Things to Do in Seattle

In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, a familiar detective is on the case.
Image: Tony Beeman
Jump to Your Genre:
Food and Drink / Visual Arts / Live Music
Performance / Film / Special Events / Readings and Lectures
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 hikes, ski hills, swimming 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 and for Black History Month. Or find below the best things to do in Seattle, updated weekly.
Food and Drink
Kultur Shock
February 2, 6pm | Town Hall Seattle, $15–20
A bit of the Balkan Peninsula shines through our rain-soaked days as Seattle-based pop-up Baked in Bosnia dishes out hearty comfort dishes—slow-cooked cabbage rolls filled with halal beef, vegan stuffed peppers, and chicken paprikash—alongside a bar stocked with rakija, the rustic fruit brandy at the forefront of any good Bosnian liquor cabinet. Kultur Shock’s outfit of musically inclined Balkan immigrants brings post-nosh entertainment in an unplugged, acoustic punk-metal show. How will they pull that off? Your guess is as good as ours.
Field to Table
February 3–18, 5:15 and 8:30pm | Lumen Field, $149
Calling football fans and diehard foodies: This is how you elevate the Super Bowl party. Lumen Field is transformed into an epic dining room, and Seattle’s most MVP-worthy chefs (Musang’s Melissa Miranda, Stuart Lane of Spinasse, David Nichols from Eight Row to name a few) dish out four-course meals between the goalposts.
2023 Cocktail Trends
February 9, 3:30–4:30pm | Metropolitan Grill, $75
Cheers to the new year—the hip way. Attendees can sip three featured drinks, discuss cocktail trends, and make bold predictions. Low and no-proof refreshments, wild garnishes, and unexpected base spirits just may define the year’s cocktail palate.
Teatro ZinZanni's Coming Home
Through February 19, 7:30pm | SODO Park, $109–139
Celebrating its return to Seattle after two pandemic years, Teatro ZinZanni offers a new variety show all about coming home. Attendees enjoy a four-course meal while the show goes on, featuring aerialists, a yodeling dominatrix, trapeze artists, musicians, and a basketball freestyle juggler.

Teatro ZinZanni's bringing drama back.
Image: Courtesy Teatro Zinzanni
Visual Arts
Soft Touch
February 3–August 31, various | Museum of Museums, $10–20
No screaming sensors and “do not touch” signs here. The soft sculpture and textile artwork in Soft Touch are designed to be tactile: shake a velvet hand, recline on shag carpet under a ceiling of clouds, or engage with bygone playfulness and imagination in Seattle drag queen Sugar Darling’s larger-than-life breakfast nook.
From the Ground Up: Black Architects and Designers
February 4–April 30, 10am–5pm | MOHAI, $22
MOHAI plays host to a nationally touring exhibition of instrumental Black architects and designers who created the world we inhabit—from the pyramids of Egypt to local skylines. A portion of the exhibit features Black designers who specifically impacted Seattle’s structures, both historical and contemporary.

Image: Tom Barlet
PNW x PNW
Through February 5, 2023, time varies | Henry Art Gallery, pay what you can
The Pacific Northwest is known for its iconic landscape that inspires so many artists. Drawn from photographs from Henry’s collection, this exhibit showcases artists such as Imogen Cunningham, Eirik Johnson, Mary Randlett, and Darius Reynolds Kinsey. This show was made from the love of locals to honor their own backyard.
Donna Huanca: Magma Slit
Through February 5, 2023, various | Henry Art Gallery, free–$20 donation
Bolivian American artist Donna Huanca does it all in her newest installation: mirrored sculptures, four mural-size paintings, auditory and olfactory components, and a stage where live performers round out a truly immersive sensory experience. Throughout it all, Huanca weaves female and Indigenous narratives in an exploration of ritual as a means for transformation.
Aberrations
February 11, 5–7pm | Seattle Artist League Gallery, free
Opening in conjunction with the February iteration of the Georgetown Art Attack, Kathy Paul’s restorative work takes center stage at the Seattle Artist League. Back-to-back strokes left Paul without most of her vision, and her drawings and paintings are part exploration, part therapy in an attempt to rehabilitate her optic nerves and learn to see again.

