It’s not how the neighborhood’s urbanists would have drawn it up but the pandemic has inspired a renewed energy for putting Capitol Hill’s streets to use for more than just cars and parking. This weekend, a street festival will fill Harvard between Pike and Pine with artists and performers in a benefit for one of Capitol Hill’s newest arts organizations.

Fortunately, with a gush of wet weather finally hitting Seattle after an unusually dry late summer, Intiman Theatre’s weekend-long Homecoming Performing Arts Festival is also ready to go on rain or shine:

Intiman Theatre is proud to invite you to join in and celebrate the return of the live arts in a safe, outdoor setting! On the final weekend of summer, Harvard Ave. will transform into the HOMECOMING Performing Arts Festival, featuring vendors, food trucks, artist installations, a beer garden presented with Life on Mars, and over 100 artists performing on the mainstage. Performances will include children’s programming from South End Stories, live bands from Café Racer, dance from Velocity, stand up comedy curated by Emmett Montgomery, drag, burlesque, DJ sets, LGBTQ+ entertainment from BeautyBoiz, and much more.

The ticketed event will celebrate the theater group’s new partnership and programs at Seattle Central.

The college is making a new home for longtime Seattle arts group that will create a new associate degree program emphasis in Technical Theatre for Social Justice at the school — and help to provide training and roles for diverse designers, lighting techs, and theater crews.

It will also put Intiman to work on Seattle Central’s stages inside Harvard Ave’s Erickson Theater and inside the Broadway Performance Hall.

The link-up might also provide a glimmer of light for those hoping Seattle Central’s recent directions around the arts might bring an end to theater at the school. Seven years ago, Seattle Central found itself dedicating theater space for use during classes as it faced a space crunch for instruction. Those pressures have remained. Last year, CHS reported on long-term planning that would also rededicate the historic performance hall and carve up the venue into additional space needed to meet curriculum needs.

Seattle Central also owns the classic Egyptian Theatre across the street, revived by SIFF in a 10-year deal struck in 2014.

You can buy the full Homecoming pass at $105 for Saturday and Sunday to help boost Intiman but they’re also offering discounted tickets of $5 per day for kids and students. You can buy tickets here.

Masks are required at the entirely outdoor event and proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test is required to enter the beer garden.

Performances and events begin daily at 11 AM and run into the night. The full schedule is posted at intiman.org.

The weekend festival follows a special Labor Day edition of PrideFest that transformed five blocks of Broadway into a LGBTQ+ celebration on the street. Meanwhile, the city will continue programs allowing Capitol Hill’s proliferation of street dining tents and sidewalk patios to stay in place into 2022 — and, maybe, beyond.

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