This weeks weather has been severely moody. Rain just absolutely pounded us, the way April does it when it's trying to remind you not to get comfortable. And then, right on cue, the National Weather Service looked at its clipboard and said: actually, Saturday is going to be 60 degrees and sunny, and Sunday might hit 70 in some places south of the Sound.

Sixty degrees In Seattle. In April. We will take it!

So just know… We do not handle this gracefully, and we know it. By 10am Saturday, every parking lot near Gas Works will be full, every patio will have a 45-minute wait, and someone in Ballard will be eating a breakfast burrito in shorts while visibly shivering and refusing to acknowledge the problem. This is what we are. This is fine.

The weekend also happens to be legitimately stacked. Sakura-Con has taken over the Convention Center, Father John Misty is at the Paramount tonight, the Kraken are home Saturday, and the Reign are back in action.

The sun showed up and everything else did too. See you out there.

Sakura-Con 2026 - April 3-5 - Seattle Convention Center
The Pacific Northwest's largest anime convention takes over the Convention Center this weekend -- which means downtown does the thing it does exactly once a year: fills with elaborate cosplay, industry panels, Japanese cultural programming, and the collective energy of tens of thousands of people who planned their outfits more carefully than you've planned anything in recent memory. Sakura-Con is the oldest and most well-attended anime convention in the Pacific Northwest, and with gaming, cosplay contests, AMV contests, art shows, dances, industry guests, and over 100,000 square feet of exhibit hall, it runs all three days through Sunday. One membership gets you everything inside - no additional fees per event. Even if you're not attending, the sidewalk people-watching radius extends several blocks. The view from outside is free.

Father John Misty at the Paramount - April 3 @ 8pm - Paramount Theatre
Josh Tillman, currently operating as Father John Misty, is one of the more genuinely interesting live performers working right now - he toggles between deeply sincere and mildly unhinged depending on the song, and the Paramount is exactly the right room for it. If you don't have tickets yet, check the box office. This is the kind of show you'll be annoyed you skipped.

Kraken vs. Chicago Blackhawks - April 4 @ 7pm - Climate Pledge Arena
The Kraken dropped a 3-0 shutout to Edmonton on Tuesday, which is the kind of result that makes a Saturday home crowd matter more than usual. Chicago is not a playoff team, which means this is genuinely winnable - and with the regular season clock winding down, every home game left counts a little more than it looks on paper. Climate Pledge is a good building when it's loud. Go be loud.

Seattle Reign vs. Denver Summit FC - April 4 @ 5:45pm | Watch on ION
The Reign host expansion side Denver Summit FC at ONE Spokane Stadium Saturday.. yes, Spokane, because Lumen Field is mid-renovation for the World Cup. It's a road trip if you're ambitious, but more practically this is a couch game. The Reign opened the season 1-1 and this is their first crack at a brand-new club. Worth turning on. And if Saturday's schedule is giving you anxiety - Reign at 5:45, Kraken at 7 - you can absolutely flip between them. That's what people who have their lives together do.

Tenacious Ten at Gas Works Park - Saturday, April 4 - Gas Works Park
A 10K or 10-mile scenic loop around Lake Union, skyline views, a finisher medal, and a post-race celebration. Timed almost offensively well for the first genuinely warm Saturday of the year. The views are worth it even if your lungs are not ready. Register in advance.

Moisture Festival - Through April 12 - Broadway Performance Hall
Seattle's celebration of comedic and variety arts rolls through next Sunday - juggling, burlesque, circus, stand-up, proper variety-show format. Shows run nightly and tickets are cheap. Good Thursday or Sunday option that isn't a sports bar or a patio you can't get a table at.

Moto Pizza - Pioneer Square - 512 2nd Ave (Smith Tower)
Moto opened its Pioneer Square location inside Smith Tower in March, open daily 11am to 9pm. The menu carries the same Detroit-meets-Filipino square pies the brand built its reputation on - lechon, liver sauce, old pal pepperoni - now available in one of the city's more historically satisfying rooms. Good pre-game option before the Kraken, solid excuse any other day of the week.

Balandra - 3801 Stone Way N, Fremont
Fremont's new all-day tapas and wine bar has taken over the former Robin's and Art of the Table space on Stone Way. Balandra serves all three daily meals with a menu leaning toward salads, sandwiches, steaks, and charcuterie. Not traditional Spanish - more of a loose, wine-bar-does-everything situation. A warm April afternoon patio situation was basically built for this. Reservations on Tock.

Little Beast - Ballard Ave NW, Ballard
Beast & Cleaver's new pub on Ballard's main drag just landed on the Infatuation Hit List, which is a reliable signal. The butchery roots come through in a spicy lamb korma pie drenched in gravy, a zippy currywurst sausage roll, and what's being called the greatest pork chop of late - all with scotch eggs, sing-along rock classics, and staff eager to pour extra gravy. It fits in effortlessly on Ballard Ave, which is maybe the best thing you can say about a new spot in a neighborhood this particular about its bars.

UW Campus Walk - University District
The famous quad blossoms are past peak but the campus and Japanese Garden near the Waterfront Activities Center stay worth a walk well into April. Free, no agenda, good excuse to be outside.

Anila Quayyum Agha at the Seattle Asian Art Museum - Volunteer Park
Pakistani American artist Anila Quayyum Agha has a new solo exhibition at the Volunteer Park museum - laser-cut steel cubes suspended from the ceiling, lit by a halogen bulb that paints the room and everyone in it with intricate geometric shadows. It's the kind of installation that photographs embarrassingly well and also genuinely stops you in your tracks in person. First solo show from a Pakistani American artist in SAM's 90-year history. Free with museum admission, and the Asian Art Museum is one of the better excuses to walk through Volunteer Park on a warm Sunday afternoon.

Helinox Chair One - Packs down to nothing, weighs two pounds, sets up in under a minute. For anyone planning to actually sit on the grass at Lake Union this weekend rather than just stand around pretending they meant to be standing. Commit to the bit.

Supergoop PLAY Everyday SPF 50 Sunscreen Stick
You do not own sunscreen. You own the memory of sunscreen - a crusty half-empty bottle from a beach trip in 2023 that has been living under your bathroom sink next to a broken comb and a hotel shampoo. Saturday is going to be 60 degrees and you will be outside for six hours and you will absolutely not think about this until Monday when your nose is peeling. The stick format means no greasy hands, no fumbling with a cap at Gas Works, no excuses. Buy one, put it in your jacket pocket, use it, feel smug about it. Seattle has no melanin tolerance built up and it's time to act accordingly.

Before you go...

This is the weekend Seattle earns something back. After four months of gray mornings and drizzle that felt personal…. Watching every other city post outdoor photos while we wore fleece into March - the warmth shows up, and we remember why we stayed!

Take the Kraken game seriously Saturday. Flip to the Reign at 5:45 first.
Walk somewhere without a reason on Sunday. Eat pizza in a building that opened in 1914. Have an extra pour of gravy at Little Beast just because the bartender offered.

The next time the weather looks like this, it'll probably be June - and by then you'll have convinced yourself you always liked being outside.

Also… Send this to someone who keeps threatening to move somewhere sunnier. This weekend might buy you six more months with them.

- The Drizzle