A selection from Kathy Paul's show at Seattle Artist League Gallery.
Image: Kathy Paul
Live Music
Kate Dinsmore
February 3, 5–7pm | Chateau Ste. Michelle, free
The Woodinville winery kicks off the weekend with food from the Chateau kitchen, wine (duh), and live music from singer-songwriter Kate Dinsmore. She describes her sound as the “perfect soundtrack to dropping off the last of your ex’s stuff and driving off into the sunset.” Pour the wine already.
Sarah Cahill
February 8, 7:30pm | Brechemin Auditorium, free
Not just a concert pianist, but one The New York Times touts as “an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde,” Sarah Cahill presents her latest project: The Future is Female. The classical savant features over 70 compositions by women around the globe—from the Baroque period to the present day—in this investigation of piano literature from the female lens.
New Colossus
February 11, 7pm | Seattle First Baptist Church, $28–38
In celebration of Seattle Pro Musica’s golden anniversary, the choral group commissioned five young composers to create and perform new works. In the fourth installment, composer Saunder Choi presents a musical exploration of America’s gun violence plague, preceded by a pre-concert panel discussion with artistic director and conductor Karen P. Thomas.
Performance
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Through February 5, various | Bagley Wright Theater, $20–95
This just may be the perfect coming-of-age story. Chicago’s 15-year-old Júlia Reyes transports audience members back to those days stumbling through adolescence as Reyes is caught between her family’s expectations, her own perfectionism, and the grief of her sister’s death.
Ain't Too Proud
Through February 5, various | Paramount Theatre, $35–110
The fresh musical follows the 1960s soul quintet The Temptations and their rise from Detroit bars to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Tony Award–winning choreography captures the outfit’s signature dance moves; a Grammy Award–garnering score reflects their unmistakable harmonies, including hits like “My Girl.” An engaging plot brings the legendary vocalists’ untold story to the stage.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
February 8–March 5, various | Book-It Repertory Theatre, $20–65
Based on Agatha Christie’s mind-bending crime novel and teeming with classic whodunnit fun, the play follows detective Hercule Poirot’s quest to solve a pair of mysterious murders in the quiet, unsuspecting English village of King’s Abbot.
History of Theatre: About, By, For, and Near
through February 12, various | Falls Theatre, Up to $54
Forgotten and unsung artists get their moment in the limelight thanks to a playwright duo’s journey through the rich legacy of Black stage production. History of Theatre follows artistic expression from enslavement to the boundary-breaking actors Ira Aldridge and Rose McClendon; to Pat Chappelle’s first all-Black touring vaudeville troupe and Seattle’s own Negro Repertory Company.
Metamorphoses
through February 26, various | Leo K. Theater, $43–75
A quartet of actors brings Ovid’s 2,000-year-old poems to life in a play never before seen outside of the United Kingdom—where audiences raved about the fresh take on myths both well-known and rarely told.
FILM
Children’s Film Festival of Seattle
February 3–12, various | Northwest Film Forum, $5–150
Over 100 animated, live-action, and documentary films for kids and the young-at-heart air during the annual festival. But it’s not all fairy tales: The festival screens films in Spanish and French, youth-produced films, and blocks with LGBTQIA+ and Black protagonists. There are also workshops for filmmaking teens.

It's not just movies at the Children's Film Festival, where workshops and activities engage film-lovers of all ages.
Image: Northwest Film Forum
Noir City
February 10–16, various | SIFF Cinema Egyptian, $10–150
In its 15th annual iteration, the festival returns with 18 crime dramas, most in 35mm, from Hollywood’s mid-twentieth century noir period. Star power shines bright with Eddie Muller as host and local noir authors Vince and Rosemarie Keenan on hand.
Sámi Film Festival
February 11, 11–4pm | National Nordic Museum, $20–25
A female-focused lineup of contemporary documentaries, short films, and panel discussions with Sámi filmmakers comprises the fifth annual festival in Ballard. While the event has always screened works directed by indigenous people of the northern slice of the Scandinavian Peninsula and large parts of the Kola Peninsula, this marks the first year the films themselves were not only created, but also curated by a Sámi filmmaker.
Saturday Secret Matinee
Through March 25, 1pm | Grand Illusion Cinema, $11
In its 15th year, the weekly 16mm screenings are a film buff’s staple of good, old-fashioned fun. Before a secret feature film, audience members revel in a cliffhanger episode of a movie serial.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Lunar New Year Celebration
February 4, 11–4pm | Hing Hay Park, free
Ring in the Year of the Rabbit with a food walk around Chinatown–International District, dance performances in the park, festive music, and special vendors. We can smell the nian gao and dumplings from here. See our Lunar New Year events guide for more happenings around the region.
Meet Me at Higo
Through March 26, various | SPL Central Library, free
A traveling exhibit, produced by the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, invites viewers into Seattle’s Higo 10 Cents Store, a Japantown social hub and catch-all store owned by the Murakami family from 1907 to 2003. Personal photos, journals, and artifacts bring audiences through points of fraught and joyous history.
READINGS AND LECTURES
Ross Gay
February 6, 7:30pm | Town Hall Seattle, free
Timely and elegant, the poems of Ross Gay’s newest work, Inciting Joy, create a framework for mutual aid to survive the hardships of being human. In an event meant to lift spirits and inspire joyful connection, Gay will deliver a keynote speech, read a selection of his work, and converse with Dr. Carmen Rojas, president and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation.
Felon: An American Washi Tale
February 9, 7:30pm | Town Hall Seattle, $10–80
Poet, public defender, and criminal justice reform activist Reginald Dwayne Betts transforms his latest collection of poetry, Felon, into a one-man performance piece. His work interrogates and challenges our notions of justice from within, drawing on his experiences as an incarcerated teenager and later, as a young man attempting to enter society with an unforgiving record.