When It Rains: Big Questions Hang Over Bumbershoot

Originally started by the city of Seattle as the “Mayor’s Arts Festival” in 1971, Bumbershoot has been notoriously eclectic in its lineup programming, with the Labor Day festival always a crucial platform for launching Northwestern talent. 

The event has mostly been put on by the nonprofit One Reel over the decades, both in partnership with the city and independently, but always owned by the city. 

AEG Presents came on board to co-promote the city-owned Bumbershoot in 2014, when the festival had accumulated approximately $900,000 in debt, according to the Seattle Times. Over the years AEG brought big names to the Emerald City like Lorde, J. Cole, The Lumineers, Rezz, Big Sean, Weezer, Odesza, Elvis Costello, Hozier, Ellie Golding, Tyler, The Creator, Father John Misty, Marshmello, Logic, Tame Impala, and Porter Robinson. 

This year’s event was a slight letdown when Lizzo had to cancel her set because of a sinus infection, and dozens were reportedly injured when a stage barricade collapsed. 

AEG opted out of its partnership with One Reel five years later, saying it simply couldn’t come up with a long-term plan to stay involved. 

“We have had five wonderful years working with One Reel and the City of Seattle on creating some memorable Bumbershoot moments, and we want to thank everyone involved for allowing us to play a part in that,” AEG Northwest president Rob Thomas told Crosscut. 

One Reel promises a return to the Seattle Center Sept. 4-6, but it is unclear what Bumbershoot 2020 will look like.

“We are currently working with the City of Seattle and Seattle Center to create a new model for Bumbershoot that honors both the festival’s origin and history, while ensuring the festival is sustainable for the long haul,” One Reel wrote on the event website. 

“Everyone at One Reel is excited to usher in a new era for Bumbershoot that embraces the festival’s long legacy of multi-generational programming and community participation.”

Chris Porter, who booked Bumbershoot with One Reel until 2014, said he hopes the festival can continue, but even if the festival scales down, finding the right size will be tricky. Harder still will be staging a version of Bumbershoot that all of Seattle’s generations and demographics agree is authentic. 

“You could talk to 10 different people in Seattle and ask them what Bumbershoot is and what it should be and you’d get 10 different answers,” Porter told Pollstar, noting that some prefer national touring artists while others prefer local talent. 

“It has been a multi-genre festival for most of its history and they’ll need to try to figure out the economics to keep going. At what [size] the festival is presented is likely going to be dependent on how much the local government wants to help and how much sponsorship is there for them.” Porter’s Porter Productions mostly works in San Francisco (booking Hardly Strictly Bluegrass), Boston and Seattle (where he is based) these days. 

Some might look at Bumbershoot’s challenges and the recent bowouts of Pemberton, Sasquatch, Squamish, MusicFestNW and Upstream as examples of the Northwest being a difficult festival market. 

Porter told Pollstar it is difficult for large festivals to find a space in the current North American landscape, but the Northwest is still a great place for medium-sized festivals like Pickathon or Adam Zacks’ new Thing festival, which he launched after ending Sasquatch. 

Porter noted that Bumbershoot may be unable to bring in national touring acts without the assistance of an entity like AEG Presents, (which can help bring touring clients to affiliated events such as it did with Katy Perry and The Rolling Stones for this year’s New Orleans Jazz Fest), meaning Bumbershoot could look very different going forward. Still, he said it has taken a “series of miracles” for Bumbershoot to remain existence for as long as it has, particularly after a “perfect storm” of challenges in 2014 – including venue issues, increased expenses, and bad weather forecasts. AEG Presents essentially bailed the festival out, extending its life five years beyond where most fests would have died of natural causes. 

Seattle’s creative community is renowned throughout the world and the city rallied around the legendary club The Showbox last year to prevent it from being torn down for high-rise housing units. Whether or not residents buy tickets to next year’s edition will likely have a big impact on whether it continues into the future. 

“The Northwest, particularly Seattle, is one of the greatest creative communities in the world. Bumbershoot has been one of the greatest conduits to nurture that. If it takes a year or two off, maybe that’s a good thing. But it would be a great shame if it didn’t go on.”