This is a local carnival held every year with some rides, lots of vendor booths, food trucks/tents,…read moreparades, and love music/events. it's exactly what you'd expect from a local carnival, and they have some nice big open park space for everything so it's all close together. As you can expect, carnival vendors are of mixed quality goods/foods, but it's nice to get a chance to check new things out. The event is also extremely packed, so you'll be pretty much back to back with people most of the time. It's worth checking out at least once though.

Fun in the sun! There's also a park & ride nearby! Lots of booths with different types of food to…read morechoose from! A great place to be outside and enjoy the sunshine today! It's going on until 9pm 07/15/23

Such an amazing event with wonderful vendors and food! We always have such a great time here!…read more We always love getting the poi mochi and poke. This year, Yoks came and I tried their matcha which was fantastic! I watched ukelele and dancing performances in the armory and did a bit of shopping!

Attended the Live Aloha Hawaiian Cultural Festival over the weekend at Seattle Center. This is the…read morefestival's 6th year. I found this year's event to be the best edition so far. The festival has grown for the better. Compared with a past edition that I attended, this year's event had significantly more food vendors and entertainment. If you wanted to try Hawaiian barbecue, shave ice and malasadas in Seattle (in one place), this event is your best opportunity to do so. As for entertainment, there were three stages (two outdoor and one in the Armory). As well as a side stage in the Armory for "talk story" events. I thought the attendance for the event was quite large compared to other heritage festivals that I have been to at Seattle Center. There was plenty of people wearing Hawaiian aloha wear at the event and talking in pidgin that you felt a little like you were actually back in the islands. Being a Hawaii native, it was nice to see that there was a large turnout celebrating the place that I call my real home. Like being in Hawaii, there was a wait for food. Though the lines for Hawaiian barbecue did move rather quickly. The fare was plate lunch grinds and most of the vendors were selling many of the same things. I had a great laulau/kalua pork/ahi poke plate from Kama'Aina Grill that was delicious. If you like grilled marinated meats, attending this festival is an awesome event to get some. I did also try out the shave ice from Da Hula Hut. There was a large line for it, but I decided it was worth waiting for given the summer heat. The shave ice was not bad (syrups are sweet), though better in Hawaii. It is no Waiola Shave Ice, but I will take what I can get. There was also a long line for malasadas, but that was a line I refused to get in. I will just wait till I can get some at Leonard's in a few weeks. I would have liked though to have seen a Hawaiian cake vendor (haupia/chantilly/guava) at the event though since we do have a few of these in the Northwest. Enjoyed my time at Live Aloha and look forward to coming back next year for more Hawaiian culture and food.

Snowflake Lane in Bellevue is a magical holiday experience, especially for families with kids. The…read morelights, music, dancers, drummers, and falling "snow" create a really festive atmosphere, and the fact that it's free makes it even better. Kids love the candy and characters, and it truly feels like a special holiday tradition. That said, it does get very crowded, especially on weekends, and you'll want to arrive early to get a good viewing spot. Traffic and parking can be a bit hectic around showtime, and it can get cold standing outside, so dress warmly. Overall, it's a fun and memorable holiday event that's worth seeing at least once -- and even better if you go on a weekday and plan ahead.

Beautiful, fun and never gets old! We've been going for the past 10 years and look forward to it…read moreeach year! Weekdays are less busy. Avoid opening night as it gets super busy. Go early so you can save a spot where you can see the parade. If you have children, try getting a spot in the front row so they can interact with the characters! Highly recommend this annual event!

We attended the Fremont Fair today and had a lovely time. The weather was beautiful and we arrived…read moreearly before the crowds, but made sure to stay for the parade in the afternoon. Between all the amazing vendors, the incredible food options, live music and street performers, the Art Cars and everything else to see and do, the time just flew right by. This is definitely one of the better festivals we have attended. It's dog friendly and family friendly and completely free. Parking is probably the only negative thing and if you don't mind the walk, you should be able to find some parking in a neighboring residential area. We definitely got our 10,000 steps in today and I would absolutely come back again and again.

