Northwest Folklife
A lot of you are going away this weekend, but not all of you. If you’re planning staying in the city this weekend, might I suggest that you pay a visit to Northwest Folklife?
I’m talking directly to the uncoverted here, those of you who’ve never gone before because if you’ve been to Folklife you don’t need to be sold on it. You either love it (arts! crafts! excellent people watching opportunities! food on a stick!) or you hate it and there’s nothing I can say to change your mind about the festival. For the uninitiated, here’s a brief review of why you should visit Folklife:
- It’s free! Okay, they’ll ask you for a donation of $10 per person or $20 per family with children per day, but it really is a donation. If you can’t afford the donation you won’t be turned away. If you can afford the donation and simply don’t make it, well, you suck. Just so you know.
- Live music from artists representing so many different styles of music that you’re almost bound to discover at least one you didn’t even know existed. From folk-punk to Paraguayan harp, bluegrass to Afro-Cuban and so, so much more. How do you know how you feel about traditional Croatian folk songs or contemporary Scottish fiddle until you’ve heard it?
- Dancing. And more dancing. And still more dancing. See traditional folk dancing from a myriad of cultures. Do some dancing yourself.
- Workshops: learn to clog, make a dragon, practice your singing, make sure I’m not around and join a drum circle. (I loathe them but lots of you think they’re swell.) Many, many choices.
- Storytellers. If other festivals around here have storytellers, I don’t know about it. If you haven’t experienced the magic of hearing an experienced storyteller spin his or her tales in the presence of an attentive audience, you really should.
- And of course there are buskers of all sorts, street performers doing what they do best, food, all kinds of fascinating crafts and artwork (a great deal of which you WON’T see at every other festival), and did I mention the excellent people watching opportunites?
The festival runs all weekend long at the Seattle Center, check the site for schedules and more information.
Good ol’ Folklife. It always makes me a little sad as I know spring is almost over, but summer is almost here.
The funny thing about this festival is that my father always referred to it as “How to be a Hippie Weekend”. While I could definitely see his point, don’t let that turn you off. Just run towards the clowns, hippies are afraid of clowns.