors. 

MEXAM NW

through october 9, various | various, various 

The wide-ranging month-long fest curated by the Consulate of Mexico in Seattle weaves together Hispanic and Mexican-American cultural events in countless forms: art exhibitions, concerts, Spanish language spoken word poetry, and mural painting. 

READINGS AND LECTUREs

John Birdsall: What is Queer Food? 

september 17, 6:30pm | book larder, $5.75–33.85

Yeah, what is queer food? Culinary writer John Birdsall has the answer in his newest book: it's the intentions, the people, and the circumstances that make anything from salad to cake to a full-blown potluck spread distinctively queer. 

Our Brains on Art: How the Arts Transform Community Health

september 25, 7pm | the great hall, $10–35

Susan Magsamen, co-author of 2023 nonfiction Your Brain on Art, joins leaders in the creative and health fields to show art's influence in healing settings. The group will expound art's potential for everything from reducing the need for pain medication and hospital stay length to increasing memory and cognitive function.

Jodi-Ann Burey with Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work

september 30, 7pm | central library, free with registration

Author and critic Jodi-Ann Burey, known for her TED talk “The Myth of Bringing Your Full, Authentic Self to Work,” poured her insights into a book. She joins fellow Seattle author Sonora Jha to chat about reclaiming agency at work in spite of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism. 

On sale now

The extra ingredient? Giving back and supporting culinary education in Seattle at Farestart. Yum.

Guest Chef Night Series

through november 20, 5–9pm | FareStart Restaurant, $55

FareStart culinary education nonprofit taps local legends for bi-monthly chef dinners that reliably sell out weeks in advance. This summer, the star-studded lineup includes the likes of Chef Bill Jeong of Paju, the siblings behind Ramie and Ba Sa Trinh and Thai Nguyen, and Kricket Club's Preeti Agarwal. 
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