Events From Feb 23-March 4
by Stranger Things To Do Staff
Mardi Gras is Tuesday, February 28, and there are lots of opportunities to let the good times roll in the coming days—from a Cajun tasting menu at Tilth to free New Orleans-style music at the Triple Door and the Royal Room to giant dance parties a 5K race with plenty of beads to help you prepare for all the food you're going to eat on Tuesday.
FEBRUARY 23-28
1. Mardi Gras Tasting Menu
For Mardi Gras, Maria Hines's local-focused restaurant Tilth will serve a special eight-course, New Orleans-style menu featuring boudin (blood sausage) croquettes with creole mustard and remoulade, shrimp and grits with andouille, red beet risotto, and blackened venison with broccolini, and Theo chocolate ganache. Try them with other dishes for a cheaper-than-usual $80 ($100 with wine pairings). Of course, there will also be Cajun music, beads, and masks.
FEBRUARY 24
2. Anderson School Mardi Gras Seafood Boil
This 21+ dinner in McMenamin's restaurant, situated in an Art Deco building that used to be a school, will be a spread of fresh oysters, Northwest crab, prawns, clams, mussels, corn, potatoes, beer, and wine (a drink is included in the price).
3. The Great Royal Room Mardi Gras Celebration: The Meter Maids and Friends!
As a part of the Royal Room's grand Mardi Gras spread, The Meter Maids will play the music of Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, the Meters, the Nevelbrothers, and Professor Longhair, featuring the talents of local musicians like Jeff Fielder, Mike Stone, Bob Lovelace, Wayne Horvitz, Skerik, Ray Larsen, and more.
4. The Love Markets
In anticipation of Mardi Gras, cabaret band The Love Markets return to the Jewelbox Theatre at the Rendezvous for an evening of songs of love and revolution to the tune of "smoky tangos, carnivalesque waltzes, back-alley brass, and barfly blues."
5. Mardi Gras: File Gumbo, Honky Tonk Sweethearts
Dance Mardi Gras away with live sets from File Gumbo and the Honky Tonk Sweethearts at the Shanty.
FEBRUARY 25
6. Best Brazilian Mardi Gras with EntreMundos & Tudo Beleza
Led by the silky vocal stylings of Adriana Giordano, EntreMundos' masterful musicians are equally fit for boogie-down blues, Brazilian funk, or old-fashioned torch songs, and as such, they'll be leading the Brazilian Mardi Gras festivities at the Royal Room with samba dance crew Tudo Beleza and Brazilian singer-songwriter Ton Mus.
7. Mardi Gras Masquerade: The Ball of the Two Well-Known Gentlemen
You've been transported to the turn-of-the-century New Orleans in all its slummy glamor—that's the idea behind Seattle Immersive Theater's Storyville Rising. Before the show closes, this after-hours party will let you explore the set and experience live music, burlesque, and aerialist feats. Disguise yourself in period costume or just don fancy dress.
This event is sold out online.
8. Mardi Gras Mayhem 5K
Prepare your appetite for Fat Tuesday's pile of pancakes with a light, fairly flat run. Dress up at the Feather Boa Station, don some beads, and allez! You may be surprised with a treat along the way. Kids' dash for those under 12 is free. Stick around for a discounted ticket to the Mardi Gras Parti.
9. Mardi Gras with Butterflies of Death and The Crossroads Exchange
"Doomgrass" outfit Butterflies of Death headline Mardi Gras at the Highline, with bill support from The Crossroads Exchange, and burlesque dancers and beads aplenty to set the party mood.
10. Masquerade Ball at Toulouse Petit
The pleasingly gaudy Creole restaurant will offer drink specials and tunes from DJ Joeyroxville.
FEBRUARY 28
11. Fat Tuesday with Speakeasy Jazz Cats and Guests
Celebrate Mardi Gras with a rollicking live set from Dixieland style New Orleans jazz band the Speakeasy Cats and more surprise guests.
12. The Great Royal Room Mardi Gras Celebration: FAT TUESDAY
Fat Tuesday at the Royal Room celebrates the more Americanized touches of Mardi Gras by showcasing the sounds and songs of New Orleans, featuring musicians like Jason Cressey, Mike Stone, Bob Lovelace, Wayne Horvitz, Skerik, Ray Larsen, Darren Loucas, and more.
13. Mardi Gras at the Musicquarium Lounge
The Barrelhouse Jive Cats, a New Orleans-style swing band, will serve a helping of Big Easy jazz as the Musicquarium pours special Nawlins drinks—the Mango Carnival Punch, the Vieux Carré, and the Classic Hurricane.
14. Mardi Gras Happy Hour
Suite Lounge will mark Mardi Gras with food and drink specials and many, many beads.
15. Mardi Gras Party at Geaux
Have a boozy Fat Tuesday with the Bellevue brewery's barrel-aged beers and Where Ya At Matt's New Orleans po' boys and other dishes.
16. Mardi Gras with Butterflies of Death, 10 Man Brass Band, Honk! All Stars, Sousapalooza
"Doomgrass" outfit Butterflies of Death headline Mardi Gras at Columbia City Theater, with bill support from 10 Man Brass Band, Honk! All Stars, and Sousapalooza, and burlesque dancers and beads aplenty to set the party mood.
17. Poly Gras: A Mardi Gras Celebration
The controlled tempest that is the Polyrhythmics brings the funk for Mardi Gras, supported by Cecil Moses & the SGs and DJ Abe Beeson for an all-out dance party.
18. Sixgill Mardi Gras Party
The Gulf Coast-inspired, nautical-themed beer bar will have an all-night hurricane happy hour to celebrate Mardi Gras.
MARCH 2
19. MarchFourth! and Pimps of Joytime
Big band explosion MarchFourth consists of a brassy foundation of saxophones, trombones, trumpets, a drum and percussion corps, and a wireless electric bass. Their live musical theatrics are physically matched by an assemblage of stilt-walkers, acrobats, fire-spinners, and dancers performing original routines inspired by Bollywood, burlesque, cheerleading, hiphop, jazz, and ballroom dance traditions. They got their name from the date of their first show (March 4, 2003), when they put together a marching band for a Mardi Gras party, and they'll celebrate their 14th anniversary with a week of shows on the West Coast, including this one in Seattle where they'll be joined by the Pimps of Joytime.
MARCH 4
20. Brazilian Carnaval 2017: Mardi Gras!
Eduardo and Ana Paula Mendonça present this Seattle-based celebration of Brazilian Carnaval that will take into account issues of power, racial exclusion, and social inequality. Attendees will get to experience a wide variety of region- and culture-specific Brazilian music and dance.
21. Balkan Night Northwest
Celebrate Balkan arts and culture as well as the recently departed Mardi Gras at this festival featuring music ("from Dionysian zournas to fusion dance bands"), dance, immense platters of food from a variety of regions, and more. You might even spot a Kukeri ("the friendlier cousins of the Krampus") adorned with bells. Featured performers include Dragi Spasovski, Dromeno, the m9, Eurodanceparty USA, The Fetatones, Chris Bajmakovich, and Vlado Pupinoski.