18 Things to Do in Seattle Before February Ends

Emerald City Comic Con @ Seattle Convention Center

Get geeky 🧝‍♀️

📅 Thursday, February 29th – Sunday, March 3rd 
📍 Seattle Convention Center
🎟 Tickets and passes ranging from $5.99 – $420

Listen up, you nerds! There’s a massive festival happening right in the center of your city! And it’s full of stars! And merchandise! And signings from some of your favorite actors and authors! And hella people are going to dress like weirdos and they’ll be totally in their element! And I will join you there! 

Whether you’re a gamer, a comic book geek, a cinephile, a TV fanatic, or a cosplay enthusiast, Emerald City Comic Con has you covered. Me, I’m in it for Artist Alley, where you can interact with authors and artists of both mainstream and independent projects and directly support them. Then there are the panels, which range from educational to promotional to extremely goofy. (I recall a stellar one years ago entirely on Tina Belcher.) 

And then, of course, behold the celebrities, there for interviews, autograph signings, and photo ops. Some big-name highlights scheduled to attend are: 

⭐️ Jodie Whittaker (Dr. Who) 
⭐️ John DiMaggio (Futurama, a.k.a. my favorite show of all time) 
⭐️ Jhonen Vasquez (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac) 
⭐️ Dante Basco (Hook) 
⭐️ Writer/director Mike Flanagan and actress Kate Siegel (Midnight Mass) 
⭐️ Misha Collins (Supernatural) 

And for those Twihards who filled the SIFF Cinema Egyptian last November, four members of the immortal Cullen family are booked: Peter Facinelli, Jackson Rathbone, Ashley Greene, and Kellan Lutz. 

All the VIP tickets are sold out, but a 4-day pass will cost you $145 ($30 for kids), while single-day tickets range from $43-72. And for those who are crowd-averse, consider the Popverse ECCC Digital Ticket, where you can stream video panels from home. 

🖊 MARCUS GORMAN

Lunar New Year Celebration @ Chinatown-International District

Fresh starts 🐉

📅 Saturday, February 24th, 2024
 ⏰ 11 am – 4 pm
📍 Seattle’s Chinatown-International District: 423 Maynard Ave S, Seattle
🧧 More information here

What to know:

• The annual celebration held in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District will take place on Saturday, February 24th.
• Vendors will line up along S King St, offering food, handmade crafts, and retail goods. 
• Visit the main stage at Hing Hay Park to see dance and music performances. 
• Go on the Lunar New Year Food Walk by collecting stamps from 5 of the 40+ participating CID businesses for a chance to win a prize basket.
• With over thousands of people RSVPing on Facebook, the streets will be busy. The lines will be long, AKA an excellent chance to make some friends.

🖊 PATHERESA WELLS

Seattle Kraken vs. Detroit Red Wings @ Climate Pledge Arena

Lunar New Year 2024 🧧

📅 Monday, February 19th
📍 Climate Pledge Arena: 334 1st Ave N, Seattle
⏰  12:30 pm
🎟 $113+ 

Seattle has proven itself to be a true-blue hockey city, and that happened not just because the Kraken got into the playoffs in their sophomore season (though that was very nice of them), but also because they are smartly engaging with the community. Some major league sporting events make me feel like a small cog in a marketing machine, but something about the Kraken’s outreach team’s tenor so far feels… right. Sure, not every patron knows how to walk around Climate Pledge Arena without blocking a dozen people (I’m a fast walker), but the vibes are still excellent. 

Of most remarkable note is their collaboration with local artists to help design theme and celebration nights as part of their “Hockey Is For Everyone” initiative. At last year’s Lunar New Year game, there were Monyee Chau’s knock-out warmup jerseys worn by the players pregame and then auctioned off for the One Roof Foundation charity. For this year’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, Juliana Kang-Robinson has taken inspiration from the Joseon Dynasty in her dragon-forward jersey design. 

The event, which will highlight local AAPI businesses and organizations, also comes with a nice little treat, as it’s one of the rare weekday games. A Monday at 12:30 pm? I can celebrate the start of the Lunar New Year, see my boys slap around a puck, and still be home with plenty of time before Jeopardy? Sign me up. 

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A post shared by Juliana Kang Robinson (@julianakangrobinson)

🖊 MARCUS GORMAN

Madonna: The Celebration Tour @ Climate Pledge Arena

Mommy 👑

📆 Saturday, February 17th + Sunday, February 18th
📍 Climate Pledge Arena: 334 1st Ave N, Seattle

Whew, I don’t know about you, but I was worried when the Celebration Tour was postponed in June after a bacterial infection landed Our Mother in the ICU. And by Our Mother, I obviously mean our lady, The Material Girl, The Queen of Pop, Madonna!!!!!!—who, thankfully, has hit the road again to celebrate her 40-year career. Originally scheduled for July 2023, the concert will now come to Climate Pledge Arena for two nights this February. 

Of course, fashion-paired music will play a pivotal part in this tour. 17 is the number of outfits that will appear at Climate Pledge as Madame X makes her way around a layered circular stage, inspired by her wedding cake topper performance at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. You know, the “Like a Virgin” one. 

Who’s opening? Bob The Drag Queen is both the opener and emcee for the tour. With her looks, Bob will pay homage to two revolutionary women named Mary. (Imagine breasts and bustle, Marie Antoinette-style.) Also, expect celeb special guests. During a ballroom segment of the show, some surprises have joined at previous tour stops to help judge the show’s voguing. FKA Twigs, Donatella Versace, and even Santa Claus have shown up. 

Who will be the guest judge in the Emerald City? 

🖊 PATHERESA WELLS

Northwest Flower & Garden Festival @ Seattle Convention Center

We’re springing 🌸

📆 Wednesday, February 14th — Sunday, February 18th
🎟 $13 — $80
📍 Seattle Convention Center: 705 Pike St, Seattle

This year’s theme is “I Heart Spring” and will feature more than 20 display gardens (including the first from Molbak’s Garden + Home in 25 years), over 115 learning activities from seasoned experts, and a marketplace to shop for all your plant wares. You’ll brush shoulders with Kamili Bell Hill of PlantBlerd, Netflix’s Big Flower Fight host Kristen Griffin Vander-Yacht, and The Sill founder Eliza Blank, who will host seminars and lead workshops throughout the fest. Also making its return to the festival is Container Wars. This competition pits garden experts against one another to create cool, functional containers that gardeners of every level can use. 

And! First Editions Shrubs & Trees is debuting their new—and kinda goth—Eclipse Bigleaf Hydrangea (see above) in all its blackish-leaf-and-crushed-cranberry-petal glory alongside 500 other hydrangea species. Every day of the fest also brings a new Blooms & Bubbles Floral Workshop where you and your best gardening buddies can learn how to create your own (mini) conservatory or mount a Staghorn fern.

🖊 JAS KEIMIG