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Taylor Shellfish shows off the best of Pacific Northwest Shellfish. Magnificent seafood is as much our city’s brand as innovation, public radio, and our weird pride about not using umbrellas. But, until recently, we lacked many excellent dedicated seafood bars—though there were oyster bars and sushi destinations aplenty.  We could go out for Italian food and assume there would be brothy shellfish; neighborhood restaurants loaded up on salmon come spring, and chefs all knew their lingcod from their black cod (and that neither is actually a cod). Any restaurant hewing local in any way had seafood options. Now, we have all that, plus a slate of restaurants that fit the bill of what people from elsewhere imagine a seafood restaurant to be. And that makes us as happy as a geoduck. Local Tide Fremont Victor Steinbrueck cultivates a network of local fisheries that would impress the Michelin star crowd. But he turns that haul into the diner menu of your seafaring dreams—rockfish banh mi, salmon BLTs, a big bowl of home fries layered with bacon bits and smoked cod. Local Tide’s signature, a plush roll of hand-picked crab on just the right split bun, only surfaces on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. RockCreek Fremont, Kirkland A region this rich in seafood deserves more spots like Eric Donnelly’s, where the chef’s fishing acumen and culinary finesse join forces for preparations you won’t see on 20 other menus around town. Donnelly’s menu is equal parts Totten Inlet and Hawaiian tombo, and slaloms from whole grilled snapper to tuna tiradito to a hearty stew of shellfish and Neah Bay rockfish. Throw in the covered patio, the cocktails, and the gently Southern brunch menu: RockCreek is the whole package. Seabird Bainbridge Island Brendan McGill’s flagship restaurant pays tribute to the water however it can: seaweed focaccia, a kelp caesar, a martini with shellfish-rested gin. The rest of the menu makes use of McGill’s nearby farm and the wood-fueled oven. The execution isn’t always even, but the service and the menu's sheer brain-boggling ambition make each meal feel like a special occasion. Westward Wallingford Chef Mike Stamey runs Renee Erickson’s restaurant on the north end of Lake Union. When the water-and-skyline view is this good, the patio this ample, most restaurants could phone in the food. But Stamey’s seafood menu spans the Pacific coastline, from Washington spot prawns to spicy clam dip to scallop ceviche in aguachile. All hail the seafood tower. Peak PNW: freshly shucked oysters consumed next to bubbling tanks at Taylor Shellfish's Melrose Market location. Taylor Shellfish Capitol Hill, Pioneer Square, Queen Anne The family-run oyster farming operation has three Seattle-area dining outposts, each with its own menu and ambience—a pregame-fried-food feel at Pioneer Square, a bright intimacy at Seattle Center, a genuine fish market vibe with bubbling water tanks on Capitol Hill. You can order them expertly shucked by the dozen, but Taylor’s kitchens also do right by geoduck, dungeness, and manila clams. Seattle Fish Guys Central District Alums from Mutual Fish and City Fish opened a non-bougie seafood market at 23rd and Jackson that’s just as much a destination for lunch as for black cod fillets or raw scallops and spot prawns. Custom poke bowls, shrimp cocktail, crab sandwiches, big plates of sashimi, chowder, and fresh uni and oysters are a product of careful prep and absurdly fresh ingredients, all with the perfect handful of beers to wash them down. Even the Bloody Mary at the Market is a seafood-centric experience. The Market Edmonds, Downtown Shubert Ho’s downtown Edmonds cafe is tiny—a counter and a covered, heated patio. But it puts out a massive lineup of casual fish dishes. The lobster rolls have a devout following, but the menu’s full of finds, like lobster fries, green curry shrimp and grits, or a bag full of fried soft-shell crab. The Market serves a similar menu, plus morning coffee, at its Seattle Art Museum location. Pike Place Chowder Downtown, Pike Place Market It’s hard to disassociate this Post Alley counter with high-season tourist lines, but it’s even tougher to forget that superb chowder—creamy and rich with clams. Order online for quicker access to varieties made with crab and oyster, smoked salmon, even vegan lime and coconut. The Pike Place Market location has outdoor seating, but the location on the top floor of Pacific Place feels like a secret. The Walrus and the Carpenter Ballard Back in 2010, Renee Erickson thought she was opening a casual, hidden-away oyster bar. Then came the buzz—and the excitement hasn’t diminished since. Yes, it’s a great place to eat oysters, but the broader food menu (part French, wholly Northwest) is full of inspired seafood dishes, not to mention pitch-perfect vegetables and a signature steak tartare. Come early, or plan to wait in the amaro bar next door. Ivar's Acres of Clams Various Ivar Haglund, Seattle’s own P.T. Barnum with a yen for pranks, started a fish and chips counter on the waterfront in 1938. Today it’s grown to include more than 20 fast-casual outposts that