I have been coming to the Fremont Fair for decades. It is still one of my favorite fairs to visit…read moreevery year. My agenda is likely different from many folks. I don't come on Saturday anymore since everyone is there for the Solstice parade. It is borderline insane for those who drive there and need to find parking. My routine: - I arrive midday on Sunday, typically about 3pm. This gives me three hours at the fair. Many folks are beginning to leave by then. Parking is slightly easier to find even if we need to loop a time or two. - Visit the art cars. This is my absolute favorite at the Fremont Fair. They are insanely fun. My favorite is from 10+ years ago. A sedan is fully covered with Big Mouth Billy Bass with lobsters on top that are synced up to sing Bohemian Rhapsody. I am sure I have a video somewhere. - Stroll the many blocks of the fair, exploring the booths. I go to many fairs. I recognize most vendors going to the same fairs. Fremont Fair is still able to surprise me with new-to-me booths. It is why I return year after year. - Look for free swags. Many community booths give free swags. I look for the cute items that a child might like so I can give those swags to teachers as classroom rewards. - Free food sampling - We enjoy buying new-to-us foods. - Skip the food booths, mostly. Once upon a time, food booths were the source to find unusual eats or to have a small bite. We stop eating from food booths when they became more expensive than going to a restaurant. Sorry, not sorry. We support the local restaurants in the neighborhood instead. We still look, but it is uncommon for us to find something we don't already know. - When all is done, take a stroll along ship canal. It is both peaceful (for us) and chaotic (for the vendors packing up and/or taking down their booths). It is part entertainment seeing the staff direct traffic. For this year's fair, the highlight is once again the art cars with the spaceship car. Inter Milan gave away blue ice cream, while a Raspados Del Sur gave away their excess fruits after the fair ended. It was awesome! Of course, I bought items and enjoyed music from the stages, too.

It's Not Just For Stoners' Anymore :)…read more SITREP Nowadays, if it's mi mamasita's birthday, it's time for HEMPFEST! I always get a kick spending a week or so with my mom back in Seattle! THE SETUP I always have fun here with the music and DJ'ing, with the food, with the people, and with the energy. THE PARKING Okay. Let's deal with the bad stuff first. PARKING SUCKS. And if that's not bad enough, the fact that it's in a rather remote location on the sound at both the Elliot Bay and Myrtle Edwards parks makes it's a CONSIDERABLE HIKE to get to in the first place. THE AMENITIES & HYGIENE STANDARDS Okay. Not terrible, but consider the crowd this attracts: Hippies. Alternative Rockers. Punks. Gypsies. Free Spirits. Free Spirited Alternative Punk Hippies That Don't Bath. You get the idea. And since this is outdoors, in August, and it's hot, and people are moving around, and DANCING, AND SWEATING, you can get some pretty pungeant aromas. FUN Still, there is so much to see, so much to do, so much to eat, so much music to listen to, so many vendors to check out. And it's IN Seattle. I usually have to travel hundreds of miles away to be in a big group of smelly people with smelly paraphenalia. However, with Hempfest there is the extreme convenience of all THAT.... coming to YOU! MUSIC Grab a schedule, check out the bandstands, and enjoy the music. Also check out the tents because that is where some of the best DJs hang out. I really enjoyed my first time I ever went to Hempfest precisely because of the DJs. This is where I saw some really talented individuals introduce to the whole concept of "POWER MIXING" - using no more than a 30-second / 1 min segment of a song before moving on to the next track, but in a seamless stream of musical-construction that built beautiful musical pieces. These guys did it really well too. DON'T WORRY, MARYJANE! Though public perception may be otherwise, there is significant relegation of smoking at these events, and if you find it, it will be mainly on the perimeter and/or on the waterfront itself on the rocks. SECOND FUNNIEST MOMENT I couldn't stop my mom in time from buying and eating a brownie from the fairy princess gal. She was impossible to deal with the rest of the afternoon with her goofiness. This was the first time I took her. She's learned her lesson and been a good girl the 2-3 other times we've been together. THE FUNNIEST MOMENT This was just too sublime. A group of skater dudes were mosing through the asphalt path, between gaggles of giggling girls and some families with their screaming kids. Getting *bumped around* accidentally is going to happen. A small packet of *something* dislodged itself from a pocket of one of the guys. Perched on the side of the grassy rise were 4 police on horses overlooking the path, the groups of people, and the crew of skater dudes. I happened to be close enough to see it was a baggy of joints. I'm sure these 4 Horsemen of the Seattle Apocalypse noted that too. EVERYONE froze when the joints hit the ground. Then the mounted policeman who appeared to be the most senior of the group nonplussed just said to the skater dude, "You dropped something, son." After a pregnant pause, the dude picked up his baggy, waved and the police, and said, "Thank you!" THE LOWDOWN I LOVE THIS FESTIVAL! [Survey Question - "Good for Kids?" Uh. I'm saying "YES".]

