I had a BLAST at bacon, eggs, & kegs. They give you plenty of drink tickets and there are numerous…read morefood options available for purchase. My favorite drink was the boozy root beer float. One tip is to buy your tickets for Sunday because it is less crowded. I didn't have to wait in any lines!

If you want to experience an event where hordes of Seattle's finest younger hipster folk meet…read morewhile you try some yummy beer, during which they proceed to get white girl wasted and bump into you unknowingly (& constantly), this is the place for you. I did appreciate how everyone was literally dressed out of a Pinterest ad. But mostly what i liked out of this HUGE event was the truly diverse selection of drinks to try. That and they give you a crapton of tickets to redeem! There are also games to play, like giant Jenga, and photo opps where you and your friends dress as bacon and eggs and flop around on a giant inflatable skillet. Even though everyone got hot messy towards the end, it's definitely an event to see!

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

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.

Super friendly people! Everybody with the best attitude to meet others and have a good time…read more I know these events are very joyful and I always like them! Maybe after going to Santacon it wasn't that big as I was expecting :( We weren't that many this year and we were all over the place. It was until 3pm that we fill one place.

I think this year has been one of the largest groups for BunnyCon and as you know, it will only get…read moremore word of mouth and popularity. There are already people signing up for next years event. BunnyCon is the Bunny Bar Hop that you've seen in previous years hosted by David LeClair. I have attended many of his meet up events in the past and he shows that he has years of event experience by the amount of people he can manage and yield as well as communicate and coordinate with the local bars in the area. Because there was such a great turnout of over 1,500 people for this years event, many bars that were on the listed hop areas were overwhelmed with bunnies. I felt it was a successful event and because it is Seattle; many bars were available to take the overflow of bunnies from neighboring restaurants that were on the list. Entertainment was fun and tastefully presented as well as the control of crowd. Even though Sakura-con was going on, parking was still to be had and there were no messy situations (that I know of). Everyone seemed to be respectful and wanting to just have clean fun. I attended from 3pm to midnight and followed the rules to stay fed, hydrated, and well full of energetic fun. Because this is a large festival, the experience is what you make of it. There are all possible options and venues available to choose from as well the whole geographic area of downtown Seattle at your fingertips. it could be as exciting or as boring as you wanted since it was up to you to go further from or closer to the action of BunnyCon as your legs could take you (in case you needed a break from the crowd). Good times. I am a fan! Thanks for the event and memories through the Seattle rain.

I finally got to go to the tea festival and I'm very happy with it! At first, I was annoyed that it…read morewas $25 for both days and there wasn't a single day but then I realize there is just so much to do and it was definitely worth it to be able to go back for both days. There were tons and tons of samples of tea from everyone so to prepare you you should definitely eat a late breakfast because the caffeine will definitely go to your head. I did not do that and I got a huge headache on day one. Even though they're only giving you steps, it really adds up after 30 vendors. There were bakeries too, so it's nice to buy a little pastry to go with your tea. I didn't take advantage of any of the workshops or talks because there was already just so much to do just going around tasting teas. You could probably spend the entire day there or even entire two days there if you wanted to listen to the talks and join the workshops because they do take chunks of time. A tip would be to go on day one if you want to buy stuff because they absolutely sold out of most of their stock on day two. But day two was great for the short lines and less crowds to be able to talk to the vendors and taste some of their stuff that they still have left.

Excellent event. So many tea samples!! It's wonderful to get to try out so many varieties of teas…read moreand meet the people who love teas as well. This two day event is absolutely worth going to if you love tea.

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.

Fantastic time of year! Are you a dark beer fan? This is the event for you! Great breweries and…read moreawesome beer choices. Icicle Creek knocks it out of the park usually.

To end the year of beer festivals, Winter Beer Festival is a great event put on by Washington Beer…read moreCommission hosted by Hale's Ale in Fremont. This year was a showcase of winter seasonals from 32 Washington breweries. This year's lineup include dark malty stouts, robust winter warmers, barrel-aged gems and many more. In addition, there will be chocolate pairings courtesy of Theo Chocolate, fine pub cuisine by Hales Brewpub, fresh oysters from Taylor Shellfish Farms. It is a great event with some phenomenal beer. My only complaint is that the Palladium is to small for the size event that Winter Beer Festival has become. At the peak of the day you can barely move to even get your next beer. This is the only reason not to give this event five stars.

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!