The Artist Collective at the Bellevue Arts Fair. | Photo courtesy of Bellevue Arts Museum
For 80 years, the Bellevue Arts Fair has been a summer tradition, drawing artists and art enthusiasts from across the Pacific Northwest. This July, the beloved event returns alongside the Bellevue Downtown Arts Market for Bellevue Arts Fair Weekend, bringing hundreds of artists, expanded programming and a new cultural exhibition that celebrates the region's living artistic traditions.
Taking place July 24–26, Bellevue Arts Fair Weekend is expected to welcome more than 150,000 visitors downtown for three days of visual art, live performances, family activities and interactive experiences. Co-produced by Bellevue Arts Museum (BAM) and the Bellevue Downtown Association, this year's festival will feature more than 350 artists representing 15 artistic mediums, as well as new after-hours events and a mobile app designed to help visitors explore everything the weekend has to offer.
"For 80 years, artists have been the heart of Bellevue Arts Fair Weekend," says Cassandra Johnston, CEO-elect of BAM. "This year, we're building on that legacy by creating even more opportunities for people to experience art in all its forms."
One of the weekend's most significant additions is Living Traditions, a new multicultural exhibition series launching with its inaugural presentation, Japanese Art and Resilience in the Pacific Northwest. Rather than framing Japanese artistic traditions as historical artifacts, the exhibition explores them as vibrant, evolving practices that continue to shape communities throughout the region.
More than 150,000 people are expected during the three-day Bellevue Arts Fair. | Photo courtesy of Bellevue Arts Museum
The exhibition begins online on July 12 with curatorial essays, historical resources and an interactive cultural map highlighting Japanese and Japanese American art, culture and community across the Pacific Northwest. During Bellevue Arts Fair Weekend, that digital experience expands into a series of live demonstrations, workshops and performances featuring calligraphy, woodblock printing, ceramics, ikebana, taiko drumming, haiku poetry and celebrations of the Star Festival.
"This inaugural exhibit highlights the arts and traditions brought to Bellevue by the founding Japanese American farming families who cleared the land, grew the strawberries, and influenced the city's identity,” says guest curator Dr. Anna-Marie Moblard Meier. “These art forms were carried through the incarceration of those 60 families and passed forward. That is what ‘resilience’ means in this title, and we are honored to celebrate it."
Beyond the art booths, visitors can enjoy an expanded lineup of evening programming, including the new Sixth Street Sessions Dinner Concert Series, BAM Rooftop Rhythms, the return of Fashion Friday, local food vendors, family-friendly craft activities and interactive art experiences throughout downtown Bellevue.
The festival also reflects Bellevue Arts Museum's evolving vision following the sale of its longtime museum building. As the organization expands beyond a traditional museum model, initiatives like Living Traditions demonstrate its growing commitment to bringing exhibitions, artists and cultural programming directly into community spaces.