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

Kla Ha Ya Days is an annual festival mostly around Downtown Snohomish. They have a bunch of events…read more- a Carnival at Harvey Air Field, a kid's fair at Bickford station, a parade downtown, a street fair downtown, a vendor market downtown, a car show downtown, and music at the Avenue A gazebo downtown. Everything's mostly what you'd expect - small town vibes, tons of people out and about, hot sun (wear sunscreen!), and a ridiculous amount of stuff to do over the 5-day event. I didn't go to this, but the funniest event to me is the "Dunk the Mayor" event at the street fair. Super funny.

I feel totally ripped off by Seattle Men's Chorus. I bought 11 tickets at $84 each for the Dec. 23…read moreconcert at Benaroya Hall. Then the icy rain struck that morning and there was no way to get away from our house. One try ended with the car acting like a bobsled until a bush stopped it. According to the chorus, there are no refunds -- full or partial. Obviously, non-profit is a misnomer.

I just got home from the Seattle Men's Chorus spring concert - the 80's. It was so so so…read morefantastic! I hope that they didn't mind that I helped - it was so good that I couldn't help but singing along! The dancing, choreography, and special performances (Cruz Control) were all super. But these things are just the icing on the wonderful cake that is the SMC. This most recent show was just foot tapin' fun - "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "Rock me Amadeus", and "Its Rainin' Men" were all winners - the retrospective of the years of greed also featured a well-done piece about the AIDS crisis. Fun, funny, irreverent, musically interesting and challenging, and delightful - I highly recommend the SMC concerts to all!

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.

The Everett Sausage Fest runs the beginning of every October to celebrate Oktoberfest…read more The festival is located at the Perpetual Help Church grounds. 2619 Cedar Street Everett WA 98201 Free street parking can be found. The is also a free shuttle that runs every 20 minutes from the south parking lot of the Everett Transit Station. Entrance is free. At the festival one will find: carnival rides, arts & craft booths, food booths, live entertainment and a beer garden. Most of the food booths accept only cash. A few of the arts & crafts booths accept credit cards. There is a $5 cover to enter the beer garden once the live bands start performing. The brews are $5 each and cash is the only accepted form of payment. This is a fun event originally founded to help fund Catholic education and is now in it's 38th year. Although there is an ATM on site, you're going to want to bring ample cash to avoid silly ATM fees.

The Autumn weather could not have cooperated more for this quaint neighborhood festival. They have…read morea number of booths offering various foods and munchies but there is also a hall for a sit down dinner which includes sausage, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, roll, and a drink. You can't go to a sausage fest and order hamburgers, so we had the brats and sauerkraut on a bun and hand-cut fries....it was great. You could tell that the sauerkraut was homemade...not too tangy and with bits of chicken...the best way to make it. There is also a separate carnival area for the kiddies with rides and carny fare. Admission is free. The festival benefits the ICOLPH School's educational programs...which I am always happy to support. Nice day, nice people....

Each year, I catch the tail end of this festival due to scheduling. This time, I actually made it…read moreto enjoy some of the festivities. The festival showcases performances by children and their ethnic heritages. Dancing, singing, and other musical performances are scheduled. Aside from the performances, about half of Fisher Plaza at Seattle Center is set up with tables representing a wide variety of cultures. A fun thing for the kids is a "passport" that they carry with them to get stamps to enter a raffle. There are tons of arts and crafts as well as costumes for kids to dress up in. Although we didn't partake in any food, here was a section set up. I'm not sure how much anything cost but it seemed like a decent showing. Overall, a good volunteer run festival that happens on an annual basis.

This Festival rocks! Take your kids out of school, come at night or choose a time to come on…read moreSaturday from 10am - 5pm!

I've been going to the Bite of Broadview for a number of years now. It's a neighborhood event…read morehosted by Christ the King Catholic Church. I love this event because it's a smaller neighborhood event. There's plenty of kid's activities like bouncy houses, games, face painting and more! The amount of craft vendors very small. I appreciate that because I can leisurely walk around, look at things, and talk to the vendors. That being said, the selection is pretty small so if it doesn't strike your fancy, there won't be much to talk about. The carnival offers overpriced rides as you would see anywhere else. My kiddo is also partial to the coin pushing game. We do ride a few games each time we are there (except this year because of torrential rains). One of the main reasons I attend is the baked goods. Homemade pies, cakes, cookies, brownies, chex mix and more! I will say that this year's selection seemed to be smaller than previous years. However, I did have the most fantastic slice of blueberry pie! The crust was the perfect texture. The filling was not overly sweet and held together well. Another reason I like to attend is a stand with Filipino food. The pancit and chicken adobo are quite good. I also love getting the flan. I haven't been impressed with other food attractions over the years. The event also has live music and a beer garden. This year was very rainy so I didn't see many people enjoying it. In previous years, a lively crowd has been dancing and singing along with bands. I must say, even with the bad weather, the vendors were hanging in there and providing the best environment they could for everyone. Definitely worth visiting if you live in the neighborhood.

Today is the last day of the 3 day festival! It's worth…read morechecking it out to taste some Greek food and a portion of the proceeds is donated. The lamb sandwich and lamb gyro hit the spot. There are several traditional dishes to try. We got there on Saturday around 1pm and it was pretty busy but around 2:30pm the rush was over and there were more available tables and smaller lines. There are also vendors selling goods from Greece.

What a fantastic experience! Huge tents house every type of Greek delicacy one can imagine. I come…read morehere every year just to pig out, listen to Greek folk music and watch the costumed dancers. Greek beer is the best too!