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King County boasts an extremely diverse population, creating a wide spectrum of entertainment for locals and visitors alike.
Cultural Attractions
Visual Arts
King County offers the Seattle Art Museum, Museum of Flight, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Bellevue Art Museum, Northwest Railroad Museum and many specialized and unique collections throughout the region. In addition to museums, the King County area is host to more than 100 galleries and 6,000 visual artists.
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Performing Arts
King County offers a rich array of performing arts, including the Seattle Reperatory Theatre, the Issaquah Village Theater, Bellevue's Meydenbauer Center, the Fifth Avenue Theatre, the Paramount Theatre, Benaroya Hall and Mercer Island's Music in the Park on summer evenings. Seattle boasts more theatres than any comparably sized U.S. city, and the number of total performances ranks second only to New York City. Options range from contemporary theater to summer festivals, modern dance and movement theatre, avant-garde original works and Tony Award winning classics. Seattle is also one of only a few cities nationally to have professional opera, symphony and ballet companies. |
Family Entertainment
Seattle's Waterfront
The Seattle Aquarium features the "Omnidome," the world's only dome theater, a salmon run, an underwater room, and the Pacific Coral Reef Exhibit and the recently opened Maritime Discovery Center, which will include 33,000 square feet of hands-on activities and exploration of marine heritage.
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Zoos
Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo is rated number one by the Humane Society for simulated wide open natural habitats. The zoo includes four award-winning exhibits and features over 300 animal species. Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, a short drive from Seattle, features native animals in their natural habitats.
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The Seattle Center
Developed out of the 1962 World's Fair, the Seattle Center now holds a variety of attractions, including the world-famous Space Needle, a monorail connecting to downtown's Westlake Mall and an old fashioned amusement park with a ferris wheel and roller coaster. Also on the Center grounds is the Seattle Children's Theater, the Pacific Science Center complete with a 3 1/2 story IMAX movie screen and learning works center, and the Experience Music Project. |
Downtown Seattle's Cultural Centers
International District
Bordering downtown Seattle to the south, the International District hosts a thriving Asian community with specialized retail stores, restaurants, museums, theaters, monuments and parks. |
Pike Place Market
A popular designation for tourists and natives alike, the market is an exotic year-round attraction with both local and international foods, farm-fresh produce, Pacific Northwest arts and crafts, restaurants, clothing, antique and novelty stores. Over 30,000 patrons visit the Market each day during the busy summer season. |
Pioneer Square
Pioneer Square features historic buildings erected after the great fire of 1889. Just beneath the Square, remnants of old Seattle are still intact and can be explored through guided underground tours. A daytime center for bookstores, galleries and specialty shops, the square is also as a nightlife center with live blues, jazz, rock and comedy acts. |
Spectator Sports
Professional franchises in Seattle include the Seattle Seahawks (football), Mariners (baseball), Sounders (soccer), Thunderbirds (hockey), the Super Sonics (men's basketball) and the Storm (women's basketball).
In addition to the Husky football team, the University of Washington boasts a strong athletic department with teams competing in everything from crew to soccer.
Sports enthusiasts also enjoy the newly inaugurated Safeco Field, home to the Seattle Mariners, with its one-of-a-kind retractable roof. In 2000, Seattle's Kindome, where both football and baseball had been played, was demolished to make room for the new state-of-the-art Seahawks Stadium.
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