Cheers to the three-day weekend! If you’re not hopping on a plane for Labor Day, there are myriad ways to make the most of those extra 24 hours in and around Seattle, whether you’re looking for family time or party time. We’ve rounded up festivals happening in every genre, from Bumbershoot to a Sunflower Festival to a Blackberry Festival.
ARTS
6th Ave Sidewalk Sale
Shop for foodstuff, home goods, clothing, and more along Tacoma’s Sixth Avenue. There might even be troubadours.
Saturday, Sixth Avenue (Tacoma)
Wayzgoose Kitsap 2019
This letterpress and book arts extravaganza promises three days of “all things inky” in downtown Bremerton.
Saturday-Sunday, Fourth Street and Pacific Avenue (Bremerton)
COMMUNITY
2nd Annual Sunflower Festival
Saunter through fields of sunflowers, pick up some food from vendors, and shop from the country store at this annual late-summer festival.
Saturday-Sunday, Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Farm (Snohomish)
Demo Derby and Fireworks
Get your kicks by peering at large cars and buses and watching fireworks.
Sunday, Evergreen State Fairgrounds (Monroe)
Farm Day
Families and produce enthusiasts can wander the fields for tomato, zucchini, eggplant, and pepper plants, collect eggs, ride on tractors, make arts and crafts, and more.
Monday, Carnation Farm (Carnation)
42nd Annual LeMay Show
Ogle over 1,000 vintage vehicles, as well as dolls, antiques, and other memorabilia from the LeMay family.
Saturday, LeMay Marymount (Tacoma)
Ellensburg Rodeo
Ellensburg’s annual rodeo combines “the fun of the Kittitas County Fair” with the “old-west hospitality of the City of Ellensburg” for a Labor Day weekend full of slack and barrel racing, hoedowns, carnival rides, and more.
Friday-Monday, 1010 East Eighth Street (Ellensburg)
Evergreen State Fair
Monroe’s summer festival will once again bring carnival games and rides, Native dancers, live music, duck races, and more.
Friday-Monday, Evergreen State Fairgrounds (Monroe)
Washington State Fair
The first days of autumn coincide with the latter portion of the annual Washington State Fair in Puyallup, which brings family-friendly activities like rides and games, carnival food, free music and performances, baby animals, cultural events, produce contests, a rodeo, live concerts (this weekend it’s Billy Idol, Keith Urban, Weezer, and the Beach Boys) and much more.
Friday-Monday, Washington State Fair Events Center (Puyallup)
CULTURE
NW Indigenous Peoples: Sharing Coastal Ways
Join local Indigenous community members for a few hours of coastal music and dancing, artist demos, raffles, and more.
Sunday, Victor Steinbrueck Park (Downtown)
FILM
No Man’s Land Film Festival
No Man’s Land Film Festival is a series of films about women exploring the outdoors. See bike riders, climbers, sailors, and other intrepid women explore stupendous natural environments. Come early for a social hour with $2 beer and cider.
Friday, the Mountaineers (Sand Point)
FOOD & DRINK
30th Annual Blackberry Festival
Stroll along the boardwalk sampling doughnuts, scones, pie, and lots more treats and drinks made just in time for peak blackberry season.
Saturday-Monday, Bremerton Boardwalk
Bar Ferdinand’s 4th Annual Sparklefest
Sip sparkling red, white, and pink wines by the glass or bottle and enjoy food, games, and more activities on Old Chaser Farm throughout the day.
Sunday, Old Chaser Farm (Vashon Island)
Taste of Port Orchard
In its seventh year, the Taste of Port Orchard is bringing food, drink, art, and music to everyone’s Labor Day weekend. This year will feature live music from the Padillacs and a Whiskey Gulch beer garden.
Sunday, Port Orchard Marina Waterfront Park
GEEK
PAX West
As it does every year, Seattle’s annual Labor Day weekend convention devoted exclusively to gaming is nearly sold out. The convention features dozens of panels with special guests, an exhibit hall, new game demonstrations, and video game-inspired musical performances. If you can’t make it to the main event, there are always lots of fun affiliated parties going on around town.
Friday-Monday, Washington State Convention & Trade Center (Downtown)
MUSIC
100.7 The Wolf Presents Throwdown 2019
Seattle country music station 100.7 The Wolf will present a full day of live performances by Cole Swindell, Jordan Davis, Lauren Alaina, Jimmie Allen, Adam Hambrick, and a mystery singer.
Sunday, Enumclaw Expo Center
3rd Annual Greenwood Music Crawl 2019
Five Greenwood bars and nearly 50 local bands of all ilks will turn the neighborhood into a den of live music for 12 straight hours. The lineup includes Ten Miles Wide, Mercy Parker, Killer Workout, Sinister Six, Hellbat, the Black Chevys, Having Issues, and many others.
Sunday, Greenwood
Americana Festival
Spend Labor Day weekend taking in local Americana performances from Tobias the Owl, Lowest Pair, Ben and Joe Band, Devin Sinha, Sandi Fernandez, and others.
