NW Folklife Festival Dopefest?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I tried this last year and there was no response, but it still sounds like a good idea to me. So here it goes again: Are any of the dopers going to Folklife (I’m certain some are) interested in meeting up at some point?

The festival is a month from now, May 23-26. Here’s their website: www.nwfolklife.org

For those that don’t know about it, Folklife is a huge free music and arts festival held at Seattle Center every year. They tend to have 15-20 different stages going at once, loads of great crafts and stuff for sale, and tons of great food booths (and a couple of beer gardens). If you haven’t been to one before (KKBattousai and AudreyK, I’m talking to you), you really must check it out.

They don’t even have a schedule on their site yet, so I guess this thread is just to find out if there’s any interest in getting together. We’ll make actual plans closer to the actual event. I’m thinking that it’d be pretty informal; we could just decide to meet up at one of the performances just to say ‘Hi!’ and then people could decide for themselves whether to hang together or drift off to our own things.

By the way, if one of you that is more competent at putting together Dopefests wants to come in here and take over, I’d be thrilled.

2

Well, I’ll bump this.

Anyone?

3

I’m sorry, I’ll be in CA that weekend. It sounds like fun, I am sorry to miss it.

My Love,

Cheri

4

Rats, I’ll be entertaining my parents that weekend (my dad doesn’t like crowds). Too bad, that would be fun!

5

Folklife has now posted the festival schedule on the website I linked to in the OP. Sooooo, any takers?

I’m sorry that Scotti and stargazer can’t be there (actually Cheri was in my mind when I made the crack about getting someone to take over), but surely some dopers will be at Folklife.

Also, I feel I should remind any Seatttle-area dopers that the U-District Street Fair is the weekend before Folklife, and it can be great fun as well. It’s the kick-off to the festival season. I like to be there around shutdown time on Sunday, when a lot of the food vendors go into discount mode. :smiley: Their website is www.udistrictstreetfair.org

6

OK, this is the last bit of info I have to legitimately bump my thread, so if this idea goes anywhere, someone else will have to post.

The Seattle Weekly has put out their annual Folklife Festival Guide in the edition that came out yesterday. It’s the Weekly with the scary picture of Michael Medved on the cover. The festival guide is a printout of the schedule on the Folklife website, along with all the latest information. Pick one up–They’re free all over the area.

I’ll be perusing mine with a highlighter pen in hand, so I can make quick reference to it during the festival, and not run the risk of forgetting to go to some act I’d love to see.

The University District Street Fair is this coming weekend. Folklife is the weekend after.

7

Well, I defiantly plan to attend Folklife and so if there were a bunch of dopers around I would probably be inclined to say hello. Perhaps we could all wear pink carnations, or “Hi Opal” buttons or something (failing that, a general place/time could work (although some sort of spy thing would be cooler)).

8

Sorry, baby! I would, however, like to remind you that I am not the only person in the PNW with organizational skills. I finally got confirmation on my tickets…I am going to CA to visit Shayna and Spiny Noman for Memorial Day weekend.

We really need to plan a PNW Dopefest, though, so let’s figure out another good time to get together, okay?

Have fun~

My Love,

Cheri

9

Come on, Dopers! Attending Folklife is an act of protest!:cool:

Alrightythen. Me and **Binarydrone ** make two. No offense to you Bd, but I don’t think two is much of a Dopefest. Anyone else?

10

I’ll definately be going to Folklife- I do every year.

And I’ll defy anyone who says otherwise.

11

So, I guess most dopers that are enjoying this weekend are probably going to The Seattle International Film Festival instead of Folklife. Also, the weather will not be the best festival atmosphere we could hope for. But, since I started this thread, I feel duty-bound to suggest a meeting time.

But no one else should feel duty-bound to show up. I’m picking a time and place I was going to be regardless, so I won’t be bothered in the least if no other dopers appear.

I’ll be at the Exhibition Hall Lawn stage at 5:00 to 5:30 pm on Saturday, watching the String Band Scramble. I’ll wear my Red Dwarf “Smeg Happens” T-shirt (though I may have to have a jacket over it). It is black with red lettering, and has a big yellow smiley face with an “H” on its forehead. It is, from my entire wardrobe, the item most easily picked out of a crowd. I am a 6’ 1" man with brown and grey hair down to the middle of my back.

Thanks to smaft and Binarydrone for responding to my thread. However, you’ll understand that I don’t really consider this a sucessful attempt at gathering a DopeFest. And I think that we need to have a real PNW DopeFest soon.

So, let me suggest the Summer Brewfest or the Fremont Fair as other possible festivals for us to meet at. Or, as I’ve mentioned before, I think it would be fun to take the Seattle Underground Tour with a bunch of dopers. So, if anyone wants to organize a DopeFest, there’s no shortage of things to do. Or we could just get together to eat and drink.

12

It’s official: AudreyK and I are in. Just tell us when and where we should meet. :slight_smile:

13

Is 5:00 pm sort of late to meet? I’ll throw out a few more possibilities, and we can discuss them (quickly, the fest starts tomorrow). These are all on Saturday, so let me know if you’d rather do it on Sunday or Monday (I work at least part of Friday, and I assume others do, too).

How about Taiko drumming in the Mercer Arena starting at 2:30? It won’t be as easy to find each other, unless we make a plan to all go to the unoccupied very top seats, miles from the stage.

Steel drums at the Mural Amphitheater at 3:00? Another place with a large crowd, but if we plan to all go to the corner of the lawn nearest the Pacific Science Center gates, we should be able to find one another.

Sea chanteys from 2:00 to 6:00 at the Northwest Court stage? I love songs I can sing along to, and this place has the advantage of having a beer garden. Also, we can pick a meeting time from anywhen in those 4 hours.

