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human-powered carousel at Bumbershoot 2007]] :''Bumbershoot is also another name for an Umbrella .'' Bumbershoot is an annual international music and arts '', a colloquial term for Umbrella , probably coined in the 19th Century as a Portmanteau of umbrella and Parachute . THE EARLY YEARS Bumbershoot began as a city-funded ($25,000 budget)Dorpat 1999 says it had a budget of $25,000. arts and music festival called "Mayor's Arts Festival"Mayor Greg Nickels' statement, Bumbershoot 2007 program, p. 4., also known as "Festival '71",Dorpat 1999. held at Seattle Center on singer Sheb Wooley . In 1972 , "Festival '72", held on July 21 – 23 , took in 175,000 guests. In 1973 the festival adopted the present name "Bumbershoot", grew to five days, and pulled in 200,000 visitors. National acts included Cal Tjader , Joe Venuti , and John Handy . In 1974 it grew again, to 10 days and 325,000 visitors. The festival opened with a "Renaissance Processional" for the kilometer or so from downtown to the center; Mayor Wes Uhlman and most of the city council participated that year, in roles ranging from Clown ing to reading children's stories aloud to, in the mayor's case, running the Lost Child Center. Another prominent Bumbershoot event from this era was the Bumbernationals Artists' Soapbox Derby , which continued into the early 1980s. 1975 's 11-day festival was produced by Parks Department employee John Chambless, a former University Of Washington professor of history and philosophy who had produced the 1968 Sky River Festival , the Pacific Northwest 's most prominent Hippie -era festival. THE LATE-1970S RETREAT With declining government grant support, Bumbershoot tried to keep afloat on donations and sales of posters, buttons, and T-shirts, but poor weather hurt attendance some years and left the free Festival scrambling for more financially stable options. First, the festival retrenched on the number of days and on bringing in national talent. According to John Chambless, about 25 percent of the 1975 budget went to out-of-town talent; the 1976 festival was nearly 100 percent local and was cut to two weekends; in 1977, it was further cut to just Labor Day weekend; as it happened, in both 1977 and 1978, Labor Day weekend was rainy. ONE REEL TAKES OVER In 1980 the city brought in Northwest non-profit organization One Reel to produce the event; they have been running it ever since, Bumbershoot History , official Bumbershoot site. Accessed online , 2007 . Accessed online 6 September 2007 . The new formula featured world-class acts while continuing to ground the festival on a bedrock of Pacific Northwest talent. Record numbers of art and music lovers flocked to the 15 stages, galleries, outdoor venues and food, art and craft vendors. Artists such as The Eurythmics , James Brown , Spinal Tap and Tina Turner shared the turf with art oddities like the gigantic flying pencil, the Bumbernationals soapbox derby and robotic art. Although initially resistant to Hip Hop , in the mid-'90s Bumbershoot introduced some of the first large-scale Hip Hop shows ever held in Seattle, a tradition that's still very much alive in 2007. From the ashes of the Grunge Rock scene came a new brand of Seattle sound; influential alternative rock bands such as Sleater Kinney , Modest Mouse , and Death Cab For Cutie have played Bumbershoot. In the new millennium, international artists have included groups such as Baba Maal , The Grand Kabuki Theatre of Japan, and an Ethiopian youth circus. The One Reel Film Festival, held within Bumbershoot, celebrates American independent film shorts. Bumbershoot incorporated new arts forms such as Poetry Slam s and Break Dancing as well as older arts such as circus, contortion, aerial, and street theater. As the largest single showcase for regional talent, Bumbershoot became a cultural tastemaker. The festival—which has become Seattle's longest-lived music and arts festival—paved the way for other Seattle-area outdoor events, festivals, and happenings. Many of these, such as the Northwest Folklife Festival that premiered at Seattle Center on Memorial Day weekend the following year, have become established traditions in their own right.. NOTES REFERENCES
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