It probably comes as little surprise to most, but that the curtain has been called on Bumbershoot for 2021. For the second time in as many years, the Labor Day weekend festival will not take place at Seattle Center and the attention is again ushered one year down the road. Bummer.
A joint press release by Seattle Center and producer One Reel suggests that the future look and feel of the event is still a murky situation. After 5 years producing the festival, AEG's final presentation for the show happened in 2019.
A Bumbershoot Exploratory Committee has been formed and "will look back at successful festival elements over the years with an eye to maintaining the Festival’s essential character of artistic and cultural diversity and excellence and the tradition of strong community festival involvement. The goal will be to continue the Festival’s heritage as an affordable, multi-disciplinary arts event celebrating regional, national and international arts and entertainment."
Anyone with enough Seattle dirt on 'em will reminisce about when Bumbershoot used to be a free event and that the most recent years were a huge departure from the original intent. That being said - things change! It does seem that some people would like to steer Bumbershoot back to something more resembling Northwest Folklife Festival and here's their chance to tell that to the Bumbershoot Exploratory Committee.
Let's cross our fingers that Bumbershoot will be back in some fashion by 2022.