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Festival Celebrates Vietnamese Lunar New Year and Year of the Snake on January 25 and 26
SEATTLE – Seattle Center Festál launches the 2025 festival series with the 29th Tết in Seattle– Vietnamese Lunar New Year on January 25 and 26, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Seattle Center Armory Food & Event Hall and Fisher Pavilion. The festival is free, family-friendly, and open to the public.
The dynamic two-day event is produced by Tết in Seattle (TIS), a volunteer-based community organization, that honors the culture of Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans in the Pacific Northwest.
“This year’s festival theme celebrates the Year of the Snake. Like the snake, we are embracing transformation and growth by making new changes and enhancing our long-ongoing programs and content,” said Michelle Tran, Festival Co-Producer. “As one of the largest free Tết festivals, we are proud to create a welcoming space for people to celebrate Lunar New Year and immerse themselves in the beauty of Vietnamese culture.”
Tết in Seattle – Vietnamese Lunar New Year is a multi-generational event that brings together the regional community to celebrate rich Vietnamese heritage through art, food, music, and traditional and contemporary traditions.
This year’s festival includes kids and adult eating competitions, as well as a “Bánh Tét” (sticky rice) wrapping competition on both days for all ages. There will also be special live performances from Hướng Việt Performing Arts Group (performing on Saturday), and features headline singers Nhu Quynh (performing on Saturday) and Lam Anh (performing on Sunday). Lion Dances can be enjoyed each day at approximately 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM with performances by Mak Fai, Gia Đình Phật Tử Vạn Hạnh, and Gia Đình Phật Tử Liễu Quán. The festival will also offer cuisine from local restaurants, a vendor market, a fashion show, hands-on activities for kids, and family-oriented events for all to enjoy. In addition, the annual health fair will return with free services and screenings for eye health, osteoporosis, and more.
“We are excited to open Festál 2025 with Tết in Seattle – Vietnamese Lunar New Year once again as our inaugural event,” said Heidi Jackson, Seattle Center Managing Artistic Director of Cultural Programming. “I encourage everyone to come out to Seattle Center to enjoy the delicious Vietnamese food and experience the rich and varied traditions that make Tết such a beloved celebration. The Lion Dances do not disappoint!”
This festival is the first in a series of 25 festivals, presented by various cultural organizations and hosted by Seattle Center throughout the year.
About Tết History
Tết occurs on the first day of the Lunar New Year, typically in late January or early February, and is celebrated for three to five days. During this period, families reunite, put aside the past year’s struggles, and pray for blessings in the year to come. Homes are cleaned, fresh clothes are donned, and streets are decorated in preparation for Tết. In every home, altars are set up to welcome ancestors with a full spread of Vietnamese dishes unique to Tết, such as banh tết, banh chung, and more.
About Tết Festival
Tết in Seattle was formed in 1996 by four Vietnamese organizations invested in celebrating and preserving traditional Vietnamese culture in the Seattle community. The groups hoped to host an event that would unite the Vietnamese community and introduce that community to the greater Seattle area. Observance of the Lunar New Year, Tết Nguyên Đán, presented the perfect opportunity to do so. Information on Tết in Seattle is available at https://www.tetinseattle.org/ and http://www.seattlecenter.com/events/featured-events/festal/tet-in-seattle, as well as on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
About Seattle Center Festál
Seattle Center Festál is a unique public program series of 25 free cultural festivals, each offering its own celebration of heritage and identity. These events provide a range of engaging programs and activities to cultivate a deeper understanding of the diversity of our region. Seattle Center Festál is produced in partnership with community groups, presented on weekends from January to November, and supported by the City of Seattle, Seattle Center Foundation, and 4Culture.
About Seattle Center
Connect to the extraordinary at Seattle Center, an active civic, arts, and family gathering place in the core of our city and region. Seattle Center’s 74-acre campus, centered around the International Fountain, is part of the Uptown Arts & Cultural District and home to Climate Pledge Arena; more than 30 cultural, educational, sports, and entertainment organizations; and a broad range of public and community programs. In everything it does, Seattle Center’s mission is to create exceptional events, experiences, and environments which delight and inspire the human spirit to build stronger communities.
Seattle Center has expanded its role to provide maintenance and public safety services for Seattle’s new Waterfront Park, a series of new public spaces on Seattle’s downtown waterfront between Pioneer Square and the Seattle Aquarium. Seattle Center supports managing these new waterfront public spaces in partnership with the non-profit Friends of Waterfront Seattle, which offers the community a range of recreational and cultural programming.
Thanks to the support of Official Seattle Center Partners – Alaska Airlines, The Climate Pledge, Coors Light, Pepsi, Premera Blue Cross, Symetra, T-Mobile, and WaFd Bank – Seattle Center is the #1 arts and entertainment destination in the Pacific Northwest with 12 million annual visitors, generating $1.864 billion in business activity and more than $631 million in labor income annually. www.seattlecenter.com