serve chowder and fish and chips from Tacoma to Marysville—including the Alki Spud. Ivar’s also runs three full-service waterside restaurants, where the vibe is far from cool. The White Swan Public House South Lake Union Hidden away within the Ocean Alexander Marina on Lake Union, Matt’s in the Market’s seafood-focused sibling applies its rustic, seasonal lens to crab hush puppies, beautiful halibut preparations, and rich seafood stew. Even casual fry shack staples like crispy calamari and fishwiches display the care of a kitchen with high-end roots; ditto the house’s signature “poutine of the sea,” essentially fries topped with clam chowder and bacon. Also on premise: plenty of fresh-shucked oysters (and Champagne to pair) and one of the town’s epic waterside patios. Ray's Boathouse and Ray's Cafe Ballard Downstairs: the site of a thousand anniversary dinners. Upstairs: a more casual menu, lunch service, and a patio with Shilshole Bay views that draw summer visitors like a slushy machine in a heatwave. The common ground: seafood prepared along a spectrum of familiar to classic. Ray’s groundbreaking days are well behind it, but hoist a glass of Washington wine to the restaurant that began as a coffee and bait shop in the 1930s, then went on to introduce Northwest hallmarks like Olympia oysters and Copper River salmon into our dining vernacular.  Bar Harbor South Lake Union An aggressively nautical hangout in the 400 Fairview building embraces seafood from the other coast. Namely a proper lobster roll, with knuckles and claws spilling out of a split roll. Plus other Northeastern-styled bar fare, and maybe some nachos and queso, because hey—it’s SLU. Local loyalists can get behind the lobster roll variation made with dungeness crab. Aqua by El Gaucho sits on the edge of a pier. Aqua by El Gaucho Belltown El Gaucho’s sibling applies the steak house’s retro-upscale ethos to seafood, then throws in the kind of stunning views you only get at the tip of Pier 70. So: piano bar, check; lobster tail add-on, check. The modular list of protein entrees and shareable carby sides (dungeness mac and cheese) echoes the old-school steak house menu format. There are also plenty of options for diners who aren’t into seafood. Elliott's Oyster House Waterfront The waterfront location means tourists occupy most tables at this venerable seafood spot, which serves local seafood for lunch, brunch, dinner, and happy hour. But Elliott’s oyster program is peerless—a list as carefully sourced and curated as any wine roster, and a staff able to break it all down for the uninitiated.  Driftwood focuses on finding the best seafood around. Driftwood West Seattle Chef Dan Mallahan meticulously sources his seafood from local waters, working with Quinault and Makah tribal members to bring in the best fish and shellfish and to support the people carrying on the state’s fishing traditions. The hyper-curated ingredients mean that the menu stays small, but it also doesn’t miss with items like halibut cheek terrine, pull-apart rolls with Dungeness crab fat butter, and Neah Bay spring king salmon. The prime spot on Alki Beach and excellent selection of local seafood friendly wines make it a top pick for celebrating a special occasion. The Garrison Ballard The folks behind Fremont’s Le Coin nail the current high-low mix that people want from seafood spots. We want to order a seafood tower for dinner with an upgrade to a whole Dungeness crab, but we also want to dip the house corn chips in some crab dip. While the entrées include seared sablefish with celeriac and Columbia River steelhead with mustard and herb velouté, the fries are also great—and there’s a late-night happy hour with caviar on the menu. Half Shell's Dungeness crab roll says, "Lobster who?" Half Shell Pike Place Market Tom Douglas gives the people what they want, and what they want is seafood near Pike Place Market. This modern update to the classic oyster bar is cute and better than it needs to be, especially at happy hour when the mini-tinis are $10 and work well to wash down a roasted oyster with ’nduja butter or ginger shrimp nugget slider. Oyster Cellar Downtown Oyster Cellar’s marble-top bar in the bottom of an almost-century-old downtown building gives it a pleasant old-school gravitas that doesn’t quite fit the food of the more casual, Seattle-side seafood sibling of Brendan McGill’s Seabird. That makes it no less pleasant to sit down for creative takes on local seafood, like the shrimp Louie salad in deviled egg form and burrata-topped tuna toast. La Marea Ballard Mexico’s west coast meets the Northwest at this seafood counter inside Fair Isle Brewing. Though the PNW has traditionally shied away from messing with our oh-so-perfect seafood, LA transplants Bohden Tarantine and Lizbeth Dones bravely dial up the heat on dishes like scallop aguachile and seafood cocktail. Silky tuna and lush hamachi drape over crisp tostadas, with bold supporting casts of chile morita aioli, macha XO sauce, and smoked albacore salad. One of the casual, appetizer-size dishes works well as a bar snack; sharing two or three and an order of chips with roasted green chile queso makes it a fine meal.

