A Day in the Life of Bumbershoot 2024 in Seattle, WA (REVIEW)

It’s been ten years since I last attended the Bumbershoot Festival.

I tried to explain it to my friends and their teenagers over a tasty lunch at BJ’s in Redmond. The family had recently moved to Washington state a few years ago, and none of them had heard of Bumbershoot before.

“It’s kind of like Lollapalooza, combined with the family-friendly fun of Coachella, eclectic art, food, and live music—all in the heart of downtown Seattle,” I tried to explain.

Bumbershoot has that quintessential Pacific Northwest vibe that I loved as much as I was born in Washington state (I’m originally from Nashville, Tennessee).

You don’t know what to expect except that it will be fun, fresh, unique, stylish and refreshing.

I came for the music and stayed for the art and people-watching!

MY TEN-YEAR JOURNEY BACK TO BUMBERSHOOT

When my daughter Willow was 3, I remember taking her to Bumbershoot. I had her in a stroller so it was easy for her, when she got tired she just crawled back in. We liked to sit on the lawn and listen to the live bands.

Fast forward ten years later, she’s a feisty teenager who’s bored with everything I suggest. I was shocked when she said she’d go to Bumbershoot with me!

We left the city early Sunday morning to head to Seattle. The weather was perfect, traffic was smooth, and we found a great parking spot downtown. It was a dream!

After ten minutes of walking toward the monorail, I realized I had forgotten which parking lot we were in, so we had to walk back. Luckily, Willow was paying attention; she led us back to where we had parked.

We got a little lost trying to find the entrance gate, but everyone was kind enough to guide us to the correct gate.

Who said there is “Seattle Freeze“she wasn’t telling the truth! The only “freeze” we encountered was a mild brain freeze that Willow got after drinking her ice cream treat too quickly. (She didn’t want me to take her picture!)

The Bumbershoot experience with a teenager means having money to buy Root Beer Floats from Shug’s ice cream carts. Willow ended up buying two of them before the end of the day.

This also means they probably won’t want to take selfies with their parents!

One thing I didn’t expect Willow to like was one of the fashion shows they had at Bumbershoot. The crowd went wild for every look that came down the runway. It was so cool to see all the smiles and hear the clapping. I even jumped in to “hooray” and scream.

Luckily, nearby in the “Fashion District” was a family-friendly drinks tent where dozens of designers were selling their latest creations and vintage shops were offering items for purchase. One booth even had a strange-looking gold bicycle.

I really enjoyed this Blackberry Bramble smoothie (even if it was $18!).

Other attractions that Willow loved were watching other children running through the fountain. She saw one little girl sitting nearby, reading.

“Look, Mom! She’s reading a book. I have one in my backpack too,” she exclaimed. The next thing I knew, Willow had pulled out her Bill Cipher book, Gravity Falls, and was sitting down reading it.

Another cool thing we didn’t expect to see at Bumbershoot was the spontaneous Lo Rider car show!

I think Willow was impressed by the Bumbershoot festival because before we left she said,Mom, I had a really great time today.”

When I say I felt like crying and crying with joy!😍 We will definitely come back next year (and I promise I won’t make her take selfies with me again if she really doesn’t want to)!

NOW FOR YOU A LITTLE “FOMO”. THIS BUMBERSHOOT 2024 GALLERY IS INCREDIBLE. SEE WHAT YOU MISSED!