They weren't able to handle logistics. Waited 1 hr 20 to catch return bus then have to wait…read moreanother 50 for water taxi. Spent 4 hrs commuting to attend festival for 2 hrs

Really a great local fest. The whole community comes together. There are so many events it's hard…read moreto keep track. The friday night beer garden was fantastic this year with rocking until late at night. The parade is like the Fremont Solstice parade without the pretentious nudists. I love watching all my neighbors marching through the street with pride. I was a little underwhelmed by the vendors this year. Not a lot of good arts and crafts and a lot of cheap, carnival style junk. Some good food though. The booth with the Seafood Cocktail was great as were the pastrami sandwich and Gyros booths. Makes me really proud that I moved to Vashon.

I went here for malasadas. Stop laughing. I had never been to this festival and honestly found out…read moreabout it through the Facebook page of Malasada Shack. I figured, it sounds okay and wasn't too far away from my house. My goal was to run in and out with hot malasadas in my hand so I could get on with the rest of my day. That's not what happened. When I went grab my hot treats, there was a small area with other food vendors - savory pies, pizzas, frozen custard, that sort of thing. It was hot that day. My family and I decided to hang out for awhile. I think it was the abundant tables set up to eat in the shade that lured us over. After we had a bite to eat, we began walking around. Now, I'm used to seeing craft vendors since I go to a lot of festivals. What I appreciate about this place is that I had not seen most of these vendors before. It was refreshing to see different types of crafts. As far as activities, they have everything from the Phillipine Festival, juried art shows, and performances. My child's favorite thing that day was painting fish (yes, real fish donated by Central Market) and stamping it on paper. Yuck! I think it's gross but kids had a great time! I guess that's all you can ask for. My kiddo also loved one of the photo booths. All-in-all, a nice community art festival.

Although this is a bacon and beer festival, I don't think I was truly prepared for the volume of…read morebacon and beer at this event. There's a big variety of beer and food vendors that incorporate bacon in their dishes. There were even vendors who would pile straight bacon up for you. Eating beforehand was a mistake because there was so much food to try! While this was a beer event, Hochstadter's Slow & Low whiskey was there giving out generous (strong) cocktail samples, which was probably my favorite. Lines: I heard from someone who had attended last year that there's tons of lines. While this was true, the lines moved relatively quickly. Walking up to Safeco Field, the line was massive and intimidating! While it was very long with people excited to pig out and drink on, it only took about 15 minutes to get through. Once you're in, there's lines at almost every table (though the longest line we were in only took about 5 minutes to get through). There's certainly an advantage to upgrading your ticket to get in the doors before everyone and bypass the line at the gate. Overall, I had a good experience and enjoyed the event! I do recommend the VIP or power hour passes more to bypass the lines and get access to the field in the future if you have the extra spending money.

We spent most of our afternoon at this today and it sucked. I had paid extra for "VIP" tickets that…read morewere supposed to come with a whole bunch of perks, none of which we received except for t-shirts that won't fit either one of us (because the t-shirt booth was near the end of the course and most sizes were gone by the time we got there) and some coupons for some sort of freezer section thing at the grocery store. If you enjoy standing in line in the sun all day long with hardly any shade or seating, and literally not a single water station to be found at an event dedicated to sampling alcohol and salty foods, then this is the event for you. Also, some of the food vendors didn't have enough food prepared - there were 2 that had wait times of about 45 mins while they made more food and huge bottleneck situations were created that ultimately caused longer wait times at every booth after them. You only have but so long to make your way through the course, so this definitely creates a barrier to receiving the full value of your ticket, and the tickets aren't cheap. Full disclosure: I had bought the tickets pre-pandemic and we were supposed to go for my birthday in April 2020. Obviously, it got canceled, but they wouldn't issue a refund because they said they were going to be rescheduling. A year and a half later here we are, and I had a feeling it was going to suck now due to changes they had to make in both venue and various logistics, but since they wouldn't give me my money back we felt kind of obligated to go. Sometimes it sucks to be right. This was an expensive mistake we won't be repeating.

Is it a *must do*? No. Unless you're obsessed with teddy bears. Is it charming? Absolutely…read more Here's the thing. We came on 12/27, both in the morning and afternoon (as we had a little staycation at the fairmont) and it was empty. This was great. The attendant was kind, friendly and offers to take photos. My kids loved it. Would I love waiting in line for this and being crammed in with a dozen other people, absolutely not. So, I totally recommend going during off peak times. It's open to the public daily. They have signage leading to the second floor suite the bears are staying in.

