⭐ Means don’t miss it!
⭐ Bumbermania
In which local wrestling crew SOS Wrestling builds a real-deal ring in the middle of the Seattle Center, and dozens of local wrestling superstars (66, to be exact!) fight, tackle, pummel, and toss one another around for a chance at the Bumbermania belt. It’s so fun, so captivating, that I missed part of Janelle Monáe’s headlining set last year because I couldn’t look away. MEGAN SELING
Cat Circus
It is my journalistic duty to set the record straight: The cats do not do tricks in Bumbershoot’s Cat Circus. There are no performances. The cats and kittens, all of whom are available for adoption via Motley Zoo Animal Rescue, mostly lounge around on circus-themed kitty decor while people file in for a quick pat or play. Cats are good; Motley Zoo Animal Rescue is great. But lines are long at the Cat Circus that’s not really a circus. You’ve been warned. MEGAN SELING
⭐ Comedy Coop
In the past half-decade, Bumbershoot’s Comedy Coop has drawn oversized, wait-in-line crowds, and we get it. Seattle’s stand-up scene has enjoyed a recent, steady rise in quality and quirkiness, thanks to a healthy number of venues and ongoing showcases for locals to work out their boundary-pushing routines. With proven collectives like Pacific North Weirdos (headed by Stranger “Undisputable Geniuses of Comedy” Emmett Montgomery and Derek Sheen), the Disabled List, and #TheBLACKOUT, along with rising showcases like One Man Show (a female/nonbinary showcase) and Laff-a-Ball (nerdy comedy born from Fremont’s popular Add-a-Ball arcade), this year’s comedy options will likely merit their own lengthy queues. Budget your between-bands comedy time accordingly. SAM MACHKOVECH
Euro Bungee
Strap into this contraption that looks like something that sprouted out of Doctor Octopus’s back and jump around on a trampoline, if that’s something you’re into! MEGAN SELING
⭐ Fashion Runway
Although Seattle is not exactly known for its fashion—The Stranger’s Charles Mudede called it “the anti-fashion capital of the world” in 2022—Bumbershoot’s Fashion District is a chance for the city’s few sartorial specialists to flaunt their style bona fides on the runway. I’m excited to see New Affection’s “silhouettes that question dominant beauty standards and nod to queer history,” the “small-batch, slow fashion design house” Prairie Underground, Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week, the teen-run fashion show High Fashion High, and multidisciplinary artist and designer Alter Ego Expressions. JULIANNE BELL
⭐ Flatstock
The world’s greatest poster and art show is back! At Flatstock, more than 20 local and visiting independent artists will be displaying and selling their incredible work. Sure, it’s a smaller iteration compared to the early 2000s (when Flatstock would feature hundreds of artists throughout the weekend), but hey, quality over quantity, baby! MEGAN SELING
Free Range Performances
Keep a lookout for what Bumbershoot calls Free Range Performances, in which folks like the Rat City Roller Derby skaters and conceptual artist Flatchestedmama pop up around the Seattle Center and do what exactly? And when? Who knows! The mystery is what makes it fun, maybe! MEGAN SELING
Gravity Park
You’ll feel like it’s X-Games circa 1997 at Gravity Park, where you can catch skateboard and BMX competitions and demos from Dope Planet, Skate Like a Girl, Ride and Glide, and Alchemy Skateboarding. Also returning this year: 35th North’s Ramp Riot, where the best tricks can win skaters cash prizes! MEGAN SELING
Large-Scale Sculpture & Light Art
Come dusk, gather like moths around the candy-color glow of Sparks Designs’ large-scale light installations. The team collaborates with femme and LGBTQIA+ metalworking artists to create monumental shadow- and light-box sculptures inspired by the lushness of our bioregional ecosystems. Presented in more than 30 cities across eight countries, their work may resemble giant paper lanterns or stained glass, but they’re meticulously welded, cast, forged, and cut into intricate forms that cast prismatic patterns across the landscape. AMANDA MANITACH
Magic Dome
