A Successful 51st Year of Celebrating Seattle’s Longest-Running Independent Festival

“The Seattle festival with something for everyone" - Seattle Times

"Bumbershoot wasn’t just manageable; it was a lot of damn fun, and that’s thanks to the slate of stellar performances and artists on the bill.” - Paste Magazine

"An outstanding lineup of music, multi-media artworks, dance performances and a beefed-up culinary program" - Forbes

"The new Bumbershoot is different! Bumbershoot is fun again!" - The Stranger

“truly a rarity” - FLOOD Magazine

"Bumbershoot just feels right. It’s a love letter to the city that it exists in, utilizing its space rather than attempting to strip it of its personality." - Spectrum Culture

"This year they added even more pizzazz to the mixture and many are saying it was one of the best fests the center has ever seen." - Setlist FM

"Bumbershoot’s music lineup was as diverse and unique as the crowds, offering a sublime balance between old favorites and fresh faces" - Northern Transmissions

"It’s an all-out celebration of creativity with every kind of artistic expression you can imagine. It’s weird, it’s wonderful, and it’s everything this city is." - Seattle Mag

"These two years under New Rising Sun have been a sterling return to form." - Post Alley

SEATTLE, WA - Seattle’s Bumbershoot Arts and Music Festival returned this past Labor Day Weekend to celebrate its 51st year and proved to be a smashing success. Held in the heart of the city on the Seattle Center’s sprawling 74-acre urban campus, Bumbershoot saw a significant return to form as 26,000 attendees turned out to enjoy music, art, and food. The festival also teamed up with Amazon for the successful launch of Bumbershoot Gives Back: a charitable initiative that brought the community together to combat food insecurity across the region.

With a half-century of rich history, Bumbershoot has been at the vanguard of artistic innovation, showcasing established luminaries and emerging artists who have later skyrocketed to stardom. As one of the longest-running independent festivals in the world, Bumbershoot offered a little something for everyone, with a uniquely Pacific Northwest point of view.

From knock-out performances from artists like indie-rock legends Pavement to rap veterans Cypress Hill, to closing down the weekend with sets from electronic trailblazer Marc Rebillet and the legendary DJ Carl Cox, music fans were able to enjoy performances from every genre from both veteran musicians and rising newcomers. The weekend experience was elevated with incredible art activations around the Seattle Center Campus for festival goers to enjoy — from skateboard programs and wrestling in the Recess District to car shows and fashion shows in the Fashion District. The highly-anticipated Cat Circus returned for its second time and saw staggering lines all weekend long! Of course, food offerings from some of the best in the region made for a fantastic treat — highlights included tasty treats and drink from Musang, Mamnooncita, and Local Tide, to name a few!

Bumbershoot Arts and Music Festival has always centered around its community and this year, Bumbershoot teamed up with Amazon for Bumbershoot Gives Back: Powered by Amazon. This summer, Bumbershoot and Amazon mobilized and celebrated more than 2,000 volunteers who gave their time to 15 different organizations in the area including food banks and community gardens. Volunteers collectively dedicated over 10,000 hours of their time to activities including delivering groceries, sorting food, harvesting gardens and even helping to feed pets, receiving free two-day festival tickets in exchange for their contributions. Bumbershoot and Amazon surpassed their goal to donate 90,000 pounds of food, with a total of 127,000 pounds of food donated to Puget Sound region food banks. Additionally, a virtual food drive organized by nonprofit hunger relief organization Conscious Alliance offered supporters a limited-edition Bumbershoot poster by Dan Stiles in exchange for a donation that contributed 80 meals to the program.

It was another incredible year celebrating and we look forward to another amazing year ahead!

About Bumbershoot:

A celebration of the Pacific Northwest’s unique culture, Bumbershoot is a full-spectrum arts and music experience—from punk to performance art, ballet to wrestling, pole dancing to roller skating, food to fashion, and all manner of ingenuity in between. Celebrating creators and innovators of all kinds, Bumbershoot breaks stereotypes, champions a more inclusive art community, and bets on the dreamers, makers, and performers who call the Pacific Northwest home. It is Seattle’s moss-covered Mardi Gras, daring everyone to join in the spectacle. First produced at Seattle Center in 1971, Bumbershoot is Washington’s legacy arts and music festival, made for community by community. We believe everyone in the region—from individuals to corporations—has a role to play in supporting the power and vitality of the arts. That’s why we amplify the Pacific Northwest creative community, cultivating professional opportunities for artists, welcoming diverse crowds by the hundreds of thousands, and training the next generation of event producers. We strive to be as accessible as possible—whether in our programming, our physical footprint, our subsidized ticket prices, or otherwise. Today, Bumbershoot is produced by New Rising Sun, a seasoned team of concert promoters and visual arts producers dedicated to supercharging the iconic Bumbershoot brand. New Rising Sun manages and operates Bumbershoot on behalf of Third Stone, a nonprofit that houses the annual Bumbershoot Festival and its workforce development program for underserved young people. Third Stone’s mission is to foster an inclusive and sustainable Pacific Northwest arts economy through youth education and community-driven programming.

About Third Stone:

Third Stone’s mission is to help foster an inclusive, energized, and sustainable arts economy in the Pacific Northwest through festival, artistic spectacle, and community driven programming. Their primary purpose is to produce a festival over Labor Day weekend that is equitably programmed, affordably priced, and accessible to all. Third Stone houses Bumbershoot’s workforce development program, which is made possible with support from the Washington State Department of Commerce, City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle Center, the Schultz Family Foundation, and generous community members. This program provides critical business skills to young people aged 17-25 using a “festival as classroom” philosophy. Inspired by and collaborating with the Concert Career Pathways Education Program from The UC Theatre in Berkeley, CA, Third Stone’s program focuses on serving young people from underserved communities. Third Stone supports program participants with job placement in the creative economy, and 80% of graduates are currently working in their area of interest. By partnering with The UC Theatre, The Crocodile, The Showbox, and local non-profits such as KEXP, The Vera Project, Friends of the Waterfront, TeenTix, and more, Third Stone works collectively to build a more equitable and sustainable creative arts ecosystem. Learn more about Bumbershoot’s Workforce Development Program, or to apply when applications open this fall here

About Seattle Center:

Connect to the extraordinary at Seattle Center, an active civic, arts, and family gathering place in the core of our city and region. Seattle Center’s 74-acre campus, centered around the International Fountain, is part of the Uptown Arts & Cultural District and home to Climate Pledge Arena; more than 30 cultural, educational, sports and entertainment organizations; and a broad range of public and community programs. In everything it does, Seattle Center’s mission is to create exceptional events, experiences, and environments which delight and inspire the human spirit to build stronger communities.

About Amazon:

Since our founding in Bellevue 30 years ago, Amazon and the Puget Sound have been intertwined. We’re proud of our roots — that’s why we’re committed to taking a hands-on approach to tackle important issues facing our hometown, like affordable housing and hunger. By investing in long-term solutions and working side-by-side with community partners, we’re building a better tomorrow for all of us across the region. Learn more at About Amazon.

Bumbershoot Arts and Music Festival is sponsored by Amazon, the Ballmer Family, Guayakí Yerba Mate, the Seattle Center, and Starbucks.

BUMBERSHOOT PRESS KIT HERE

For more information on Bumbershoot, please contact Grandstand Media:

Kate Jackson | katej@grandstandhq.com

Nik Soelter | niks@grandstandhq.com

Sarah Haberfeld | sarah@grandstandhq.com