Seattle Paddle Rave gathered hundreds of boaters near Gasworks Park on Tuesday. Not to brag, but I own a boat. My very own seafaring vessel that I use for recreation, launched from any port that suits my fancy. It's also only 11 feet long, two and a half feet wide, and six inches thick. It is, of course, a standup paddleboard. I'm not the only one to embrace paddleboard ownership in the last decade; on Tuesday, more than 800 people (at least by one count) took to the water near Gasworks for something called the Seattle Paddle Rave, a new event meant to thaw out the Seattle Freeze. The flotilla gathered offshore, a giant blur of turquoise blue sidewalls and exposed shoulders just waiting for a sunburn. Watching them, it was clear that paddleboard culture has changed the face of Lake Union. Lake Union, the city's central water park, was formed by the Vashon Glacier thousands of years ago and was used by the Duwamish Tribe for centuries—for fishing and transportation but also, inevitably, for recreation. White settlement brought lumber mills and pleasure craft, and eventually Lake Union became home to "every single kind of boat that possibly exists," says Josh Anderson, executive director at the Center for Wooden Boats, which sits on the lake's southern shore. Oh, plus seaplanes. Though stand-up paddleboards date back centuries to Polynesia, the 2010s brought a revolution: the inflatable version. When Amazon debuted its Treasure Truck in 2015, its signature launch deal was a $477 inflatable paddleboard discounted to just $99. I scored one of those myself and a water hobbyist was born. Lake Union hasn't ever belonged solely to the yacht-owners of the world, even if they do park their insanely large luxury barges on the docks near Duke's Seafood. Various outfitters rent electric vessels, kayaks, and even hot tub boats. The Center for Wooden Boats has a free program for wooden rowboats. But before the dawn of the age of the inflatable paddleboard, storage fees or awkward roof racks were required to ride them. Today, you can literally fit a boat inside an amusingly large backpack.

Hungry for news? Welcome to our Friday Feed, where we run through all the local food and restaurant news this week—and maybe help you figure out where to eat this weekend. Now Aflutter The former Plum Bistro space returned to life this week when Colibrí Mexican Kitchen opened. The huge menu covers a ton of ground, mostly hewing toward Mexican American favorites, with crispy tacos and quesadillas. Coffeeholic House expands again, this time bringing drinks like matcha purple haze to Wallingford. In Full Color Colorful drinks specialist and Vietnamese coffee house Coffeeholic House opened the doors to its Wallingford shop this week, continuing to expand the mini-empire that includes Columbia City and Greenwood locations, plus MCozy Cafe in the U-District. Coming Attractions Ferry fare: Last week, we noted that longtime chef Greg Atkinson announced his retirement and that he had sold his Bainbridge Island restaurant, Marché. This week, the Seattle Times follows up on that to bring us news of its replacement: Sweetwater Tavern. Southern comfort: Zax Eat ‘n Three looks to open this coming week in the former Hangry Panda space on Aurora. With a checkerboard floor and smoked chicken slathered in Alabama white sauce, it looks to bring a taste of the South to North Seattle. Eastern comfort: According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, Ukrainian sandwich chain Lviv Croissant plans to open its first Seattle location in November, in Southcenter. Comfort Italiano: The owners of Italian fine-dining classic Il Terrazzo Carmine announced a new downtown restaurant coming to Fifth Avenue this fall. The Carmine empire, now in the hands of Carmine Smeraldo's sons, is planning something along the lines of the Bellevue location—an evolution from the original that honors its roots. Cold Comfort It’s been hot. It’s been a slow week. Not a whole lot of restaurant news happening. Seems like a great time for me to drop some opinions hot takes (I'm sorry) on what to eat during the hottest weeks of summer. Cool off with radish kimchi this week. Banchan: We dropped by H Mart in Lynnwood on Sunday, mostly to buy my 7-year-old socks with Cinnamoroll on them. But while we were there, we grabbed a selection of banchan—kimchi, pickled radishes, potato salad, and spicy fish cakes—and have had three straight meals of them: over rice, with steamed egg, and with cold noodles (also from H Mart). Copy this idea with local flavor by stopping into Pioneer Square’s Ohsun Banchan Deli & Cafe to stock up. Ice cream: Should you have ice cream for dinner often? Probably not. Should you have it for dinner once or twice a year? Definitely, and here's where to go. And if you choose New Zealand–style, you can take heart in that there is at least some fruit involved. (Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist.) Salad: The only way I consider salad a complete dinner is if I follow it with ice cream, but I recognize that other people disagree. For those who do want salad for dinner, I’ve made you a list of the city’s best options. Oh, BTW, here’s what you missed last week.

