Most of Seattle's festivals take place in the summer, the only season when Seattle has reliably sunny weather.
- Chinese Lunar New Year (International District). Jan/Feb. Numerous stalls and performances, and don't forget to partake in all the cheap food!
- Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) (Downtown, Seattle Center, Uptown), ☏ +1 206 464-5830, info@siff.net. May. One of the largest film festivals in North America, showing international cinema. Watch indie films at Seattle area screens and vote for your favorite; each category winner receives a Golden Space Needle trophy. SIFF also screens films year-round at its venues.
- Northwest Folklife Festival, 305 Harrison St (Seattle Center), ☏ +1-206-684-7300, folklife@nwfolklife.org. Memorial Day weekend. A more low-key and local version of Bumbershoot, mainly family-friendly. Free ($10 donation per person per day encouraged). (updated Jan 2026)
- Fremont Fair (Fremont). a weekend in mid or late June. Home of the Solstice Parade (including the nude bike ride), and a really fun drunken time all over Fremont. Vendors, bad live music and eclectic crowds at the bars make for an interesting time. Friends who live in Fremont become especially valuable for a place to crash during the fair.
- Seattle PrideFest (Seattle Center). A weekend in June or July. One of the biggest gay pride festivals in the country. Food carts, beer gardens, adult theme performances, and the eagerly anticipated Pride Parade.
- Bite of Seattle (Seattle Center). mid/late July. Part of Seafair festivities. Enjoy some of the best delicacies of Seattle.
- Capitol Hill Block Party (Capitol Hill). a mid-summer weekend. Yearly live music event held on Capitol Hill over a weekend in mid-summer (usually the end of July). Consists primarily of local independent bands of various styles, coupled with some bigger name independent label acts.
- Seafair (everywhere). July-early August. Seattle's biggest festival, signifying the arrival of summer. Neighborhood events such as parades and street fairs run throughout the festival, with the downtown Torchlight Parade in late July. Seafair culminates in early August when hydroplane races and the Blue Angels bring loud, fast boats and planes to Lake Washington.
- Bumbershoot (Seattle Center). Labor Day weekend (early September). Seattle's largest music and arts festival, featuring dozens of local and world-class musical acts.
- Night Market & Autumn Moon Festival (International District). Early September. Chinese festival of food and outdoor market.
- Luminata (Green Lake). Evening of the autumnal equinox. A festival of lights at Green Lake, including a procession from the old Aqua Theatre to a clearing about 3/4 mile north.
Seattle Center hosts smaller events almost every weekend throughout the year.
- Festál Cultural Center (Seattle Center). Year-round except December. Celebrate the world with festivals from about 25 countries represented, one country nearly every 2 weeks.
There are dozens of neighborhood street fairs, most of them on weekends between mid-May and late July, with a few in August, September, or even early October. These range from a classic car show in Greenwood to a seafood festival in Ballard; nearly all feature a vast array of food trucks and booths, and some (especially those in Ballard, West Seattle, and Georgetown) often have genuinely first-rate music, especially toward evening.
A few churches and other religious congregations host festivals that also draw many thousands of people, the two biggest probably being Bon Odori at the Seattle Buddhist Church just west of the International District, and St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in otherwise sleepy Montlake, which hosts its festival in late September or early October, far enough into the autumn (and the rainier weather) that they do a good portion of it under a giant marquee tent. Check local listings for exact dates.
