Overview
Bumbershoot '87
Artwork by Karen Guzak, a Snohomish-based artist whose work was commissioned for Bumbershoot through the City of Seattle's 1% for Art Program. The poster was designed by Bernard PeBenito.
By 1987, Bumbershoot had regained its momentum and settled into a confident rhythm.
In the years following the governance battles of the mid-1980s, the festival continued strengthening its identity as a large-scale, multidisciplinary arts gathering anchored at Seattle Center each Labor Day weekend. Under the continued production leadership of One Reel, Bumbershoot maintained the balance that had defined it for more than a decade: nationally recognized performers sharing the spotlight with regional artists, experimental work, and community participation.
Music remained a central draw, but it was never the whole story. Across the Seattle Center campus, audiences could move between concerts, contemporary dance performances, theater productions, film screenings, literary events, craft exhibitions, and participatory art. The density of programming, dozens of simultaneous experiences, had become one of the festival’s defining traits.
Volunteer participation and community involvement also remained key. Thousands of festivalgoers weren’t just spectators; they were contributors, artists, performers, organizers, and volunteers helping animate the event each year.
By the late 1980s, Bumbershoot had firmly established itself as one of the country’s leading multidisciplinary festivals. What made it distinctive wasn’t just its scale, but its philosophy: an open cultural umbrella where established stars, emerging talent, and experimental creators could coexist.
The festival had entered a period of stability, confident in its structure, ambitious in its programming, and deeply embedded in Seattle’s cultural life.
Bumbershoot 1987's line up included: Albert Collins, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy & Jr. Wells, Christine Lavin, Colin James, Crowded House, Dwight Yoakam, Etta James, Flying Karamazov Brothers, Gregg Allman, Ian Shoales, James Dickey, Joe Ely, Joe Houston, k.d. lang, Lonnie Brooks, Miles Davis, Nona Hendryx, Paul Winter Consort, Robert Cray Band, Robert Creeley, Roy Orbison, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Seattle Symphony, Stanley Jordan, Taj Mahal, Tama Janowitz, Tremaine Hawkins, Washington Square
