For more than 70 years, Seafair has been synonymous with summer. But now, for the first time, Seafair is holding a winter event, aiming to draw locals and visitors to the waterfront during the slowest season of the year.
The nonprofit festival organizer is partnering with the Downtown Seattle Association and ExplorePNW, which produces a newsletter on places to go in the region, to produce Winter by the Water on Saturday at Seattle’s waterfront. With a combination of free and paid programming, live music, activities and a massive group photo featuring umbrellas, the event is designed to flip the script on the gloom of the Big Dark and celebrate the subdued beauty of Seattle’s winter season.
Since its founding in 1950, Seafair has become best known for its Seattle summer events including the Boeing Seafair Air Show featuring the Blue Angels, Apollo Mechanical Cup Hydroplane Races and the Alaska Airlines Seafair Torchlight Parade.
But “we’re constantly hearing from businesses about how things tend to slow down in the winter months,” said Emily Cantrell, president and CEO of Seafair. “By introducing Winter by the Water, we’re really wanting to create something that benefits everyone who calls Seattle home and remind everyone that community is still so important during the winter. As much as we want to stay home and hunker down on our couches, it’s important to get out and just see how beautiful Seattle is, even in winter.”
The Winter by the Water festival, which encompasses the waterfront from Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream at Pier 50 to the Bell Harbor International Conference Center at Pier 66, is free to attend. There will be a hydroplane on display, roving Seafair Pirates and Seafair Clowns, and a vendor marketplace featuring diverse small businesses.
At 1 p.m., the activist hip-hop dance group Dope Girl Movement will perform at Overlook Walk. Their performance will be followed by an Umbrella Uprising group photo — open to the public to join — captured by drone.
“We want to have a huge photo opportunity on Overlook Walk of everyone with their umbrellas, whether they purchase the branded one or brought one from home,” said Cantrell. The umbrellas, which will be available for purchase ($25), are meant to be a playful rebuttal of the idea that Seattleites never carry umbrellas, and to encourage people to enjoy themselves regardless of the weather.
Full access to everything the festival offers requires a passport ($25 for standard passport), available online or at Pier 62, which serves as a ticket to the concert and after-party at Pier 66 featuring a DJ set and performances by Smokey Brights and The Talbott Brothers. The bar will serve Seafair Winter Beer, an amber lager specially brewed for the event by Fremont Brewing.
About a dozen waterfront businesses are participating in the passport experience, offering free and discounted treats and experiences including ice cream mini-flights, a pop-up oyster bar, clam chowder and discounted aquarium admission. Premier passports ($125), restricted to ages 21-and-older, include a Salish Sea boat tour, wine tasting at The Fisherman’s Restaurant & Bar, and VIP concert access. Kids passports ($15) come with an otter plushie and include carousel rides at Miners Landing. Completed passports can be used to enter the raffle at Pier 66, with prizes that include tickets on Alaska Airlines and to local sports events.
“Our hope is that people will want to come back time after time and bring others to experience the waterfront,” said Cantrell.
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