On September 17, 2011, Governor Chris Gregoire (b. 1947), many more state and federal officials, Lower Elwha Klallam tribal leaders, conservationists, and other dignitaries attend a ceremony on an Elw...
On October 21, 2011, construction crews begin demolition of the southern mile of the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle. After more than 10 years of study, debates, votes, and intergovernmental negotiatio...
On October 22, 2011, The Lands Council, a major non-profit environmental organization in the Inland Northwest, holds the first annual Reforest Spokane Day. As second-place winners in a nationwide onli...
On December 6, 2011, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn (b. 1959) signs a resolution designating a Downtown Historic Theatre District to support the preservation, promotion, and maintenance of Seattle's histor...
On Saturday, January 7, 2012, the Lake Forest Park Library reopens in the city's Towne Centre mall. Relocated from a previous space in the mall and expanded using green products and methods, the libra...
On February 3, 2012, the Washington Department of Ecology gives Spokane environmental activist Julian Powers (b. 1926) the Environmental Excellence Award for his work on global warming. This award, th...
On February 26, 2012, the John T. Williams Memorial Totem Pole, in honor of a slain Native American woodcarver, is erected at Seattle Center. Over 100 people carry the pole from Pier 57 to its designa...
On March 1, 2012, the Seattle Theatre Group's (STG) Historic Theatres Library, located in the Paramount Building at 901 Pine Street, opens to the public. It is 84 years to the day after the Seattle (l...
On April 21, 2012, the six-month Next 50 celebration kicks off opening day festivities at Seattle Center, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, also known as the Century 21 Ex...
On May 18, 2012, paleontologists from Seattle's Burke Museum collect the first dinosaur bone ever found in Washington state. They are on Sucia Island, a U-shaped dot of land two miles north of Orcas I...
On June 2, 2012, the first annual Seattle Science festival starts with Science Expo Day on the grounds of Seattle Center. The month-long festival will feature displays and programs on science, technol...
On Thursday, June 7, 2012, Key Compounding Pharmacy celebrates its grand opening in Federal Way. The opening-day ceremony begins at 4 p.m. with remarks by the pharmacy's majority owner HeeJoo Park (b....
On June 29, 2012, the Seattle Great Wheel opens to the public on the Seattle central waterfront. Located at the end of Pier 57, the 175-foot-high ride features 42 climate-controlled gondolas that can ...
On August 31, 2012, Li Hengda (b. 1963), Buster Simpson (b. 1942), Olivier Wevers, Freehold Theatre Lab/Studio, KEXP 90.3 FM, Lucia Neare's Theatrical Wonders, Seattle Arts & Lectures, Three Dolla...
On September 26, 2012, author, educator, and civic leader Eric Liu (b. 1968) brings to a close 10-plus years as a Seattle Public Library board member. Also an executive and a former presidential speec...
In the election of November 6, 2012, Washington voters make history as the state becomes one of the first three to enact marriage equality by popular vote, and one of two to legalize recreational mari...
On November 29, 2012, Egyptologist Kent R. Weeks (b. 1941) speaks to a group preparing to see the King Tutankhamun exhibit at Seattle's Pacific Science Center. Director of the Theban Mapping Project, ...
On December 3, 2012, policy R-650 is introduced in the King County Comprehensive Plan to establish a watershed planning process to address conflicts within the Snoqualmie Watershed, including the Snoq...
On December 6, 2012, a solo exhibition of the work of Richard V. Correll (1904-1990) opens at the University of Washington Libraries. Correll's legacy of art and papers has recently been donated by hi...
On December 8, 2012, the community of Newcastle, tucked between Bellevue and Renton just east of Lake Washington, celebrates the opening of a new library with more than 1,000 people in attendance. The...
On December 29, 2012, the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) reopens in its new South Lake Union location, 60 years after it first welcomed visitors in Seattle's Montlake neighborhood. Displaced f...
On January 9, 2013, Buster Simpson (b. 1942) is named as the first of five artists commissioned to create permanent public artworks on Seattle's central waterfront, which is undergoing a major years-l...
On May 15, 2013, more than 1,000 heirloom beans, called monachine ("little nuns") in Italian because of the bean's distinctive white cap, are set to be planted in the culinary garden of The Herbfarm r...
At about 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, 2013, while crossing the Interstate 5 Skagit River Bridge at Mount Vernon, a tractor-trailer's oversized load dings part of the truss and the northernmost truss sp...