Seeking: 4th of July plans, aerial arts in the park, and a new festival in Pioneer Square
+ my favorite date spot
Happy 4th of July! If you’re in town and need some ideas, I’ve included a few in my monthly events round-up down below. The fireworks are always my favorite, but be prepared to get stuck in a lot of traffic if you have to drive home after (recommend waiting it out somewhere if you can).
I have some summer travel coming up soon (which I’ll be very excited to share a recap of) so next week will be another Seattle Snapshot featuring Kate George! Kate is a surface pattern designer + illustrator and always doing cool things that she often shares in her newsletter,
. I always learn something new or useful from her and I think you will too.Okay let’s get into it!
*This post is a little long, so don’t forget to expand if it gets cut off in your email!
💎 Local gems
The Spot | West Seattle
On a recent sunny morning, we wanted to try out a new brunch spot with outdoor seating and landed at The Spot. It’s right next door to another well-known West Seattle brunch place, Luna Park Cafe. Luna Park is more of a diner while The Spot serves several kinds of waffles and brunch classics like avocado toast, omelets, and breakfast sandwiches. Both have outdoor seating!
We got the Plain Jane waffle with berries ($10), the Mean Green savory waffle ($14), and a BLAT sandwich ($14) to share. The BLAT was my favorite, but everything was delicious. My only critique is that I felt like the waffle was a little too sweet for the savory toppings, but I’d still get it again. The coffee was served in big camp mugs which I also liked.
The thing that earned this breakfast joint a spot on the third places list is that it is also a bar and live music venue that hosts musicians Thursday through Saturday nights.
Capitol Hill Farmers Market | Capitol Hill
When the Capitol Hill Farmers Market moved to its new permanent location near the light rail station in 2021, it took a bit for it to find its footing. I’m happy to report after a visit this past weekend that it’s turned into a really fabulous market! It used to be pretty sparse, but I was impressed to see so many farmers, food vendors, and even a few handicraft booths expanding beyond the original footprint. Since I don’t yet have a farmers market in Beacon Hill, I’ll certainly make a trip out here on Tuesdays or Sundays to get my farmers market fix.
Stampede Cocktail Club | Fremont
Stampede is forever one of our favorite date spots. It’s hard to go wrong with the combo of dumplings + cocktails, and I appreciate that the Stampede team is always trying out new things. I haven’t always loved my drink here, but that’s because I tend to be adventurous and mostly try cocktails with ingredients I’ve never heard of (over time I think I’ve also gotten better at explaining what I’m looking for to the bartenders).
This time I got the Gator Saddle ($15) which was a spicy, refreshing, tequila drink and Andrew got the American Melons ($15) which was described as a watermelon highball. They were both the perfect summer drinks! We also got both the pork and chicken dumplings ($15/each) but I’d order just the pork next time, the chicken was a little too sweet. I love coming here during any season, but it’s especially fun to sit on the patio and people-watch in the summer.
👀 On my radar
Pioneer Square Fest | Pioneer Square
I’ve been keeping an eye on the revitalization of Pioneer Square and was excited to see this festival pop up out of nowhere! I guess it’s the second time they’re running it and in addition to hosting a free concert in Occidental Square, they’re looping in new music venues like Golden Roosters and Asylum (unfortunately Baba Yaga had to pull out, guessing they aren’t quite ready to open). It seems like most of the festival is free, but a $30 ticket can get you into any festival events for free and discounts around Pioneer Square. What exactly those events or discounts are is not totally clear, but hopefully that’s something they continue to refine in future iterations of this fest. If anyone goes, please report back!
Levity Arts Gas Works Gatherings | Fremont
I’ve been hearing about these aerial and circus art gatherings at Gas Works for the past few summers but I’ve yet to get myself to one. Thankfully this summer I located the links and figured out the upcoming dates so you can add them to your calendar too if you’re interested: July 11th, August 16th, and September 19th from 7-10 pm. There will also be live music and fun things happening on the ground while the aerial artists do their thing in the air.
Rewind, Be Kind | Capitol Hill
I saw that the first movie in this new film festival at the SIFF Egyptian was Big Fat Liar and I was SOLD. If you’re not yet, they are also showing Uptown Girls, Josie and the Pussycats, The Mummy, and The Phantom of the Opera (along with a few others). I already love watching older cult classic movies at Central Cinema, so this festival is right up my alley. If anyone else would like to join me for the film that Paul Giamatti should have won an Oscar for, let me know.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Ramie | Capitol Hill
A few months ago I shared in the ICYMI section that the beloved Vietnamese restaurant Ba Sa on Bainbridge was opening a sister restaurant called Ramie in Capitol Hill. I love Ba Sa, so Ramie was already on my list, but after seeing this TikTok — it moved right to the top. This would be a spendy dinner (mains run from $19-27), but the food looks so creative and worth it. It’s a small menu, so I’d like to go with friends so we can order everything to try and share it family style. Will share an update once I try it!
