Bumbershoot Is Kinda Gay This Year…And, That’s A Good Thing

August 28, 2023• byMichael Strangeways

After being on hiatus for awhile due to a change in producers and well, that darn Covid thing, Seattle’s mostly beloved annual Labor Day music/arts festival BUMBERSHOOT is back at Seattle Center for its 50th anniversary year. And, things are a bit different this time around. For one thing, they’ve made an effort to return to a more grassroots festival with an emphasis on more indie artists and less on only programming big label acts.

It’s also smaller…a two day Saturday/Sunday event as opposed to the 3 or 4 day long festivals that used to be the norm. However, they haven’t turned back pricing…it’s $75 for a single day pass and $130 for a 2 day. Back in the day, you got into Bumbershoot for a nickel and a pack of Doublemint gum…

Hunx and His Punx. Photo credit: Cali Thornhill-Dewitt

It’s also got a nice gay/queer streak running through it with plenty of LGBTQ+ artists or at least allies or “adjacent”. It’s very much an old school Pacific Northwest arty farty, faggy waggy, hippy dippy kind of festival again…and, that’s GOOD!!! There’s Hunx and His Punx coming back to town and singer Brittany Howard (from Alabama Shakes) and local sensations Thunderpussy and Chong the Nomad and internationally known freedom fighters Pussy Riot…and, so much more.

Not to mention lots of queer art stuff including drag performers, burlesque, and queer film screenings including These C*cksucking Tears the documentary short film about the queer country band Lavender Country. And, Ruby Mimosa’s BurlesKaraoke which is a regular monthly event at Queer Bar on Capitol Hill. And, a lot more…Check out all the artists here: https://bumbershoot.com/artist-lineup/

Oh, and beer and wine gardens and activity stuff and opportunties to eat food from food trucks….YAY!

And, some things to know: they’re searching bags and they’re encourging you to use SEE THROUGH/TRANSPARENT bags to speed up the process. And, there’s no re-entry. Once you’re in, you’re in so no bopping in to see a band you like at 2pm then bopping out for a few hours to return at 9pm to see a headliner. Which kinda sucks in our opinion.

All schedules are up…go here to see them: https://bumbershoot.com/schedule/

About the Author: Michael Strangeways

As the Editorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways writes, edits and does about a million other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most visited LGBTQ news, arts and entertainment website now celebrating its 14th year as a media outlet. A semi-proud Midwesterner by birth, he's lived in Seattle since 2000. He's also a film producer who would like you to check out the Jinkx Monsoon documentary, "Drag Becomes Him" now available on Amazon.com. In his spare time, he gets slightly obsessive about his love for old movies, challenging theater, "otters", vodka, chocolate, "I,Claudius", Lizzie Borden, real books made out of paper, disaster films, show tunes, Weimar era Germany, flea markets, pop surrealistic art, the sex lives of Hollywood actors both living and dead, kitties, chicken fried steak, haute couture and David Bowie. But, not necessarily in that order.