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July 7, 2011

West Seattle Summer Fest & Ballard Seafood Fest Offer Free Tunes This Weekend

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Slack Fest isn’t the only local music festival happening this weekend. If you’re not heading North to Stanwood, or even if you are, you can still catch some of Seattle’s best bands this weekend in two uniquely Northwest festival settings … and thanks the annual West Seattle Summer Fest and the Ballard Seafood Fest, you can do it for free.

First up is the Ballard Seafood Festival, who’ll be celebrating 33 years of lutefisk and local music this weekend. Shutting down the main streets of Ballard for Saturday and Sunday with live music from 11am to 9pm, Seafood Fest lets you eat salmon, drink beer and listen to some great local bands like The Moondoggies and Star Anna and Her Laughing Dogs for free.

Here’s the Main Stage Schedule:

Saturday July 9th

11:00 – 11:45 am Stan Boreson Noon – 12:45 pm Verlee for Ransom 1:15 – 2:30 pm Exohxo 3:00 – 3:45 pm Camille Bloom 4:15 – 5:15 pm Soul Jelly 5:45 – 7:15 pm Duffy Bishop 7:45 – 8:45 pm DJ Riz

Sunday July 10th

11:00 – 11:45 am Stan Boreson Noon – 12:45 pm Orville Johnson Goes Gospel 1:15 – 2:15 pm Side Saddle 2:45 – 3:45 pm The Moondoggies 4:15 – 5:00 pm Star Anna & the Laughing Dogs 5:30 – 7:00 pm Knut Bell & the Blue Collars

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Clear on the other side of town and happening all weekend long, West Seattle Summer Fest will be celebrating 27 years of neighborhood pride with free sets from Curtains for You, Whalebones, reunions from a couple quintessential Seattle punk bands: The Fastbacks and The Cops and a late night dance party with Head Like a Kite in the West Seattle Junction.

Here’s the full schedule:

Friday July 8th:

12:45-1:30 – Ali Marcus 2:00-2:45 – Red Jacket Mine 3:15-4:00 – Stag 4:30-5:15 – Whalebones 5:45-6:30 – Thee Sgt Major III 7:00-7:45 – Cali Giraffes 8:00-8:45 – The Fastbacks 9:00-10:00 – The Cops

Saturday July 9th

12:00-12:45 – Eight Legs to Nowhere 1:15-2:00 – The Bad Things 2:30-3:15 – Rat City Brass 3:45-4:30 – Rachel Harrington & The Do Right Boys 5:00-5:45 – Massy Ferguson 6:15-7:00 – Lowmen Markos 7:30-8:15 – Curtains for You 8:45-9:30 – The Bend 10:00-10:45 – The Staxx Brothers 11:15 -12:00 – Head Like a Kite

Sunday July 10th

1:15-2:00 – Polyrhythmics 2:30-3:15 – Hondo II 3:45-4:30 – Gunn and the Damage Done 5:00-5:45 – The Fuzz

July 9, 2010

A Weekend Full of Fests

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Seattle in the summertime is full of festivals … Capitol Hill Block Party, Bumbershoot, and this weekend, a triple header of smaller festivals that are just as worthy of your time and attention. Best of all, none of these festivals are going to set you back a day’s worth of work and they are purely local, highlighting hometown bands and neighborhoods.

Ameliafest featuring Hobosexual, What What Now and Greenriver Thrillers Friday July 9th at The Blue Moon – $6

The festivities get started tonight at the Blue Moon for the so-called “Ameliafest.” While local photographer and super-fan, Amelia Gyde would probably rather we not refer to the evening as such, it’s a night that she’s organized to celebrate and promote a few of her favorite hard rocking locals. If you like your music loud and local … this is the only place in town you should be tonight.

West Seattle Summer Fest featuring Whalebones, Curtains for You, the Dusty 45s, Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter & more Friday, Saturday & Sunday in West Seattle (corner of Alaska and California) – Free

On the other side of town, across the industrial expanse of Harbor Island, West Seattle Summer Fest is happening all weekend long. The annual festival celebrates the bounty of (West) Seattle, by highlighting local businesses, artisans and bands. Over 25 local bands will be gracing the streets of West Seattle and Easy Street will be having a sidewalk sale during the festival, so if you’re a music junkie, West Seattle is where you should be heading to score this weekend.

Ballard Seafood Fest featuring The Maldives Saturday and Sunday in Ballard (2208 NW Market St)

Last but not least, is the Ballard Seafood Festival. It’s not a music festival per se, though one of the biggest bands in Seattle, The Maldives, will be playing a set during the festivities. Seafood Fest celebrates the Seattle and Ballard of yore, when the Market Street was filled with Scandinavian Gift Shops and bakeries, not condos and boutiques. When Ballard was populated by fisherman, middle class families and old Swedes; it celebrates the Ballard and Seattle I grew up in and the bountiful harvest the docks around Ballard haul in their nets. If you’re a fan of salmon, fresh seafood and festivals with a real block party feel, take a stroll through Seafood Fest and make sure you do so on an empty stomach.