⛱ July Events Round-Up
4th of July
Seafair 4th of July | Thursday, 7/4 | Gas Works Park + SLU | Free
Grand Old 4th of July | Thursday, 7/4 | Bainbridge | Free (went through this by chance a few years ago and it was a very festive, old-fashioned 4th. Would be fun to take the ferry over for the day to enjoy)
39th Annual Naturalization Ceremony | Thursday, 7/4 | Uptown | Free
Seattle Mariners vs. Baltimore Orioles | Thursday, 7/4 | SODO | $25+
Deck'd Out Dance Party | Thursday, 7/4 | SODO | $35-50
Festivals & Fairs
Ballard SeafoodFest | 7/12 - 7/14 | Discovery Park | Free
NW Tune-Up Fest | 7/12 - 7/14 | Bellingham | $59-165
Day In Day Out | 7/12 - 7/14 | Uptown | $130-419
Capitol Hill Block Party | 7/19 - 7/21 | Capitol Hill | $115-395
Seafair Indian Days Powwow | 7/19 - 7/21 | Discovery Park | Free
The Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire | 7/19 - 8/18 | Snohomish | $39.95
Bon Odori Festival | 7/20 - 7/21 | Central District | Free
Timber! Outdoor Music Festival | 7/25 - 7/27 | Carnation | $65-189
Seattle Art Fair | 7/25 - 7/28 | SODO | $35-65
Vegan Street Fair | Saturday, 7/27 | TBD | Free
📆 This weekend’s events
Seafair Pirates Landing | Saturday, 7/6 | Alki | Free
Big Ass Boombox | Saturday, 7/6 | Ballard | Free
Focaccia Basics at The Pastry Project | Saturday, 7/6 | Pioneer Square | $150
Fireworks Clean-up and Weeding | Saturday, 7/6 | Columbia City | Free
Washington A's vs DubSea Fish Sticks | Saturday, 7/6 | White Center | $13.50
Seattle Sounders FC vs. New England Revolution | Saturday, 7/6 | SODO | $18+
Multi-day:
TARBOO | 7/4 - 7/6 | Quilcene | $0-145
ODESZA - The Finale | 7/4 - 7/6 | George | $72+
Seafood Boil at All Water Seafood & Oyster Bar | 7/4 - 7/7 | Downtown | $50
Pioneer Square Fest | 7/5 - 7/6 | Downtown | $30
What’s next:
7/10 - 7/28 | Marymoor Park kicks off its outdoor movie series next week starting with Back to the Future while Flow Fitness begins hosting their weekly free yoga in the park series at Lake Union Park.
7/19 - 7/21 | The embattled Bite of Seattle will be happening again this summer — fingers crossed they sorted out the payment issues this year
7/11 - 8/15 | Volunteer Park is hosting a free Summer Series of live music at its amphitheater every Thursday night starting on 7/11. There will also be food trucks on site!
🚨 ICYMI
Itsumono has a new HH from 4-5:30 pm, Tuesday through Saturday. Darkalino’s and Lil Woody’s just opened a joint location in Green Lake. A tiny bar called Laurel is opening in Capitol Hill next to Montana. Chu Minh Tofu has opened a second location on MLK Way. The new “Berries Berries Berries” flavor series at Salt & Straw sounds so freaking good. A new yoga studio called Flood just opened in Ballard. The Vegas-import Barrel & Bacon opened up in the old Champagne Diner spot (the ube french toast looks wild). Seattle Met put together a guide of all the outdoor movie locations.
🧰️ Seattle Toolkit
A few of my favorite resources to stay tuned in to what’s happening around the city:
Everout - Events & things to do
SEAToday - Daily Seattle newsletter
The Nudge Seattle - Text-based event planner
The Intentionalist - Discover + support local small businesses
Your turn!
What are you seeking this week? What do you already have planned? Share it with us in the comments ⬇️
Ah this is great. My family is in town the next couple weeks so I think we’ll check out the marymoor park movies and the summer series at volunteer park!
Have you been to gas works brewing? I drove past it the other day and looks fab. Picnic tables right on the water