On a Friday night this month, getting into Hangar 30 can cost about ten dollars, a suggested five dollars by QR code, or twenty dollars for one of 500 capped tickets, depending on the weekend. Three different organizers take over the same room at 6310 NE 74th Street on three straight weekends, and each one prices its opening night differently.
The run starts tonight on the quieter side of the same building. The west half of Building 30 holds the Magnuson Park Gallery and 32 working artist studios, and that side charges nothing to get in. For View Ridge, Wedgwood and Sand Point, Building 30 works as two attractions under one roof through December. One half hosts ticketed markets that arrive and leave in a weekend. The other half holds artists who are there all year and open their doors to the public on one afternoon this season.
One building, split in two by design
Building 30 was finished in 1939 as an aircraft hangar and office building for Naval Air Station Seattle at Sand Point, and work on its original section began by 1938. The offices housed Navy administration. Next door, Building 27 was a seaplane hangar that sheltered the Navy's seaplanes. The Navy transferred the land and buildings to Seattle in the late 1990s. HistoryLink dates the city's acquisition of the Sand Point Historic District to 1999.
The split you walk through today was decided in public workshops in 2008 and early 2009. Those sessions reached consensus to keep Building 30 as a citywide community event space and to develop its west side as an arts facility, according to the Seattle Parks Magnuson strategic plan from September 2012. The city completed a $9 million renovation of Building 30 and Hangar 30 in 2013. That same year, Seattle Parks turned the west half into 32 artist rental studios.
So the November calendar follows a plan the city set more than fifteen years ago. The hangar side rents to whichever organizer books it, and the studio side stays put.
Three weekends, three Friday nights
Each of the three November markets in Hangar 30 opens with a Friday evening session. Prices for those Friday nights range more widely than prices for the weekend days.
| Weekend | Market | Friday evening | Weekend days | Friday cost | Weekend cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 13–14 | Gobble Up, by Urban Craft Uprising | First Bite Night, 5–8 p.m. | Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m. | About $10 | $2, kids 12 and under free |
| Nov. 20–22 | Renegade Craft | 5–8 p.m. | Sat. and Sun. 11 a.m.–5 p.m. | Suggested $5 | Suggested $5 |
| Nov. 27–29 | Geek Craft Expo Holiday Market | Pre-Shop, 6–9 p.m. | Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. | $20 full price, 500 tickets | $5 full price, kids 12 and under free |
Gobble Up, Nov. 13–14
Gobble Up comes first and is the only market of the three built entirely around food. Urban Craft Uprising brings more than 100 local food, beverage and kitchenware makers to the hangar. Friday's First Bite Night is a separate early-access preview of the same makers. Its Eventbrite listing shows $10.47. Saturday admission is advertised at $2 per person, and children 12 and under get in free. Coming two weeks before Thanksgiving, this is the weekend to shop for the host-gift and holiday-table kind of purchase.
Renegade Craft, Nov. 20–22
Renegade advertises more than 180 curated artists across three days. It is also the only one with no required ticket. Entry is open to everyone, and a $5 contribution by onsite QR code is suggested but not required. That makes its Friday 5–8 p.m. session the cheapest opening night of the month. Renegade asks visitors to carpool, take a rideshare, bike or ride transit, and it names Magnuson lot W6 as the closest parking.
Geek Craft Expo, Nov. 27–29
The Geek Craft Expo Holiday Market lands the day after Thanksgiving. It describes itself as a curated market of handmade geek goods by local crafters and makers. It has the steepest Friday of the three. The 6–9 p.m. Pre-Shop is $20 at full price for ages 13 and up, advance tickets show $15.75, and only 500 advance tickets are sold. On Saturday and Sunday, full price drops to $5 and advance tickets show $2.10. Those prices include Seattle's 5% admission tax, and children 12 and under get in free all three days.
Across the three weekends, entering on a Friday costs anywhere from nothing to $20 for the same hangar floor. On the Saturdays, the most you'll pay anywhere is $5.
The side of the building that charges nothing
The west half of Building 30 is at 7448 63rd Avenue NE, and it runs on a different model. Seattle Parks says Sand Point Arts and Cultural Exchange, known as SPACE, manages the building's small display gallery. The city's Magnuson Park administration keeps the waitlist for the studios. The Magnuson Park Gallery says its public events are free and generally open to everyone.
Tonight, Thursday, Nov. 12, the gallery opens "Gathering," a show of work by Abigail Drapkin, Kayla Cochran, Maria Huang and Maria Zamora. The opening reception runs 5–8 p.m., and the show stays up through Dec. 19. So Gobble Up's First Bite Night starts in the hangar 24 hours after a free reception in the same building. That gives you two openings in one building on back-to-back evenings.
The studio artists open their own doors only twice a year. The gallery works with Seattle Parks and the Artists of Building 30 West to put on these semiannual open studios. The winter edition is the one afternoon this season to see the people who work in the building's 32 studios all year.
December, after the hangar empties
When the visiting markets pack up after Nov. 29, the December calendar moves to the studio side and to the streets nearby:
- Dec. 5 through Jan. 1: Candy Cane Lane on Park Road NE in the Ravenna area lights up 4–9:30 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays and Saturdays. The display collects food-drive donations for the U-District Food Bank.
- Dec. 6, noon to 4 p.m.: Building 30 West Open Art Studios opens more than 30 resident artists' workspaces at 7448 63rd Avenue NE to the public.
- Dec. 11: SPACE 101.1 FM lists its Magnuson Park Live! Holiday Show on its Magnuson Park events roundup. Magnuson Park Live! is the station's concert series featuring local musicians playing for a studio audience.
- Dec. 19: "Gathering" closes at the Magnuson Park Gallery.
- Dec. 26: The Merry Christmas Run is listed at Magnuson, one of several holiday races on the park's calendar. The others are the Magnuson Series Turkey Day Trot on Nov. 26 and The Best Races' Coffee Lovers Run on Nov. 28.
If the kids are coming along
Plan around one closure if you're bringing kids. Magnuson's Junior League Play Area is closed for construction. The work also blocks access to picnic shelter #3 and partially closes the basketball courts. Seattle Parks expects to finish in early 2027, and the rebuilt play area will have new equipment and surfacing, a three-stall all-gender restroom, accessible paths, seating and plantings. On the market weekends, Gobble Up and Geek Craft Expo both admit children 12 and under free, and Renegade is open to everyone.
Living near Magnuson means a 1939 hangar down the street turns into a food hall, a craft fair and a geek market on three straight weekends, and it costs at most $5 to walk in on a Saturday. At Mr Magnolia, we keep track of the things around View Ridge that affect what a home here is worth, and being close to the park is one of them. If you'd like to see how your home near Sand Point compares, ask us for a free home valuation.