Seattle Middle, One Reel announce effort to save lots of Bumbershoot

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Live music has been so missed over the past year.

Seattle is a city that (in a world without a pandemic) has live music played every day. One of the most iconic events here is the Bumbershoot Music Festival, which was an annual Labor Day weekend event until 2020. The future of the festival had been questioned for a while before the pandemic, but today One Reel and the Seattle Center announced their plans to continue this urban art music festival into the future.

Bumbershoot took a break in 2020 and will continue to do so in 2021 due to the pandemic. A Rolle and the Seattle Center said in a press release that they plan to start one Bumbershoot Exploratory Committee that will look at past festivals and identify elements that have been successful.

The committee will aim to make Bumbershoot an affordable festival that celebrates the arts and entertainment while maintaining its artistic and diverse essence.

“As the Seattle Center ushers in a new direction for the festival, One Reel will provide the historical context and critical eye to ensure a fair and public process to determine the future of Bumbershoot,” said Marty Griswold, Managing Director of One Reel. “We are not alone in our expectation that the Seattle Signature Festival will again take place in the Seattle Center.”

The committee will invite the public to provide input and feedback to see how Bumbershoot can move forward.

“As someone who grew up in Seattle and has been here since the beginning of Bumbershoot, I’d like to thank One Reel for creating such an iconic festival where we moved great music, art, comedy, poetry, experiences and community,” said he Robert Nellams, director of the Seattle Center. “I valued Bumbershoot as our festival and I look forward to developing a new version of it with One Reel that respects the success of the past and breaks new ground for the next 40+ years.”

Feeling nostalgic? We invite you to take a digital trip back in time, with this gallery of bumbershoots passing by …