Seattle’s Big Moment isn’t FIFA: Hands Down it’s First Thursday in Pioneer Square.
Cabinet of Dreams Gallery Show, June First Thursday.
Mark your calendars – you have to see it to believe it.
First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square is the best thing happening in Seattle.
If you missed it on June 4, we opened our Cabinet of Dreams Gallery Show and there was, no exaggeration here, a line out our door. Sixteen hundred people came through in 3 hours.
Who was in that line? Stylish, young people dressed to the nines. I had to check my GPS to make sure we were still in the right city and hadn’t actually opened a portal to another universe.
I’m a born and raised Seattleite. I also lived in NYC for over a decade and have traveled around the world to huge cities. I love Seattle, but I would never in a million years call it glamorous or chic. Sometimes I would hesitate to even call it metropolitan. Seattle has other amazing qualities: the way neon glitters in the drizzle, its passion for good bookstores, endless great cafés, and Tahoma bringing the drama.
But something happens on first Thursday now. I can’t tell you when it started. I’ve heard people say, “First Thursday is finally back to what it was before Covid.” HA! That is some seriously selective memory. First Thursday has never been as cool as it is now. It is a seen and be seen moment for the fashionable, the arty, or those that want to gawk at the arty fashionables. It is a scene. I can’t think of anything like it in Seattle. Ever.
Whatever alchemy of civic investment and TikTok made this so, this is the altar I want to worship at.
I was in NYC in my twenties. And let me tell you, I had FUN. I went to art events wearing vintage dresses and heels to the sky, eyeliner winged just so, all with the hope of getting free wine and meeting cute boys.
I’m sneaking up on 50 years old now, I can afford my own wine, and I’ve locked down my cute boy, (finally,) but First Thursday is so infectiously delightful, I can’t imagine missing another one. There is something just so…hopeful about people trying. Trying to stand out. Trying new things. Trying to find romance. Trying to get a table for dinner in a struggling neighborhood that is suddenly inundated with sexy people. IRL.
Have I evangelized enough? No? Okay:
First Thursday, especially in the summer months, is unmissable. Thanks to the Pioneer Square BIA’s Inspiration Fund and 4Culture, for June and July we’re at the center of it. (At least geographically!) That means there is one more chance to wade through the throngs of beautiful people to come in and high five our progress towards opening Seattle’s next big thing: July 2. We’ll be open from 5-8pm.
If even an eye-poppingly stylish crowd sounds like too many people for you, the gallery is also open on weekends and game days through the end of FIFA. Our calendar is here.
