May 23 Saturday
KNKX is marking a very special milestone in 2026 - it's been 10 years since we became an independent station, and we want you to celebrate with us! In the coming months, we'll be visiting several communities in Western Washington.
Our 10th Anniversary regional celebration begins on the Kitsap Peninsula. KNKX proudly sponsors the main stage at Bremerton by the Book: Vol. 1, the first-ever author-focused festival held in the heart of Quincy Square, presented by Ballast Book Company. The free event is Saturday, May 23 from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Jazz saxophonist Mark Lewis kicks off the event at 11 a.m. There will be at least 23 authors in attendance. From 5-5:30 p.m., KNKX Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick will do a Q&A with keynote author Olivia Waite, romance columnist for The New York Times Book Review. The KNKX booth will be located near the stage - stop by and say hi! You're invited to join us after the event for a KNKX meetup at the Tipsy Blackbird Wine Bar from 6-7:30 p.m.
Bremerton by the Book was created specifically to celebrate Independent Authors (those who self-publish or otherwise non-traditionally publish books) and Independent Presses. "Volume One" refers to 2026 being the first year of this event. Quincy Square is located just two blocks from the Seattle-Bremerton and Bremerton-Port Orchard ferry terminals, on Fourth Street between Washington Ave. and Pacific Ave.
Hope to see you there!
May 16 Saturday
Sponsored by KNKX. The 52nd annual Seattle International Film Festival will take place May 7–17, 2026 at SIFF Cinemas and venues throughout the city. The unique feeling of being truly immersed in the world of independent film, sharing the theater with a vibrant community unlike anywhere else.
Discover the SIFF Effect for yourself at the 52nd annual Seattle International Film Festival. You’ll be able to experiment with a lineup of films from over 80 countries, with the power to activate the full spectrum of emotions and sensations. The result is total engagement with film on every level. It’s all happening in person, May 7-17 in the heart of Seattle.
The Seattle International Film Festival will open for an electrifying 52nd year with Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters as the catalyst of the Festival's annual offering of cinema experiences from around the world. The film will be shown at the Paramount Theatre at 7 p.m., followed by the Opening Night afterparty at Cannonball Arts (1930 3rd Ave), a one-of-a-kind space for artistic experimentation. Guests are invited to explore the gallery exhibits, a signature photo activation, food, drinks, and a live set from DJ Eliogold, the artist behind the festival's official trailer music.
KNKX presents these films during the Festival:
Birds of War - May 8, 6:15 p.m. and May 9, 12:15 p.m. at SIFF Cinema UptownLebanese journalist Janay Boulos and Syrian activist and cameraman Abd Alkader Habak share their extraordinary love story, told through 13 years of personal archives spanning revolutions, war, and exile.
Powwow People - May 16, 2:30 p.m. at SIFF Cinema Downtown and May 17, 4:30 p.m. at SIFF Cinema UptownAs an immersive, observational story, Powwow People invites audiences to witness the unfolding of a powwow over the course of a single day. Emcee Reuben Little Head is the perfect guide, grounded, generous, and often hilarious. The film's final 30-minute long take is deeply inclusive, creating space for viewers to simply be present with community. It's a powerful reminder that to witness in this way is a privilege and a blessing.
Supported by KNKX. NEA Jazz Master and four-time Grammy Award Winner Stanley Clarke has attained “living legend” status during his over 50-year career as a bass virtuoso. He is the first bassist in history who doubles on acoustic and electric bass with equal ferocity and the first jazz-fusion bassist ever to headline tours, selling out shows worldwide. A veteran of over 40 albums, he won the 2011 Best Contemporary Jazz Album Grammy Award for The Stanley Clarke Band. Clarke co-founded the seminal fusion group Return to Forever with Chick Corea and Lenny White. In 2012 Return to Forever won a Grammy Award and Latin Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Forever.
