Dear readers, 

It’s the summer of a presidential election year, which means the task of saving our democracy has once again fallen to you.

You can—and, indeed, you must—do your part by choosing the best soft-serve ice cream cone in Seattle. To assist you in that task, Stranger Culture Editor Megan Seling, EverOut Food & Drink Editor Julianne Bell, and Stranger contributor Meg van Huygen have done the work of sampling the options around town. It’s up to you to read their commentary and follow through.

Each summer, the denizens of Seattle must also attend a music festival that aligns with their generational identity. Which festival offers millennials the space they need to nod their heads and awkwardly tap their feet at tasteful independent music? Which caters to Gen Z’s need to shake their underbutts? Yet again, The Stranger’s culture team delivers the goods in the form of a fun and flirty flowchart.

Given the current political environment, finding ways to coalesce around shared experiences has never felt more urgent, which is why I strongly suggest you read Stranger contributor Adam Willems’s argument for following the baseball season closely. Our Mariners apparently have a better-than-good shot at a strong postseason run this year, whatever that means.

For those who prefer more active pastimes, dig into Stranger contributor Kevin Diers’s profile of Seattle DIY music stalwarts Beautiful Freaks, and pick up some mosh pit safety tips while you’re at it.

And as many of you know, the state’s ferry system needs a lot of help in the form of your money, so you should also consider it your civic duty to hop on the Seattle–Bainbridge Island ferry to see Nikki McClure’s retrospective of gorgeous, intricate papercuts.

Speaking of our city’s crumbling infrastructure, Scarecrow Video needs a significant influx of cash to keep its vast library of physical media up and running, so do check out the premium film recommendations from Stranger contributor Chase Hutchinson.

For the indoor kids, Stranger Senior Writer Charles Mudede offers a strong argument for taking the time to read Octavia Butler’s prescient Parable of the Sower, even as it predicts our doom.

Oh yeah, the other thing you can do to maintain our fragile republic is to vote in the August primary election before Tuesday, August 6, at 8 pm. As ever, in the following pages, you can read the Stranger Election Control Board’s thoroughly researched, borderline unhinged arguments for every race on your ballot—or you can just jump to the Cheat Sheet and vote the way we tell you to.

For all our bratty braggadocio and various chemical dependencies, we do way more probing and internal bickering than any other endorsement board in town. That’s because this local politics shit really affects you, which is why it matters to us. So, after you’ve picked up a few DVDs at Scarecrow and settled on a music festival, gather around the coffee table with your roommates, your family, your emotional support animal, or your own beautiful self, read up, and vote as soon as you can. Then go buy yourself a nice ice cream cone.

HAKAS,

Rich Smith, Editor

The Stranger’s Endorsements for the August, 6, 2024, Primary Election
Time to Make the Billionaires Pay What They Owe Us

How to Vote
Save the Country and Earn a FreeSticker While You’re at It

The Stranger’s August 2024 Primary Election Cheat Sheet

Council Member Tanya Woo Cancels Endorsement Meeting with The Stranger at the Last Minute
City-Council-Face-the-Public Challenge (Impossible)

Big Business Is Pleased with the Council It Bought
With a Council This Slow and Inept, Why Wouldn’t They Be?

Soft Serve Showdown
Taste Your Way Through Seattle’s Most Twisted Ice Cream Offerings

Your Local Baseball Besties
Why You Should Give a Shit About the Mariners This Summer

Music Festival Frenzy!
Follow Our Flowchart to Find Your Perfect Match

Flying the Freak Flag
Seattle’s Genre-Bending Beautiful Freaks Will Fight (and Bleed) for You

Damn the Man, Save the Empire
Seattle’s Best Video Store Needs Our Help

Swimming with Nikki McClure
Sometimes, When You Interview Your Favorite Artist, You End Up Becoming a Piece of Their Art

Octavia Butler Saw Our Doom
Parable of the Sower Is the Opposite of a Light Summer Read, but You Need to Read it This Summer Anyway