Last Chance for Goodwill Games

SEATTLE —  What, Seattle sold out for the month of July? How could this be?

Actually, Seattle’s accommodations are not entirely sold out, but you are entitled to some concern if you are trying to make hotel reservations and buy tickets for the Goodwill Games and related arts festival that gets seriously under way next month.

Tourism is expected to reach a near-record peak in the Northwest’s largest city this summer, and there will be memories of 1962 and Seattle’s World’s Fair, still symbolized by the Space Needle.

“We think it’s going to be a crazy summer, definitely,” said Meg Knutson of Seattle’s Convention and Visitors’ Bureau.

The summer centerpiece is the Goodwill Games, broadcasting mogul Ted Turner’s personal Olympiad, which runs from July 20 to Aug. 5. Some of the accompanying arts events start earlier, and some run into the fall. The Visitors’ Bureau conservatively estimates that about 60,000 tourists will come to town during the July 20-Aug. 5 period.

And yet the largest crowd of all--one that has nothing at all to do with Turner’s spectacular--will show up between July 2 and 8. That week, about 45,000 delegates will pour into the city for an international convention of Alcoholics Anonymous. That week, Seattle really is sold out.

Tickets are available for the games and arts festival, although some events have been sold out. “Rooms are available all over town for the games,” although space is tightening up, Knutson said.

Turner’s first games were held in Moscow in 1986, when Americans and Soviets were still locked into the Cold War. In 1980, the Americans had boycotted the Moscow Olympics, and the Soviet team didn’t show up for the L.A. Olympics of 1984. Two years later, Turner’s games were meant to promote goodwill, or at least “better will,” with the U.S.S.R. So it’s no surprise to find that Russian arts predominate in the Seattle festival events, leading off with the Bolshoi Ballet July 2-8.

Unfortunately, the Bolshoi sold out fast. Finding a seat now would be virtually impossible.

Aside from the Bolshoi, the chances are good that you can find tickets for most of the other arts events. The sold-out games and events are, as you would expect, the popular ones held in small arenas: diving, swimming, water polo, ice skating. Some gymnastics tickets are still available but will go fast.

You can still buy tickets for the games’ opening ceremonies at 5:45 p.m. July 21. High prices ($200 for the top ticket) account in part for the slow demand for the grand opening, although the price drops to $35 at the lower end.

Track and field events will be held at Husky Stadium on the University of Washington campus, where seating is more abundant. The only event free to spectators, and the only one in which ordinary people can compete, is the Goodwill Marathon, which starts (7 a.m. July 21 for the men, 7 a.m. the next day for the women) and finishes at Husky Stadium. Runners of less than world class can enter the marathon as late as the preceding day but must pay a late charge above the $25 entry fee. And TAC (The Athletics Congress) membership is required.

Until June 22, Alaska Airlines is offering a games package of air fare plus hotel accommodations. For one person flying from Los Angeles or Long Beach, and staying five days at either the Mayflower Park or the Vance Hotel (both downtown, with space available at last report) the package adds up to $505. At the Executive Inn in nearby Tacoma, about 30 miles south of Seattle, where some of the games and festival events will be held, five nights plus round-trip air fare from Los Angeles or Long Beach will cost $466 per person.

Athough availability is limited, Alaska Airlines also is selling events tickets on a request basis as part of its package.

Going on your own, a call to a major hotel chain’s 800 number or to your travel agent will probably produce accommodations of some sort--as long as you don’t run up against Alcoholics Anonymous.

Major hotels downtown generally charge $100 and up a night, although some motels offer less expensive rates. A room at the TraveLodge near the Space Needle is $85 a night. Hotels near the airport between Seattle and Tacoma charge $85 and up. For hotel information, call Seattle’s Convention and Visitors’ Bureau at (206) 461-5840.

For tickets to sports contests, as well as most of the arts events, the number to call is (206) 292-1990. A “passport” ticket that will admit you to the festival’s four major arts exhibitions is $14.50. The “passport” also can be purchased at any of the arts event sites.

The scorecard for events and tickets:

Goodwill Games: Opening ceremonies and track events available; availability tightening up for other events. Ticket prices for track and field range from $5 to $25; prices for baseball at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma also go from $5 to $25, the latter for the gold and bronze medal games July 31.

Bolshoi Ballet: Well nigh impossible.

Grand Kabuki Theatre of Japan: Some performances not available but not sold out at last report. July 12, 13, 14 at Seattle Center Opera House. Tickets $15 to $50.

Seattle Opera’s “War and Peace”: Conducted by Mark Ermler of the Bolshoi Opera. Still available. July 22, 25, 27, 29, 31, Aug. 2 and 4, Seattle Center Opera House. Prices $25 to $62.

Souvremennik Theatre: A Soviet troupe performing in Russian; the audience has earphones with translation. Tickets ($19 to $26) scarce but still possible. July 5-Aug. 5, Bagley-Wright Theater, Seattle.

Pacific Northwest Ballet, “The Firebird”: Tickets available. Seattle Center Opera House, July 10-11, $10 to $35.

Cirque du Soleil of Montreal: Tickets available for Montreal circus under the Big Top at Ackerly Field, south of Seattle’s Kingdome. July 5-22, $5.50 to $18.50 for children, $11.50 to $29.50 for adults.

Moscow: Treasures & Traditions: An exhibition of about 250 Russian art works from the 15th through the 20th centuries, some never seen outside the Soviet Union. Washington State Convention and Trade Center, through Sept. 30, $7.50.

Art Into Life, Russian Constructivism 1914-1932: An exhibition including items of sculpture, drawing and clothing. Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, July 4-Sept. 2, closed Mondays. $5.75.

Russian America: The Forgotten Frontier: A look back to a time when Russian territory extended to Alaska and California. Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, July 17-Oct. 21. $5.75.

Between Spring & Summer, Soviet Conceptual Art: An exhibition dealing with the transition in politics and culture in the Soviet Union. Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, July 17-Sept. 9. $5.75.