Clarke’s creativity has been recognized and rewarded in every way imaginable: gold and platinum records, Grammy Awards, Emmy nominations, virtually every readers and critics poll in existence, and more. In 2022 Clarke was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of its four new Jazz Master honorees. He also was Rolling Stone’s very first Jazzman of the Year and bassist winner of Playboy’s Music Award for ten straight years. Clarke was honored with Bass Player Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award and is a member of Guitar Player Magazine’s “Gallery of Greats.” In 2004 he was featured in Los Angeles Magazine as one of the Top 50 Most Influential People. He was honored with the key to the city of Philadelphia and put his hands in cement as a 1999 inductee into Hollywood’s “Rock Walk” on Sunset Boulevard. In 2011 he was honored with the highly prestigious Miles Davis Award at the Montreal Jazz Festival for his entire body of work. Clarke has won Downbeat Magazine’s Reader’s and Critics Poll for Best Electric Bass Player for many years. In September 2016 he became a part of the permanent collection displayed at the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington DC.
May 17 Sunday
Sponsored by KNKX. Founded in 2014 by Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame artist Nathan Breedlove, the adventurous, avant-garde sounds of The nu Trio bring together Breedlove on trumpet, Phil Sparks on bass, and Brian Kirk on drums.
Jazz in the City at the Frye Art Museum is a dynamic performance series presented in partnership with Ariel Media. This series celebrates the rich legacy, enduring vibrancy, and profound cultural impact of jazz music in shaping Seattle’s artistic identity.
The annual U District Street Fair kicks off Seattle’s summer event season with a 15 block-long arts and crafts fair that takes over University Way (a.k.a. “The Ave”). The two-day event featured free live music and performances, and over 50 food trucks and booths. This Seattle tradition regularly attracts over 90,000 visitors and is accessible by link light rail which will transport visitors to the middle of the event at NE 43rd Street.
Enjoy 2 days of free rides, kids’ world activities and live entertainment plus shop from over 70 artisan and commercial vendors and food vendors! Don’t miss the S.T.E.A.M. Fair and Kids’ Market on Saturday and the Car Show on Sunday. Free parking and admission. Plus pony rides, the giant slide and circus train and more return this year! For over 35 years families have enjoyed this springtime tradition.
May 20 Wednesday
Featuring: Emma Howeler, Mack Grout, Joe Doria, Beckett Van Dyck, & Alex Guilbert
Piano Starts Here highlights the work of some of the most prolific and talented composers and pianists to have ever tackled the instrument. Each of the performances brings together Seattle’s finest pianists to perform the works of the artist selected for that evening on the Royal Room’s Steinway B grand piano. This series is sponsored by KNKX and the South Hudson Music Project.
May 21 Thursday
Theo Croker is a storyteller who speaks through his trumpet. A creative who refuses boundaries, the GRAMMY®️ Award-nominated artist, composer, producer, thought leader, and influencer projects his voice through the music. After seven years of sojourn in Shanghai, Croker crash-landed with a simmering original sound on the 2014 Dee Dee Bridgewater-assisted album AfroPhysicist. Following the success of Escape Velocity in 2016, he ascended to a new stratosphere with Star People Nation in 2019. Along the way, he also lent his sound to platinum-selling albums by everyone from J. Cole to Ari Lennox while touring his band across the globe many times over. In 2020, he hunkered down at his childhood home in the midst of the global pandemic and wrote his sixth full-length album, BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST, available now via Sony Music Masterworks.
Sponsored by KNKX. Tommy Orange is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel There There, a multi-generational, relentlessly paced story about a side of America few of us have ever seen: the lives of urban Native Americans. There There was one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the Year, and won the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and the Pen/Hemingway Award. There There was also longlisted for the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His new novel, Wandering Stars, was published in February 2024. Orange graduated from the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and was a 2014 MacDowell Fellow and a 2016 Writing by Writers Fellow. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He was born and raised in Oakland, California.
May 22 Friday
Fareed Haque is a modern guitar virtuoso. Steeped in classical and jazz traditions, his unique command of the guitar and different musical styles inspire his musical ventures with tradition and fearless innovation.
Born in 1963 to a Pakistani father and Chilean mother, Fareed’s extensive travels and especially long stays in Spain, France, Iran, Pakistan, and Chile exposed Haque to different kinds of music from a very early age. While this natural eclecticism has become a hallmark of Haque’s music, it was repeated visits to Von Freeman’s Chicago jam sessions that gave Haque a grounding in the Chicago blues and jazz traditions. The 1981 recipient of North Texas State University’s Jazz Guitar Scholarship, Haque spent a year studying with renowned jazz guitarist and pedagogue Jack Peterson. Fareed’s growing interest in the classical guitar led him to transfer to Northwestern University, where he completed his studies in classical guitar under David Buch, John Holmquist, and Anne Waller.