How long does it take to drive I-90 to Missoula? Depends on how much fun you want to have along the way. The ideal freeway pit stop must contain multitudes. Not only must it be close to an off-ramp, but it should provide more entertainment than the interstate. It must be approachable and fit for a 15-minute visit, but also serve a dollop of local culture. For the stretch of I-90 between Seattle and Missoula—some 475 miles of cruising—we looked for pull-offs worthy of a little extra time and gas. What we found was delicious and distracting. South Fork's patio: like someone's backyard, but bigger. Exit 32: South Fork North Bend 35 minutes | North Bend Forget to eat before you got on the road? This family friendly hangout is known for its killer, croissant-like cinnamon rolls, and the space has easy access that doesn't require braving downtown North Bend. There's lots of outdoor space to get out last-minute wiggles (when it's not raining), but wait times for food service can get lengthy on weekends. You can make your own party at Dru Bru. Exit 84: Dru Bru 1 hour 30 minutes | Cle Elum Cle Elum Pizza Company Though launched in Snoqualmie Pass, where there's still a small tap room, the brewery opened a gigantic brewing and tasting facility in downtown Cle Elum in 2021. With a putt-putt golf course outside and a coloring wall inside, it's popular with kids. The brick-oven pizzas served at next-door Cle Elum Pizza Company are thoughtfully designed, like the Mad Wonka pie that marries candied jalapenos with pineapple puree. Though many Dru Bru beers have German roots, there are still plenty of IPAs. This is Washington, after all. Exit 106: The Early Bird 1 hour 45 minutes | Ellensburg Anyone who makes it across the Cascades during this cafe's open hours is making good time. Famous for breakfast but solid for lunch, the eatery makes big bowls of eggs and sausage topped with green pork chili, or eat-on-the-go options like breakfast burritos. It's worth bypassing the fast food joints that line the freeway exit in favor of a trip into downtown Ellensburg; parking is rarely a problem, and the small businesses there appreciate the visit. The Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park has the views. Exit 136: Gingko Petrified Forest Interpretive Center 2 hours 10 minutes | Vantage With long-running construction on the bridge over the Columbia River at Vantage adding to traffic, this tiny state park is a welcome respite. And bathroom. With overlooks with views of the Columbia River Gorge, displays explain how big geologic moves created the unique landscape. Examples of petrified wood are cool and all, but the nearby Ginkgo Gem Shop is a goofier stop thanks to its dinosaur statues. In Moses Lake, calm yourself. Exit 176: Japanese Peace Garden 2 hours 50 minutes | Moses Lake The long stretches of freeway making you angry? Nothing calms the nerves like the serenity of Moses Lake's free city park dotted with pagodas and a torii gate. Short walking paths are ideal for stretching legs, and there are picnic areas to enjoy the Eastern Washington sunshine. Nearby McCosh Park offers waterfront space on a finger of the town's eponymous lake. Exit 11: Atlas Mill Waterfront Park 4 hours 45 minutes | Coeur d'Alene, ID Any dog that makes it all the way across Washington state deserves a park break. Just over the border into Idaho, this newly constructed stretch of riverfront is a killer cool-off for everyone, only minutes from the off-ramp. The dog park includes a long beach with space for canine swim time, plus a hose to rinse off the sand. Humans looking for a dip have their own shoreline and docks, and an ice cream truck sometimes sets up in the parking lot. The old mission in Cataldo, Idaho, includes the state's oldest building. Exit 39: Old Mission State Park 5 hours 15 minutes | Cataldo, ID The oldest building in Idaho is also one of the loveliest, making it a historic pull-off worth a few extra minutes. The displays don't ignore the historical context of the property, built up when Catholic missionaries came to convert members of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in the nineteenth century.  Exit 33: St. Regis Travel Center 6 hours 20 minutes | St. Regis, MT The billboards hawking huckleberry milkshakes start before I-90 even crosses into Montana. With few exits and a lot of beautiful scenery, the drive down toward Missoula builds anticipation for the travel center in small St. Regis. While the gift shop is big (need any merchandise with a bear on it?) and the trout aquarium is mostly depressing (it's small), the shakes deliver. Sweet, creamy, and bright purple, they deserve to go right back into the air conditioned car for the final stretch into Missoula.