As you can tell, I’m the type that enjoys almost everything at Folklife, and I’m not going to be forceful and decide for you all. Let me know what you’d like to do. If you don’t, I’ll still be at the String Band Scramble at 5.

Once we meet, we can decide what else we want to do. If you didn’t pick up a Weekly last week for the schedule, I have two and they should have more at the festival.

Some festival-going advice: While some of the booths offer reasonably-priced food and others are overpriced, all of them gouge on drinks. Make sure to eat before going (so I’m not hungry enough to buy the first food I see, and can take my time to decide on what I want to try out) and bring a few cans of Coke or what-have-you along. If you don’t want to carry your drinks all day, there are two supermarkets just outside the Center campus to buy something without paying $1.50 for a 12-ounce can.

I’m on my way to bed, but I’ll keep a close watch on this thread tomorrow at work. By afternoon, I hope we’ll have a solid plan, at least for the meet-up.

14

There’s a good chance that KKB and I won’t be anywhere near a computer past noon tomorrow until late in the evening, so some planning may have to be done without us. But I’m pretty sure that any meeting time past noon will work for us just fine for us, and we’re game for any of the performances you guys are.

Especially the Taiko drummers. I like Taiko drummers.

By the way, I have to apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I appreciate you bringing this up and having us in mind. (Ditto for the SIFF reminder!) It’ll be nice to see you again, and to meet new Dopers. :slight_smile:

15

OK, that’s one vote for the Taiko show in the Mercer Arena. Does anyone else have strong feelings about anything else?

If not, let’s go to the drum show. It runs from 2:30 to 4:20 pm. I say we just go for 2:30 to meet up. If that’s the wrong time for anyone, speak up!

As I said above, the Arena is a large venue that may have a lot of people in it, so it won’t be easy to pick a spot where we can easily find one another. Here’s a seating chart. Ignore the compass directions shown on the chart, since it shows west to the right of north. I believe the stage in the chart is actually on the south side of the room (if anyone’s been in Mercer Arts Arena since they started using it to sub for the Opera House, and knows these directions better, let us know). For Folklife, they generally curtain off the stage end of the room, and put up a stage in the main floor area (the parts marked ‘MF’ in the chart. Seating there will fill quickly, so I suggest that we meet off in a corner. I don’t want to get too high off the floor if I can help it, though.

If the section is fairly open, I’ll sit in section G5, in the gallery. If that section is packed, I’ll be in Section 75, behind G5. This is in the northeast corner of the gallery, roughly. I’ll be wearing my black shirt with the yellow smiley face, and all my hair. Hopefully, that will be enough for folks to find me.

We’ll stay in that spot until 3:00. After that, we’ll assume everyone has found us and feel free to roam around (though we may stay for more drumming, also, perhaps moving closer to the stage at that point). I’ll still be going to the String Band Scramble at the Exhibition Lawn at 5:00 pm, so anyone that misses us at Mercer Arena can catch us there, if we’re still together at that point (if the group really doesn’t want to go to the Band Scramble, I’ll go alone to see if anyone is there, and lead them back to wherever the group is).

Once again, here’s your chance to speak up about the plan. I don’t want to come up with something that will be difficult or unpleasant for anyone who wants to meet the dopers, but I also want to have a solid plan in the next few hours.

16

Another vote for the taiko here. Me also much likey the taiko.

So are there any good meeting places by where the taiko’ll be? Any particularly prominent food booths or something perhaps?

17

Not really. The Mercer Arena is out on the edge of the Center, and the McCaw Hall construction sort of isolates it.

Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll get there at or before 2:15, and wait outside. The entrance is on the north side of the building, and I’ll wait at the northeastern corner of the building (nearest the KCTS television station across 4th Ave from the Arena). I’ll wait outside for 10 minutes, and anyone that can be there early should meet me there.

At 2:25, we’ll go inside and sit in section G5 or 75, as stated above. Anyone who didn’t meet us outside can find us inside. After 3:00, all bets are off. We might stay there, but we’ll feel free to roam. I’ll also stop at the String Band Scramble at 5 pm for a few minutes, in case anyone is acting on my first plan.

Am I lousy at planning one of these things, or what? If I were a Peanuts character, Lucy would tell me I’m too wishy-washy. Someone else had better come to the fore when next the PNW Dopers fest.

18

Sounds good.

Do you still have my cell number? Let me know (before noon or so) if not. Might come in handy tomorrow. If anyone else who’s coming tomorrow wants it, too, just drop me an email.

19

AudreyK, 2:30am? Shouldn’t you be in bed?

Anyway, the last time I tried to go to the Taiko show, they were lining up over an hour ahead of time and they turned a bunch of people away for lack of room (including me). But that was a few years ago; maybe it’s not as popular?

I was intending to be at Folklife this afternoon anyway- if I can keep track of the time (watch? what watch?), I’ll show up.

I’ll second the Fremont Fair/Solstice parade for a Dopefest- understand, though, I’m seconding, not volunteering!

20

Yes, I have Audrey’s and Kemo’s cell numbers. But I don’t have a cell myself, unfortunately.

smaft, what you say about the Taiko show scares me. If it’s that popular, this plan is doomed. I’m tempted to propose a 4th meeting plan, but I won’t.

If any of you can, you should probably come early to get in line. That means you may be forced to go into the Arena before the appointed meeting time, but don’t miss the show on our account. I’ll follow the plan as it stands, and if I can’t get into the Arena, I’ll wait around outside for a while after 2:30.

If some get into the show and others don’t, we can always meet at the String Band Scramble at 5 pm.