Sponsored by KNKX. The 55th Annual Northwest Folklife Festival will include programming that includes music, dance, spoken word, visual arts, films, participatory dances, and workshops spanning over 20 stages for an anticipated audience of over 200,000. This year's Cultural Focus is Ubuntu which translates to “I am because we are." Ubuntu is about belonging. That we belong to each other because our personhood is connected to the personhood of someone else. Our humanity is rooted in the relationships that we hold with people. People that we have both met and not met–consciously, subconsciously, and unconsciously. It is a testament to the undeniable fact that we are tethered to each other, whether we know them or not. That an action or an encounter can have a ripple effect on our immediate time and place, as well as somewhere halfway across the world.
As the last part of Northwest Folklife's series, Ubuntu also underscores the journey that people take to reach that co-existence. Ubuntu is the result of an audacity to believe that we are part of something bigger than just ourselves. Change, balance, passion, and purpose are all lessons towards an endgame that is both simpler and more complex that we ever imagined. That FOLK is where it starts and where it ends.
KNKX presents the new Jam Tent all weekend long. Stop by our booth there on Sunday, May 24 from 11 to 8 p.m. Also on Sunday, KNKX presents a music showcase from 3:30-5 p.m. on the Mural Stage featuring Miss Minami and Jessica Lurie hosted by KNKX's Abe Beeson. Get more information about Northwest Folklife here.
Jun 12 Friday
Join KNKX on June 12 when Salmon Bay FC takes on FC Olympia at Interbay Soccer Stadium in Seattle. We're part of Local Radio Night, amplifying and celebrating the role KNKX and other local public radio stations play in culture, music, news, and community connection. KNKX Midday Jazz host Paige Hansen will be on hand for the halftime fun, and you can pick up some fun swag at the KNKX booth. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and the game starts at 7 p.m. Get your tickets here.
Jun 14 Sunday
KNKX is excited to welcome NPR's Tiny Desk Contest on the Road Tour to Neumo's in Seattle on Sunday, June 14. Come celebrate with the winner of this year's Tiny Desk Contest, selected from thousands of unsigned bands and artists. Also performing at Neumo's are some Tiny Desk Contest favorites from around the Pacific Northwest. Hope you can join us!
Determined to make something of herself, a girl from rural Texas dreams of flying. But it’s 1917, and flight schools don’t accept women, much less one who is Black and Native. Refusing to take no for an answer, Bessie Coleman goes to extraordinary lengths to make her dream of flying a reality.
The Leavenworth Spring Bird Fest, put on by the Wenatchee River Institute and North Central Washington Audubon Society, occurs every 3rd weekend in May. The annual Leavenworth Spring Bird Fest promotes conservation through educational and recreational activities about birds, wildlife, and their environments.
Come bird with us, discovering the natural beauty and wonders of North Central Washington! Celebrate the return of migratory birds in the midst of peak wildflower season. Enjoy the excitement of birding field trips and workshops. Take part in speaker events, music, visual arts, picnics, and activities for all ages and abilities.
Registration for all trips and events opens Wednesday, March 25th.
Experience the beauty of North Central Washington at the 24th annual Leavenworth Spring Bird Fest from May 14–17, 2026. This year’s festival features over 30 expert-led field trips tailored for all skill levels—from canyon hikes to riparian walks—alongside a fascinating keynote presentation by raptor ecologist Dr. Neil Paprocki on the GPS-tracked movements of Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawks. Attendees can explore the nature-inspired work of Spotlight Artist Carleen Ormbrek Zimmerman at the River Haus gallery, join the vibrant Community Fair on Saturday for live music and hands-on activities, and wrap up the day with the festive Birders’ BBQ on the Wenatchee River Institute lawn. Whether you're a seasoned birder or a curious newcomer, Bird Fest offers a unique opportunity to celebrate wildlife, conservation, and the peak of wildflower season in the heart of the Cascades.