If you only take one thing away from this printed guide, it should be this advice: Never search for magicians on an algorithmic platform. If you ask Insta, YT, or TikTok if this is your card, they will bombard you with corny street magicians. We took the hit to confirm that Bumbershoot’s new Magic Dome isn’t quite the star-studded selection of modern, likable magicians that we were hoping for, with at least one participating magician calling a child a “drunk midget” in his online magic-trick reel, JFC. But Centralia, WA–based Taylor Kyle is a legit close-up magician, and cheesy as he is, his tricks do blow minds, so there’s that. SAM MACHKOVECH
Merchant Village
More than two dozen local vendors—from designers and stylists to jewelers and perfumers—are slinging their goods at the Merchant Village. My money will likely end up in the hands of Delusion Bird Vintage (founded by La Fonda!), Seattle Chainstitch Massacre (peep their Widow’s Bay collection), and Embellish the Truth, where fiber artist Sarah Bolden upcycles old clothes into wearable art covered in beads and sequins and crystals to create ready-to-wear pieces that could carry a modern remake of Desperately Seeking Susan. MEGAN SELING
⭐ PROTEST!: A Visual History of Civil Disobedience in Seattle
Seattle is really good at civil disobedience—it’s kind of our love language. When you’re ready for a sensory break (or just want to feed on a little intellectual meat), get over to Art/Not Terminal (A/NT) Gallery, where you can catch up on our city’s history of resistance. From the Red Scare–era strikes of 1919 to chasing the cops out of CHOP, PROTEST!, presented by HistoryLink, is an exhibition of photography and archival imagery that traces the history of our city throwing a middle finger at corruption and capitalism. A fun fact about A/NT: it started as a guerrilla gallery literally born in a downtown bus stop in 1987. It’s gone on to serve as a community art space—the people’s gallery—for nearly 40 years! AMANDA MANITACH
Puppet Playhouse
Did you know comedian Ryan Stiles, aka the tall guy from Whose Line Is It Anyway?, was born in Seattle? It’s true! And in 2004, Stiles, who is quite possibly the world’s most famous improv comedian, founded the Upfront Theatre in Bellingham, WA. And this weekend, it’s Stiles’s Upfront Theatre that’s hosting the Puppet Playhouse, which will present both kid-friendly and 18-plus puppet shows. Another fun fact: Stiles was in Hot Shots! Part Deux, which also featured Martin Sheen, who was in JFK with Kevin Bacon. Just two degrees from Kevin Bacon! That has nothing to do with anything. I just really like the movie Tremors. MEGAN SELING
⭐ Rooftop District
If you need a break from the crush below, the rooftop is the place to be: a perch overlooking the Main Stage, a glass of wine in hand, and intimate performances by artists like improvisational saxophonist KO SOLO and my current dance obsession, atm/overdraft. Whatever you do this weekend, do not fucking miss atm/overdraft. The inimitable dance duo—Kit Wyatt and Hannah Simmons—suddenly seem to be everywhere I look (though it is still not nearly enough), often concealed behind unforgettable mesh masks and dressed in a tangle of flesh-toned lingerie and boudoir stockings. Their work blends ballet, burlesque, and butoh into an unbroken slow-motion choreography of climbing, collapsing, and folding into one another. It’s gender-bent decadence, oozing an intoxicating mix of terror, sex, and tenderness. AMANDA MANITACH
Una the Mermaid
I am absolutely fascinated by professional mermaids, and Bumbershoot will bring an opportunity to see one work her magic. Hawaiian-born, Portland-based underwater artist Una the Mermaid will swim in a 900-gallon gilded glass aquarium, shimmering tail and all. JULIANNE BELL
VIDEORAMA: Northwest Shorts
This year’s Bumbershoot quartet of short-film showcases are curated by longtime local org Seattle Film Society, and they each share a communal, watch-for-the-first-time freshness that we sure miss in the home-streaming era. Without any pre-fest video snippets to review, we can’t guarantee any of their quality, but on a novelty and surprise basis, we vote for the 48 Hour Film Fest, since it requires participating filmmakers to make short films with creative and timing constraints. It’s the film fest equivalent of an improv comedy show: probably better live and with a crowd. SAM MACHKOVECH
Every band playing Saturday • Every band playing Sunday • Every Arts District
