Seattle Center

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File:Seattle Center as night falls.jpg
Seattle Center as night falls
SeattleCenter is located in USA
SeattleCenter
Seattle
Center
Location in the United States

Originally built for the 1962 World's Fair, the 74-acre (30 ha) Seattle Center is a park, arts, and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington. Its landmark feature is the 605-foot (184 m) tall Space Needle, a now-iconic building that was, at its completion, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. Seattle Center is located just north of Belltown in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood.

Attractions

Performing Arts

File:Seattle Center.jpg
Center House, Seattle Center.

Athletics

Festivals

Seattle Center hosts many cultural, music and arts festivals. Major attractions include:

Winterfest

Winterfest runs from the day after Thanksgiving to January 1. It is an annual celebration including ice skating, artistic and cultural performances, concerts, student showcases from area schools, storytelling, exhibits and movies. Winterfest also includes the Seattle trademark miniature train and village and New Year's Eve concert.

Winterfest includes several collections of performances, such as:

  • Winter Worldfest: A festival within a festival, representing cultural traditions
  • Worlds of Storytelling: storytelling, puppet shows for children and adults
  • Winter Solstice Celebration: a sunset extravaganza celebrating the winter solstice
  • Peace on Earth: an interfaith celebration
  • Winter Train & Village: A large train layout featuring steam trains running amid a Victorian-era city.

Other events include

  • Circus Contraption and the Aerialistas, performance troupe
  • Seattle's Best Jazz
  • Womanipura, fire dancing troupe
  • Magic Mystery Show
  • Lelavision, modern and aerial dance

College Performance Series The College Performance Series premiered in the 2007 Winterfest. It features outstanding performing arts groups of Washington state colleges and universities. The project allows high-level college performers to contribute to the celebration, and to showcase the state's university community during the winter season.

PrideFest

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Seattle PrideFest is the Official Seattle Gay Pride Festival held annually at the Seattle Center over Pride Weekend. The festival takes place on the last Sunday in June between 11am and 7pm. This event used to take place in neighboring Capitol Hill's Volunteer Park, but had out grown its residential location. It was decided to move the annual parade to downtown and festival to the Seattle Center to better accommodate the growing attendance. In 2007, Egan Orion of One Degree Events took over the Seattle Pride Festival just six weeks before the event was held in order to save the event and help preserve the move to the Center the year before. 2008 had record numbers at the Seattle Center with over 50,000 people attending on a 95 degree day in June, with over 100 vendors and dozens of sponsors participating.

Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Award

Every year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Seattle Center awards three youth peace awards to three individuals or organizations. These awards have become an honor of Seattle, and are heavily applied for. The award, along with $100, recognize outstanding youth and youth organizations who promote community, peace, leadership, justice and civil rights in the spirit of the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. Nomination forms are distributed to various organizations and schools in Seattle, but anyone can make a nomination. Forms are available at the Seattle Center programs office, and the deadline is usually November 30 for the January MLK Day award.

Future plans

There is a long history of plans for revision of the Seattle Center. In 2007, the 17 member Seattle Center Century 21 Committee appointed to consider potential changes presented a set of four plans. The Seattle Center Century 21 master plan report was adopted in 2008.

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Landmarks Alphabetical Listing for S, Individual Landmarks, City of Seattle. Accessed 28 December 2007.
  2. Press Release, Seattle Center March 26, 2012 Press release. Accessed 25 July 2013
  3. Seattle Center Armory, Seattle Center Website. Accessed 25 July 2013
  4. Landmarks Alphabetical Listing for K, Individual Landmarks, City of Seattle. Accessed 28 December 2007
  5. Landmarks Alphabetical Listing for H, Individual Landmarks, City of Seattle. Accessed 28 December 2007
  6. PACCAR IMAX Theater, Accessed 25 July 2013

External links

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