If you're downtown and have some time, go check this out. Great outing for kids. Located at the…read moreFairmount hotel's 2nd floor. It's cute, decorated in Christmas decor & of course lots of teddy bears in a range of sizes. Generally the hotel would have dozens of decorated Christmas trees throughout the hotel but not this year

Cramped, gross, stinky and no sitting room anywhere! Only free space was outside of the honey…read morebuckets! Yummo guys, eating next to 30 toilets! Its clear elysian needed a bigger piece of the pie, sacrificing a lot of comforts and beauty the seattle center has that capital hill does not. Will not attend again if the venue is like this year.

I really liked it. Wow if there was a wide variety of seasonal beer. Loved the creative Halloween…read morenames :D partying feeling was there. Great vibe. There were also brew employees that explained some of their beer variety. Super fun. Specially when the fireworks and the band came out :) Get your orange costume ready! Liked the way they organized it in different booths. It was also very fun the face painting and the slushies booths!! Very yummy! There was pumpkin spice and rosè besides the regular beer fro.different breweries :D I just wished there would be more food truck options and tables. I am super glad we got food and table early on :)

It's Not Just For Stoners' Anymore :)…read more SITREP Nowadays, if it's mi mamasita's birthday, it's time for HEMPFEST! I always get a kick spending a week or so with my mom back in Seattle! THE SETUP I always have fun here with the music and DJ'ing, with the food, with the people, and with the energy. THE PARKING Okay. Let's deal with the bad stuff first. PARKING SUCKS. And if that's not bad enough, the fact that it's in a rather remote location on the sound at both the Elliot Bay and Myrtle Edwards parks makes it's a CONSIDERABLE HIKE to get to in the first place. THE AMENITIES & HYGIENE STANDARDS Okay. Not terrible, but consider the crowd this attracts: Hippies. Alternative Rockers. Punks. Gypsies. Free Spirits. Free Spirited Alternative Punk Hippies That Don't Bath. You get the idea. And since this is outdoors, in August, and it's hot, and people are moving around, and DANCING, AND SWEATING, you can get some pretty pungeant aromas. FUN Still, there is so much to see, so much to do, so much to eat, so much music to listen to, so many vendors to check out. And it's IN Seattle. I usually have to travel hundreds of miles away to be in a big group of smelly people with smelly paraphenalia. However, with Hempfest there is the extreme convenience of all THAT.... coming to YOU! MUSIC Grab a schedule, check out the bandstands, and enjoy the music. Also check out the tents because that is where some of the best DJs hang out. I really enjoyed my first time I ever went to Hempfest precisely because of the DJs. This is where I saw some really talented individuals introduce to the whole concept of "POWER MIXING" - using no more than a 30-second / 1 min segment of a song before moving on to the next track, but in a seamless stream of musical-construction that built beautiful musical pieces. These guys did it really well too. DON'T WORRY, MARYJANE! Though public perception may be otherwise, there is significant relegation of smoking at these events, and if you find it, it will be mainly on the perimeter and/or on the waterfront itself on the rocks. SECOND FUNNIEST MOMENT I couldn't stop my mom in time from buying and eating a brownie from the fairy princess gal. She was impossible to deal with the rest of the afternoon with her goofiness. This was the first time I took her. She's learned her lesson and been a good girl the 2-3 other times we've been together. THE FUNNIEST MOMENT This was just too sublime. A group of skater dudes were mosing through the asphalt path, between gaggles of giggling girls and some families with their screaming kids. Getting *bumped around* accidentally is going to happen. A small packet of *something* dislodged itself from a pocket of one of the guys. Perched on the side of the grassy rise were 4 police on horses overlooking the path, the groups of people, and the crew of skater dudes. I happened to be close enough to see it was a baggy of joints. I'm sure these 4 Horsemen of the Seattle Apocalypse noted that too. EVERYONE froze when the joints hit the ground. Then the mounted policeman who appeared to be the most senior of the group nonplussed just said to the skater dude, "You dropped something, son." After a pregnant pause, the dude picked up his baggy, waved and the police, and said, "Thank you!" THE LOWDOWN I LOVE THIS FESTIVAL! [Survey Question - "Good for Kids?" Uh. I'm saying "YES".]

