When the Seattle Deconstructed Art Fair starts in August, it will mark the official return of Pioneer Square’s First Thursday art walk after a 16-month hiatus.

The long-running monthly art walk through Pioneer Square’s galleries was suspended in April 2020 in compliance with Gov. Jay Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order, and participating galleries shut their doors. While the gallery closures proved temporary, with many resuming operations at limited capacity by last summer, First Thursday’s hiatus did not end then.

Now, the monthly event finally has an official reopening date: Aug. 5, timed to kick off this year’s Deconstructed Art Fair, which will run online and in-person through Aug. 31. All featured work can be found online at seattledeconstructedartfair.com.

Now in its second year, the self-made answer to the Seattle Art Fair was created by local gallerists during the summer of 2020 after the larger art fair was canceled due to COVID-19. Forty galleries participated, many of them located in Pioneer Square.

Though the state’s COVID-19 restrictions have relaxed since its first run, the Deconstructed Art Fair’s website encourages visitors to be mindful of specific galleries’ individual safety requirements, saying, “We ask visitors to please respect these requirements as we all work to get our community fully vaccinated.”