Seattle Hempfest is the world's largest annual cannabis festival, drawing in hundreds of thousands…read moreeach and every year. The 3 day festival occurs during the second to last weekend of every August across Olympic Sculpture Park, Myrtle Edwards Park, and Centennial Park...Spread along the Seattle Waterfront....The event was founded in 1991, self described as a "humble gathering of stoners," by 500 Mary Jane enthusiasts congregating to advocate for the decriminalization of marijuana. It was truly a civil struggle to establish such reform and cannabis culture throughout it's 27 year lifetime.... as 60 people were cited for illegal marijuana use in 1997 while attending. The following year, about 20 were arrested for the same offense. Since then, local authorities have gradually looked the other way... which is what prompted peak attendance in 2008 to grow to over 310,000 people....2008 was the first Hempfest I personally attended, and I've been to every one since. Until about 2014, the festival was more of a celebration exercising local liberal NW behaviors to freely consume weed. It focused on the theme of social justice activists working to bring cannabis knowledge to the world at large ....Unfortunately over the last couple of years following recreational legalization, Seattle Hempfest has become a business avenue focusing exclusively on making as much profit as possible. It's apparent that money has become the focal point, superseding it's original purpose to expand knowledge and to educate...Vendor booths range from $1,000-2,000....staff members heckle attendees for 10 dollar donations at the entrances, while scolding with derision if you choose not to 'donate.' They also used to be pet friendly, but have decided to harass any and all attendees with even service animal verification. Yet they couldn't care less about people bringing babies and small children around other event goers smoking. Security also now yells and harass people who smoke blunts or joints, yet are okay with people smoking from recently purchased pipes and bongs from vendor booths....I wonder why that is.....Overall, I feel that Hempfest has taken a turn for the worst- falling into the hands of greedy businessmen while regressing back to strict social confinements and politics.........Consequently, the turnout has diminished noticeably....This year's attendance was abysmal to say the least.... "Sponsorship is the best way to maximize your vending and information display presence. Show you are a strong Hempfest-supporting brand to all our audiences, from the masses at the festival to our year-round online community and the larger markets Hempfest licensed events reach. Pricing ranges from $1,500 to $30,000 for full packages. This includes premium vending placements, information displays in a range of print and online media, and additional exposure opportunities that are only available exclusively to our sponsors. This includes banners on our stages and/or logos on all our collateral materials." On a positive note....peep this vid..!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJcHjj2awT0

Truly a new family tradition. This family who owns a local jewelry shop goes all out for Christmas…read more They decorate their home in West Seattle to the max by adding miss ands more each year. Check it out between Alki and Fauntleroy on Beach Avenue after sunset.

The Dragon Fest was once a day time summer event, focused on the Chinatown portion. Because of…read moreCOVID this year, it's instead evolved into a day and night C-ID Night Market, representing all of Chinatown-International District - an 8-hour event from 1pm to 9pm. I must say I am impressed with the turnout. While it has always been well attended, we arrived at 8:50pm, expecting to see a mostly closed street fair. Instead, all the booths are still hopping. Shoppers are shopping, and eaters are ordering food and drinks. There may have been such a HUGE turnout that the food lines were very long. When we arrived so late, the vendors were still merrily cooking while some food trucks had "sold out" stickers on selected items. How exciting for them to make up for the losses during COVID closures. As this is a C-ID market, the crowds gravitating towards the booths that sold cute Asian themed items, east Asian to be exact. Food choices were also predominately Asian, including SE Asian. I am not complaining. Hehe. The food truck that caught my attention is YS Street Food Group selling their Sizzling Squid at $12. I also bought a Thai Iced Tea at $4. It's been at least 2 years since I had their well marinating tongue numbing mala squid. It's also very tender. I love it! Folks were buying 3 or more of them! Their Thai iced tea is quite good too, not too sweet and flavorful. Even though we just had a big dinner, we managed to consume more. LOL!

For what could have become a hectic food festive the people who organized the event did a great…read morejob. There were performances every 30 minutes and the groups that performed clearly practiced and put on a show. There were a lot of places to eat and the food walk that offered $3 menu options were awesome. I was so happy to be able to try places like Tai tung and kau kau bbq which were places on my list. There were a lot of vendors and stalls and I was super impressed by the dragon dances! One thing I will say is I think they would do a lot better if they put their informational booth more prominently as a lot of people asked me where to get the maps and food walk pamphlets I was looking at in passing. Overall will be back next year!

What a pleasant visit I had at the Northwest African American Museum. There was so much to take in…read moreas I learned about the history of this area and the many first African Americans who lead in significant areas of leadership. One of the best hidden gems that I encourage you, especially if you are a Luther Vandross fan is to see his exhibit. I was able to see six of his grammys and the show outfits he and his singers wore in his televised concert. It is a must see to see his hand written notes and the manner in which he used his musical genius. The staff is super friendly and knowledgable. Make this a to do on your list if you visit Seattle.

NAAM is such a great place for families! From photos with Santa and crafts in the winter, to bounce…read morehouses and kids crafts on Juneteenth...they know how to put on an event! The feeling of community that I see my children feeling is everything. Performances, artists, art...in so many forms...it's incredible. Inside, family loves the book vending machine and the kids corner area with books and toys. The interactive exhibits are fun and informative. My kids like opening all the doors and using the headphones to hear stories. They love seeing people that look like family having huge impacts on history. Just a great place. Not to mention, The staff is friendly and helpful and never hard to find. I recommend the membership, there's enough going on year round to make it worth it.