Hope you wanted to see Wicked this year.

There's lots of summer left at a UFO event and a floating music festival.

It took two years of vetting before Helen Chu was approved for her position on the CDC's vaccine panel. Dr. Helen Chu learned she had been fired in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. The UW Medicine physician and professor had been serving on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), helping guide vaccine policy in the United States when Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a “clean sweep” of the advisory group.  Chu was on high alert after Kennedy’s appointment, knowing his skeptical stance on vaccines would paint a target on the 17-person group. But it was still a shock. “I did not expect that to happen, and certainly not in that manner,” Chu says.  A few hours after she read the piece, the termination emails arrived. And just two days later, a handful of new members had been announced to replace Chu and her ousted colleagues, who had spent years in approval processes.  “People think, ‘Oh, I have private insurance, I will be safe.’ That’s not true.”—Dr. Helen Chu Composed of family medicine practitioners and experts in immunology, vaccinology, and special populations like pregnant or immunocompromised patients, the ACIP interprets new data on vaccines to provide research-backed recommendations to the CDC. The independent panel’s recommendations inform CDC vaccine schedules: color-coded age charts with corresponding immunizations for all Americans. In turn, the vaccine schedule becomes the holy grail by which states choose which vaccines to purchase for their populations and which to require for school admission. Private insurance companies use the schedule to determine covered immunizations. Vaccines for Children (VFC), the program that provides vaccines to kids without private health insurance—about 50 percent of US children—covers only the ones on the list. Changes to the schedule create far-reaching ripples from which even privately insured patients aren’t insulated. If a vaccine is dropped from the schedule, private insurance companies could still choose to cover it, but Washington’s Health Department may not bulk-purchase the vaccine, meaning there would be little to no supply within the state. Even if patients wanted to get a vaccine that had lost its recommended status—say, something like the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine—there may not be any doses available. Plus, the 50 percent of children relying on VFC would not receive the vaccine, stifling herd immunity necessary to prevent outbreaks. Chu fears that private health insurers will choose not to cover certain vaccines in the future. “I think that’s maybe what people don’t understand. They think, ‘Oh, I have private insurance, I will be safe.’ That’s not true,” Chu says. Chu joined the committee as a voting member in July 2024. That appointment came after a two-year, “very extensive process of vetting” including disclosure and divestment from potential conflicts of interest, the buzzword that became the red herring Kennedy pinned his ACIP firings upon. Among the committee, those conflicts of interest usually came in the form of previous funding from pharmaceutical companies to run clinical trials—trials that provided essential experience to do the complex job the ACIP requires of its committee members.  Asking someone to parse ever-evolving data to make population-wide recommendations without that experience, Chu says, is like asking someone to fly a plane without a pilot’s license.  What now? Regardless of what direction a new ACIP forges, much is still up to individual states, and “we do have good public health systems in Seattle and in King County and in Washington state,” Chu reassures. The bad news? We’ve already had outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like whooping cough, and Chu estimates those instances will continue to rise if vaccine schedules are changed. “It’s going to be confusing for everyone.” For her part, Chu hopes the confusion is temporary. The dramatic ending of her tenure on ACIP hasn’t deterred her from wanting to continue the mission.  “I would always be honored to serve on the ACIP,” she says. “And hope that there will be a time when I can do so again.”

