At Seattle's Best Day Ever, explore local neighborhoods with experts

How to Seattle

Remember those school field trips you took as a kid? Try to recall the best part about them: Was it exploring a museum or library? Maybe it was a dance class or a place where you could play sports. Perhaps it was even a new friend you made after spending a whole day together.

A new free event series, named Best Day Ever, aims to bring that sense of fun and connection to local residents on a citywide scale. At each event, you'll dive into a full day of exploring a Seattle neighborhood, with the opportunity to connect with local business and community organizations and participate in art projects, community service and movement activities - hopefully coming away with a deeper connection to a new part of town and its residents.

"We are all familiar with the process of going somewhere new with a group of people and getting to connect with them more deeply while learning about a place. Yet, we don't do that as adults," said Charlotte Massey, executive director of the Seattle Chamber of Connection, the same nonprofit behind other community-building events in Seattle, like Welcome Days for new residents and club fairs. "We've structured (Best Day Ever) so it operates like an adult field trip."

In partnership with the city of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods, the inaugural Best Day Ever took place in March, highlighting local businesses and community groups in Seattle's South Park neighborhood. Six more events will highlight areas that approximately correspond with Seattle's council districts: Downtown (May 30), Ballard (Sept. 12), Hillman City (Sept. 19), Fremont (Oct. 10), Lake City (Oct. 24) and Central District (Nov. 14).

On a Best Day Ever, participants follow a schedule that promotes five themes with the chosen neighborhood: service, learning, movement, gathering and connection, according to Brianna Canning, the Chamber of Connection's Seattle programming manager. The events are free and open to all ages 12 years and older, though only 50 spots are available for each date.

Participants planning to attend a Best Day Ever will be able to see the full itinerary for their event after they register. The next event, in downtown Seattle, is fully booked, though a waitlist is available. Registration for future Best Day Ever events will become available at later dates.

A full-day adventure

So what was it like to be at a Best Day Ever? In March, at event space South Park Hall, that looked like making your own pizzas. As part of the service element, South Town Pie helped guests toss and bake pizzas before delivering them to the residents of a nearby tiny home village. Participants also helped pack supplies at the local food distribution center.

Food continued to be a major theme, with a chocolate tasting from Jean Thompson, CEO of Seattle-based Maeve Chocolate. A free lunch followed, catered by chef Craige LeGrand, who has ties to South Park and supports many of the community events in the neighborhood.

For the "learning" aspect, Jolynn Kenney of Mentor Washington shared a presentation about the organization's work with mentoring young people, including those in the juvenile justice system, low-income households and those who identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color.

Next, guests embarked on a neighborhood walk led by members of the Duwamish River Community Coalition. The approximately one-hour tour led guests along the river bank, past the South Park branch of the Seattle Public Library and more sites. All the while, experienced guides, like Khalia Tenari - who grew up in South Park - explained the little-known history behind the area, like how it took a century for the neighborhood to get its own library, or how Pike Place Market wouldn't exist if not for farmers who grew their crops in the area and transferred them to the Market via trolley during the 20th century. Tenari also shared the various community-led initiatives that have helped improve safety and civic engagement in the neighborhood.

"When I was a kid, I was not allowed to walk around the neighborhood," Tenari told guests as they walked through the newly renovated South Park Playground. "Being able to share it with you guys is even better."

Upon returning to South Park Hall, guests participated in a creative art activity led by the Gage Academy and a lesson in traditional Guinean dance and song led by One World Dance & Drum to complete the movement aspect.

Though each Best Day Ever follows a similar format, no two days will be alike. Each neighborhood-based organization was chosen with intentionality: Best Day Ever organizers put out requests for proposals a year in advance to source the connections for each event. "We're working in partnership with, essentially, experts … who are the guiding point in helping us create something that's meaningful for participants," said Marie Kidhe, community engagement strategic adviser at the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

‘Pride around identifying as a Seattleite'

Through the framework of an adult field trip, you get the unique experience of spending a whole day getting to know one specific part of Seattle. Think about it - when was the last time you visited a neighborhood to learn more about the area itself? Not to visit one specific store or meet one specific friend - but simply to explore and get to know the local community.

"You're walking around the neighborhood, learning the history of it and understanding more about where you live," Kidhe said. "There's a lot of information that community members can share with one another. Those who are rooted in the neighborhoods can be able to offer that invitation to new folks who are maybe newly planted, just-moved-here transplants trying to get settled into Seattle and learn more about what Seattle actually has to offer to them."

For Alicia Xiang, 31, a creative director who moved to Bellevue from New York a couple of years ago, attending the South Park event meant having a chance to explore Seattle better, since living on the Eastside meant it was more of a chore to take a spontaneous trip across Lake Washington. "It's cool to be able to hear the history of this place from someone that has lived here for decades," Xiang said during the neighborhood walk.

Over the course of just a few hours, each Best Day Ever guest learned about over a dozen individuals or organizations that are hyperlocal to one part of the city - and saw firsthand how committed they are to building connections across the city.

"My hope is that people leave having made connections that they're going to follow up on, and that they leave with a deeper understanding, appreciation and love of our city, and really feeling pride around identifying as a Seattleite," Massey said. "We are a city of neighborhoods, and we often don't explore beyond our own neighborhoods. That is part of what this program is doing - pushing people to experience new places and connect with new people."

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This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 4:51 PM.