Seattle Hempfest is the world's largest annual cannabis festival, drawing in hundreds of thousands…read moreeach and every year. The 3 day festival occurs during the second to last weekend of every August across Olympic Sculpture Park, Myrtle Edwards Park, and Centennial Park...Spread along the Seattle Waterfront....The event was founded in 1991, self described as a "humble gathering of stoners," by 500 Mary Jane enthusiasts congregating to advocate for the decriminalization of marijuana. It was truly a civil struggle to establish such reform and cannabis culture throughout it's 27 year lifetime.... as 60 people were cited for illegal marijuana use in 1997 while attending. The following year, about 20 were arrested for the same offense. Since then, local authorities have gradually looked the other way... which is what prompted peak attendance in 2008 to grow to over 310,000 people....2008 was the first Hempfest I personally attended, and I've been to every one since. Until about 2014, the festival was more of a celebration exercising local liberal NW behaviors to freely consume weed. It focused on the theme of social justice activists working to bring cannabis knowledge to the world at large ....Unfortunately over the last couple of years following recreational legalization, Seattle Hempfest has become a business avenue focusing exclusively on making as much profit as possible. It's apparent that money has become the focal point, superseding it's original purpose to expand knowledge and to educate...Vendor booths range from $1,000-2,000....staff members heckle attendees for 10 dollar donations at the entrances, while scolding with derision if you choose not to 'donate.' They also used to be pet friendly, but have decided to harass any and all attendees with even service animal verification. Yet they couldn't care less about people bringing babies and small children around other event goers smoking. Security also now yells and harass people who smoke blunts or joints, yet are okay with people smoking from recently purchased pipes and bongs from vendor booths....I wonder why that is.....Overall, I feel that Hempfest has taken a turn for the worst- falling into the hands of greedy businessmen while regressing back to strict social confinements and politics.........Consequently, the turnout has diminished noticeably....This year's attendance was abysmal to say the least.... "Sponsorship is the best way to maximize your vending and information display presence. Show you are a strong Hempfest-supporting brand to all our audiences, from the masses at the festival to our year-round online community and the larger markets Hempfest licensed events reach. Pricing ranges from $1,500 to $30,000 for full packages. This includes premium vending placements, information displays in a range of print and online media, and additional exposure opportunities that are only available exclusively to our sponsors. This includes banners on our stages and/or logos on all our collateral materials." On a positive note....peep this vid..!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJcHjj2awT0

The Arab Festival is sponsored by the Arab Center of Washington. It is a two day event at the…read moreArmory of the Seattle Center. Hours are from 11:15 am - 6:00 pm There are cultural presentations including Dancing, fashion, cooking demonstrations, traditional and non-traditional music including DJs, etc. There were booths with some sponsors, a children's craft table, high school crafts workshop, backgammon workshop, and others. The movies Witness Bahrain Home in Time for War Art of Resilience Hip Hop is Bigger than Occupation There are lectures at the event, and for the 2015 event there was... Poetry Doing business in the Middle East Mediterranean diet Travel Storytelling Henna Arab music Arab authors Fruit Cosmetology (hair) There were also countries represented, which was very interesting. The Saudi, Egyptian, Libyan and Moroccan exhibits were nice and their staff was very polite. Lebanon, Syria, Algeria, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Sudan and a few others were present as well. Sorry I can't remember them all. There was also an art gallery. Artists include Samia El-Mosilmany Mohammed Aoun Ismail Koloud Trapolsi Umm Aminah Some of the music included DJ Dana Dub Tarik Bentlemsani Naseem Band Ghassan Shakir The Oud solo George Safmdak Trio The food was in another building and it was a good mix. I wish more people would have had tea! The food was represented by Petra Mediterranean Bistro Mamnoon Ishtar Beyti Kitchen Al-Kahwa The lady from Craft Arab was both interesting and funny! The woman at the Emirates booth I spoke to was so polite, kind and full of information. Vendors Emirates Zip Realty Dish Reach media A Crafty Arab Palestine Children's Relief Fund HennaDervish Network of Arab American Professionals Arab Center of Washington Rachel Corrie Foundation Faux Filigree Guidance Residential ACW Education booth Palestinian Heritage Group Palestine Solidarity Comm. Seattle Palestine Information Project Palestine Teaching Trunk LoveMEnation The American Near East Refugee Aid Egyptian handmade Tentmaking Morocco Off the Beaten Track Skyline Properties Southwest Youth and Family Services Cune Press Mazen's TV Receivers Seattle Police Dept. Arab Alliance Chamber of Commerce of WA Miss Bans Overall a very interesting day and a good way to experience Arab culture and make some new friends. Thanks Arab Center of Washington for a great time!

CHBP 2024, Couldn't see main stage well from back. Setting sun was washing out the stage. Maybe…read morethink about moving it for future events

Lots of people, lots of hipsters, lots of self important Meat Popsicles wearing black "Security"…read moret-shirts, but if you can get over all that, there's some great acts here and even a cool person or two hundred. I hated my first couple hours Saturday afternoon and even smugly updated my twatter ( yes twatter) "If you're not a hipster or over 17 you're going to have mixed feelings. #iwantmymoneyback" Low and behold, get some booze in me, tell me I'm beautiful and suddenly I have my dress over my head and a smile from ear to ear... Turnaround story here, the Capitol Hill Block Party won me over. Full disclosure, I didn't have to pay for my ticket (I think theyre about 50 bucks a pop) which probably increased it's likeability. Chromeo was a first class act-going shopping today for a fidora, skinny jeans and a semi ironic t shirt. #ifyoucantbeatthemjointhem #hipsterslapdickintraining