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Statshot: Creative At The Core

The most popular events at Seattle Center

By Seattle Business Magazine April 8, 2025

Seattle skyline featuring the Space Needle, viewed through circular cutouts in a sculpture at Seattle Center, with trees in the foreground.
The Seattle landmarks taken through the Sculpture at Kerry Park.
Photo by SounderBruce / Flickr

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2025 issue of Seattle magazine.

Seattle Center is the most visited cultural attraction in Washington state and the 18th most popular in the United States. Nearly 10 million people visited “the city’s living room” in 2023. Here’s a quick glance at attendance at select events:

A crowd gathers around a stage in Seattle Center park, with the iconic Space Needle towering in the background on a clear day—the perfect setting at the top cultural attraction.
Seattle Center’s Movies at the Mural.
Photo courtesy of Downtown Seattle Association

The bar chart highlights attendance figures for Seattle events. Winterfest tops with 1.2M attendees, followed closely by the Bite of Seattle at 500K, all hosted at the Seattle Center ranked as the top cultural attraction. The Fourth at the Mural trails with just 3,250 attendees.

Source: Seattle Center (2023)

Big Number

4,196,993

Paid attendance at arts and cultural programs and events in downtown Seattle in 2023.

Source: Downtown Seattle Association (2024)

Quotable Quotes

“Even one drink makes you a little less effective, a little less sharp.”

Dr. Steven Quay, CEO and founder of Seattle-based Atossa Therapeutics, discussing the surgeon general’s recent report on the dangers of alcohol. Quay urges people to stop drinking alcohol altogether.

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