Saturday-Sunday, Waterfront Park (Downtown)
Bumberboot 2019
If this year’s Bumbershoot lineup isn’t honky-tonk enough for you, the organizers of this annual spinoff invite you to “giddy up or giddy out” for a full day of music from country-rockers Darci Carlson, Wildcat Rose, Country Lips, and others. The Smoke Tuff BBQ food truck and vendors from We are Witchy will be onsite.
Saturday, Darrell’s Tavern (Shoreline)
Bumbershoot 2019
Bumbershoot, Seattle’s biggest music, comedy, and arts festival, will take over Seattle Center for Labor Day Weekend 2019 for the 49th year. Major touring artists (Lizzo, Carly Rae Jepsen, the Lumineers, Taking Back Sunday, Bea Miller) will take the same stages as local talents (Y La Bamba, the Dip) across the music, art, and comedy spectrums, with a special food selection known as B-Eats.
Friday-Sunday, Seattle Center
FarmJam Music & Camping Festival
Camp out at this Colville farm for four whole days to enjoy live music from bands like the Red Dirt Rangers, Whitney Rose, Will Porter, Bryant Lamar, Blake Noble, and Sam & the Stylees. There will also be a corn maze and plenty of food.
Friday-Monday, Colville Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch (Colville)
Friend Fest 2
Local bands, artists, and vendors will gather for an all-day benefit for Colectiva Legal del Pueblo, a non-profit organization that provides legal assistance to families at risk of deportation. Music acts include jo passed, Whitney Ballen, Tomo Nakayama, iji, and many more. Featured vendors will include art, vintage clothing, and Ingo Bingo’s Vegan Ice Cream Emporium.
Saturday, Werewolf Vacation (University District)
Labor Day Celebration
Party cover band the Machine will play the hits from the 1960s to the present at this end-of-summer party with lawn games, crafts, vendors, and local food trucks, and more.
Sunday, Chateau Ste. Michelle (Woodinville)
Northwest Psych Fest 2019
Now in its sixth year, Peter Koslik and Nick Arthur’s Northwest Psych Fest does an excellent job showcasing local and international talent on a small budget. Their connections with the Mexican psych-rock underground again pay dividends with Dorotheo and Los Dug Dugs bringing their transportive, melodious songs to the Sunset. In the 1970s, this Mexican group (LDD) forged a canon ablaze with artfully brutal rock and gritty earworms. Their songs wield a galvanizing power combined with a melodic brilliance that’s rarely heard these days. Other highlights include polyglot avant-rock dynamos Diminished Men and epic outer-limits jammers WEEED. It’s a loaded bill to get loaded to, for sure. DAVE SEGAL
Friday-Saturday, Sunset Tavern (Ballard)
Oak Harbor Music Festival
Labor Day weekend brings three days of live music to Whidbey Island’s Oak Harbor, featuring over 30 bands across genres (like Simple Minded Symphony, Backyard Bison, the Olsen Band, and Gypsy Temple) beer gardens, and food vendors.
Friday-Sunday, Oak Harbor Library
Third Annual Lakedale Resort Music Festival
Gaze out onto Neva Lake and sway to live jazz at this third annual music festival featuring the Brian Nova Trio, Greta Matassa, Fred Radke, Stephanie Porter, and others. The Tina’s Tacos food truck will be onsite.
Friday-Sunday, Lakedale Resort (Friday Harbor)
Tumbleweed Music Festival
Head to the banks of the Columbia River for three days of live music, pus singing and dancing workshops and vendors.
Friday-Sunday, Howard Amon Park (Richland)
Olympic Music Festival
The Olympic Music Festival features classical programming almost every weekend of the summer, this time bringing Russian tributes (Sat) and works by Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms (Sun).
Saturday-Sunday, Fort Worden State Park (Port Townsend)
Vancouver Island Blues Bash
Make the trek to Canada for three days of live R&B music over Labor Day weekend from acts like Mark Crissinger, Checo & the Sweet Soul Choir, Blue Dog Ramble, and many others.
Saturday-Monday, 900 Wharf Street (Victoria, B.C.)
PERFORMANCE
14/48: The World’s Quickest Theater Festival
True to its name, the 14/48 Festival turns around 14 brand-new, theme-based, 10-minute plays in two days. The high-pressure nature of the event produces an evening of surprising theater for audience members, who arrive in their seats charged with expectation and anxiety for the performers. Though there are always a few experiments that don’t quite come together, it’s endlessly fascinating to see the way one theme filters through the minds of several very different theater artists. Expect shit to get weird. RICH SMITH
Friday-Saturday, Raisbeck Performance Hall (Downtown)
Island Shakespeare Festival
Head to Whidbey Island to see performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, and Inferno at this festival in its 10th season.
Friday-Sunday, Island Shakespeare Festival (Langley)
READINGS & TALKS
Homecoming Festival
Town Hall, a wonderful organization that hosts inexpensive, accessible talks by eminent scholars, writers, politicians, musicians, scientists, and others, is thrilled to be back in its home after a couple of years of renovation. To celebrate, they’ll host a bonanza of lectures, kicking off on Labor Day with Robert Reich and Pramila Jayapal. Expand your mind without expending (much) money!
Monday, Town Hall (First Hill)