Hungry for news? Welcome to our Friday Feed, where we run through all the local food and restaurant news this week—and maybe help you figure out where to eat this weekend. Benched The Ravenna Varsity, a beloved 62-year-old diner, will serve its last classic cinnamon roll on August 3, after the owner and landlord were unable to come to an agreement on lease renewal. Even after closing briefly in 2002, when its original space was torn down, the Varsity remained a favorite hangout for the neighborhood. This news came on the heels of a fierce pushback at nearby 92-year-old bar Little Red Hen losing its lease. Reporting this week from The Seattle Times painted a more complicated picture, but brought the good news that they extended the current lease until the end of August, allowing the bar to stay open while negotiating a potential lease extension. Coffee Talk—Middle East Edition Pastries on Parade Jungle fever: Farmers market fave panadería Pan de La Selva is opening softly next week at its new downtown digs, and bringing a plant to help green up the space gets you a 15 percent discount. Scandinavian Specialties: Pike Place Market coffee shop and bakery Freya opened a second location in the 8,000-square-foot former Specialty’s space at Fifth and Union. To clarify how big that is, it’s something like seven gajillion times the size of the original location. More Comings and Goings Ya regresa: Monica Dimas’s return to Capitol Hill started with the opening of Pitch the Baby last week, and will continue with the rebirth of Condesa, her one-time torta shop, next door on August 9. Adiositos: Poquitos announced this week that after seven years in Bothell, it would be closing its northern outlet as of September 20. The Capitol Hill location will remain open. Curd stop: The no-longer-mobile cheese vendor Street Cheese, started by a pair of local cheesemongers, opened its permanent location on Beacon Hill this week. Oh, BTW, here’s what you missed last week.

Hoodstock puts the music festival out to sea. I spy summer: August has floating music fests, fun aboard the state fair Ferris wheel, and easygoing art festivals. This month is the time to go all-in on outdoor playtime, and the state has plenty of events for it. Quincy | aug 1–3 The Gorge's annual country music fest boasts a star-studded lineup with the likes of Jason Aldean and Dierks Bentley. But the music is only half the fun: Festival camping in the Eastern Washington desert comes with community and themed contests for the best campsite decor.  index | aug 2 The banks of the Skykomish River come alive with creativity during Index's annual art festival. Wander booths of local artist wares, dance to live music until you drop, and take in spoken word performances under stunning Cascade peaks. Need an art break? The Town Walls hold countless routes for experienced rock climbers.  vashon island | aug 7–10 Just a ferry ride away from downtown Seattle, laidback Vashon Island hosts an annual film fest of independent cinema. The curated lineup holds a handful of Pacific Northwest and West Coast premieres, from documentary Coroner to the Stars to French narrative A Second Life.  Whidbey Island takes its art outside for the Plein Air Paint Out. Whidbey Island | Aug 11–14 Make like Van Gogh and haul a canvas outside for outdoor painting all across Whidbey Island; this annual event gathers artists to recreate the island's many vistas. The stretch of en masse painting days culminates in a gala where the week's work is sold to creatives and collectors. Union | Aug 15 & 16 The traditional music festival gets an upgrade with a floating concert on Hood Canal. Boaters buy an official fest flag to join the party, while those of us without yachts or kayaks can board Alderbrook Resort's cruise or opt for land-bound sets at Robin Hood Village Resort. All festivalgoers can take part in a history-imbued dinner—with live music and dancing, of course. Burien | Aug 16 Not far from where the famous Maury Island incident occurred in 1947, UFO enthusiasts gather to discuss what's out there. Burien Film Festival flicks screen all day, and the event includes live music and costume contests for Alien and Men in Black enthusiasts.  Tumwater | Aug 16 Tumwater's hoppy roots from bygone Olympia Brewery manifest in a modern-day beer fest with over 100 pours, stein-holding competitions, and local food. A human-size beer pong game will make everyone feel like a college kid, but the event itself is 21 and over only. long beach | aug 18–24 Long Beach's quintessential boardwalk almost always affords a view of kites flying above the Pacific, but a weeklong event boasts informal workshops, live music, a beer garden, and the most elaborate kites to grace the sky all year. International kite-flying teams perform synchronized routines, and anyone can get in on the action thanks to beachside kite vendors. Test your aim—or luck—at the Evergreen State Fair with classic carnival games. Monroe | Aug 21–26, 28–Sept 1 This state fair can be hard to distinguish from the one down south, but Monroe's has been a Snohomish County fall staple for decades and has dialed in the right combination of carnival rides and unique forms of entertainment (chainsaw carving, anyone?). Monster truck shows hold down opening weekend alongside three days of classic rodeo events.