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SEATTLE, WA— Immerse yourself in the beauty of Arab heritage at Seattle Arab Festival from Saturday, July 19 to Sunday, July 20 from 11 a.m.–7 p.m. as part of Seattle Center Festál at the Seattle Center Armory Food & Event Hall. This free, family-friendly festival’s theme, Roots & Radiance, is a celebration of Arab culture, resilience, and connection, featuring a special spotlight on Syria, traditional music, dance, food, and artisan showcases.
Enjoy the mesmerizing sounds of renowned Qanun player Josi Saba, the powerful voice of Lebanese opera singer Rayan Atallah, and the genre-blending rhythms of Istanbul-based collective Country for Syria. The Arab jazz fusion band Al Akhbar will round out the lineup with a high-energy performance combining Middle Eastern instrumentation with Western jazz influences.
Dancers will fill the stage with vibrant movement and colorful garments, including Tannoura Dance, Sham3edan Dancers, Seattle Kids Dabkeh, Shamiyat Dabkeh, Iskandarani Folkloric Dance, and a stunning Nubian Performance.
No celebration is complete without food, and this year’s festival promises an unforgettable culinary experience. Sample traditional Lebanese dishes, Arabic sweets, and a range of Middle Eastern specialties prepared by local chefs and community cooks.
Explore a vibrant open-air bazaar filled with handcrafted goods by local Arab and Arab- American artisans. In addition, cultural exhibits from a variety of Arab nations will offer visitors an opportunity to engage with regional histories, customs, and traditions.
“It’s a meaningful event for everyone. For many Arabs, the festival is a chance to reconnect—whether by shopping, sharing food, or reminiscing about home,” said Amani AbouAmmo, Seattle Arab Festival organizer. “For non-Arabs, it offers a window into the richness of Arab culture. With 22 countries, each with its own unique traditions and history, there's always something new to discover every year.”
This festival is part of the Festál series of 25 cultural festivals presented by community groups and hosted by Seattle Center throughout the year.
About Seattle Arab Festival
Seattle Arab Festival (SAF) originally began as “Ethnic Fest,” an event held at Northgate Mall for several years. The Arab Center of Washington (ACW), established in 1992, was the first organization to produce the Seattle Arab Festival. In 1999, the festival joined the Festál series at Seattle Center, which provided ACW with much-needed support and infrastructure to carry out the festival on a larger scale. In 2018, after ACW closed its doors, Seattle Arab Festival (SAF), a non-profit organization was created with the specific goal of carrying on the production of the festival.
Information on the festival is available at seattlearabfestival.org and www.seattlecenter.com, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, and TikTok.
About Seattle Center Festál
Seattle Center Festál is a unique public program series of 25 free cultural festivals, each offering its own celebration of heritage and identity. These events provide a range of engaging programs and activities to cultivate a deeper understanding of the diversity of our region. Seattle Center Festál is produced in partnership with community groups, presented on weekends from January to November and supported by City of Seattle, Seattle Center Foundation, and 4Culture.
About Seattle Center
Connect to the extraordinary at Seattle Center, an active civic, arts, and family gathering place in the core of our city and region. Seattle Center’s 74-acre campus, centered around the International Fountain, is part of the Uptown Arts & Cultural District and home to Climate Pledge Arena; more than 30 cultural, educational, sports, and entertainment organizations; and a broad range of public and community programs. In everything it does, Seattle Center’s mission is to create exceptional events, experiences, and environments which delight and inspire the human spirit to build stronger communities.
Seattle Center has expanded its role to provide maintenance and public safety services for Seattle’s new Waterfront Park, a series of new public spaces on Seattle’s downtown waterfront between Pioneer Square and the Seattle Aquarium. Seattle Center supports managing these new waterfront public spaces in partnership with the non-profit Friends of Waterfront Seattle, which offers the community a range of recreational and cultural programming.
Thanks to the support of Official Seattle Center Partners – Alaska Airlines, The Climate Pledge, Coors Light, Pepsi, Premera, Symetra, T-Mobile, and WaFd Bank – Seattle Center is the #1 arts and entertainment destination in the Pacific Northwest with 12 million annual visitors, generating $1.864 billion in business activity and more than $631 million in labor income annually.
Contact
Madison Miller, Why for Good
madison@whyforgood.com 425-246-5468