In celebration of its 30th anniversary, the Washington State Historical Society invites you to explore the history of building the State History Museum. 30 Years and Counting: The Making of the Washington State History Museum is a special exhibition that uncovers the vision, effort, and community spirit that brought this iconic Tacoma landmark to life.
Discover the bold ideas and architectural ingenuity that shaped the museum’s distinctive look. From early sketches to final blueprints, see how the building’s design reflects both innovation and reverence for Washington’s past. Go behind the scenes of the museum’s construction. Through photographs and artifacts from the building process, witness how a dream took shape—brick by brick, beam by beam.
Staff Picks: 30 Objects for 30 Years
In a special feature area, museum staff share their favorite objects from the collection—each one a personal reflection on the power of history to inspire, surprise, and connect us.
Never Turn Back: Echoes of African American Music unveils the profound legacy of Gospel, Blues, Jazz, and Soul artists who shaped the soundscape of American culture and used their music as instruments of resistance, identity, and representation.
Gospel, Blues, Jazz, and Soul embody the profound influence of African American music on culture and history. From the spiritual foundations and transformative movements of Gospel hymns to the revolutionary improvisations of Jazz, the Blues’ Southern roots rising from the Mississippi Delta, and Soul’s powerful amplification of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, these genres have defined the unique sound and undying spirit of a nation that continues to echo through contemporary Black music today.
LeMay – America’s Car Museum proudly presents The Birth of the American Supercar, a groundbreaking exhibition guest curated by renowned automotive innovator Steve Saleen. This one-of-a-kind display invites guests on an exhilarating journey through the evolution of American supercars. From early speed pioneers to cutting-edge modern marvels, visitors will experience a stunning lineup of vehicles that have redefined engineering, speed, and style, built by a wide range of American automotive manufacturers like Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Saleen himself, and even some more obscure ones like Vector, Cunningham, and Hennessey. From roaring V8s to sleek carbon-fiber bodies, discover how American automakers pushed boundaries, challenged European rivals, and redefined what a supercar could be. This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see some of the most thrilling and historically significant American-made performance vehicles ever built—all under one roof.
This is a permanent exhibition. Since time immemorial, Tribal nations have existed in this place we call Washington. This Is Native Land invites visitors to understand Washington State through the lived experiences and voices of its Native people.
Tribal nations are sovereign nations. Today, Native history, culture, and community thrive in our state. Through everyday acts of sovereignty – big and small – Indigenous peoples demonstrate they are still here, they have persevered, and they will always be here.
This Is Native Land is guided by three teachings:We are of the land and watersWith knowledge comes responsibilitySovereignty protects people, lands, and waters
These teachings are shared through multimedia, artwork, and interactive objects designed for guest engagement. They represent a contemporary continuation of Tribal stories and traditions.
Over 100 Native contributors from more than 60 Tribes shaped the exhibition’s stories and content. We thank the Native Advisory Committee and all community participants for their contributions.
A highlight of the festival season is back! We invite you to the Bird Fest Community Fair—a gathering for families, youth, and adults to celebrate birds, wildlife, and the beautiful Wenatchee Valley.
Continuing our tradition of an extended schedule, the fair remains open later into the afternoon so you can head over straight from your morning birding field trips. Enjoy a full afternoon of art and nature activities, guided walks, and live music from local musicians. With a wide variety of artists and vendors on-site, there is truly something for everyone to enjoy.
You’re invited to celebrate the opening of Rebels + Icons: The Photography of Janette Beckman with a full day of special programming on May 16. Step into the frame and explore the exhibition through an array of interactive experiences—from crafting bold visual mashups in a collage workshop with Push/Pull to capturing Seattle Center on a photography walk with Janette herself.
Meet photographers, learn new techniques, catch a legendary film screening, and experience the energy of Beckman’s world, both inside the galleries and out in the streets. Whether you’re behind the lens or simply along for the shot, Opening Day is your chance to come into focus.
The Himalayan blue poppy (Meconopsis) returns this spring! Guests can enjoy these rare blooms at their peak along with an art market, food trucks, live music, and a wide selection of plants—including Meconopsis—available in our nursery.
