📆 Walk the Block Art Festival: Saturday, September 28th
🎟 Free to attend
📍 Central District venues: Register here to receive a digital map
If you seek to close out your summer in a communally joyful mood, feeling grounded in place and belonging, consider Walk The Block.
This art festival is unlike anything else in Seattle. The first-ever event was produced in October 2021 by Central District-based Wa Na Wari, an immersive community art project based in a 1909-built, fifth-generation, Black-owned home.
On Saturday, from 1 – 6 pm, explore car-free streets, a marketplace of local vendors, intimate pop-ups in neighborhood homes, unexpected mediums, more art than you can handle, “and,” adds co-founder and curator Elisheba Johnson, “some fun stuff to make you laugh.”
👀 What to see:
- “Slow Drag,” Mendi + Keith Obadike’s mobile sound installation, a procession of tricked-out from around the PNW. (Think lowriders, hydraulics, sick paint jobs, and fat tires.)
- Turn back time and take an “extended reality” walking tour of the old Central District with Revere XR.
- Bubblegum pink pop art installations by Tariqa Waters
- Festival headliner Aliah Sheffield, performing from “These Songs Are For Anyone Sick of Earth,” her debut EP for Def Jam Recordings
💡 What to know:
- Admission: The festival is free to attend, making the barrier to entry almost nonexistent, though people can also pay what they can to help sustain the festival. Register here to get the digital event map ahead of time.
- Street closures: Cherry Street from MLK to 23rd Avenue and 23rd Avenue from Columbia Street to Union Street will be closed to car traffic, as will many of the nearby safe streets.
- Transportation: Pedicabs will be available free of charge to help ferry folks around the festival. Bring your scooter or bike, and consider taking public transit.
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