After ‘grueling’ last year, Seattle to celebrate reopening with series of summer events

Seattle’s Pike Place Market. (AP photo / John Froschauer)

Now that Washington is fully reopened, Seattle will soon be hosting a series of Welcome Back Weeks to get people vaccinated, help local businesses, and provide information on what the city’s own reopening process is like.

What is allowed now after Washington reopens?

The first event will take place on July 17th and 18th at Hing Hay Park in the International District and is known as the “Celebration of Local Food and Culture” and features live music, cultural performances and martial arts demonstrations.

“As a city, it is time to turn our collective attention to recreation and ensure we build our neighborhoods better, fairer and more equitable,” Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a press release. “As part of this effort, the city and our partners are ready to welcome you back downtown and welcome back our artists, small businesses and our ability to be together.”

During this first week of the “Welcome Back” celebrations, the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) will also be setting up booths across downtown and will continue to host a variety of other events, happy hours, city walks, and more across the city during the summer.

The second event of Welcome Back Week is an open air concert in Occidental Square on Saturday, July 24th, from 10:30 am to 3:00 pm. Cast includes Shaina Shepherd, Shenandoah Davis, and the Black Tones.

The third and final event will be “Halloween in July” on Sunday, July 25th in Westlake Park, starting at 12 noon with a costume contest and a live concert at 7 pm

All three events will also include Seattle Fire Department pop-ups offering both Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines.

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It does so amid larger plans to revitalize downtown Seattle, with millions of dollars being invested in efforts to help local businesses and workers reopen.

Over the course of the pandemic, the DSA estimates that over 450 “street-level business locations are permanently closed” while the average daily pedestrian traffic fell from around 450,000 people in January 2020 to 300,000 in June 2021. The pandemic led that number to 130,000 daily Visitor sank.

The hope with the city’s newly announced Welcome Back Weeks is that reopening the city will help start the recovery process in earnest.

“Our arts and cultural institutions, restaurants and retailers have had 16 stressful months behind them,” said DSA President Jon Scholes. “We need to use the momentum of our state reopening and lead these small businesses to recovery.”