Northwest Folklife Festival

From their website:

The Northwest Folklife Festival is the annual free climactic celebration of year-round ethnic, folk, and traditional arts activities produced by Northwest Folklife. The Folklife Festival is Seattle’s unofficial leap into summer, with four days of jam-packed excitement. Artists from the Pacific Northwest along with special guests from throughout the world create an ethnic extravaganza embracing music and dance performances, visual arts and folklore exhibits, hands-on ethnic children’s activities, symposia, dance and music workshops, crafts, food, imported goods, demonstrations of traditional arts, and more! The exuberant tradition of sharing and participation at the Festival encourages exploration and learning between participants and public alike.

Founded in 1972 and sponsored by Northwest Folklife and Seattle Center, Folklife brings together an estimated 250,000 visitors, 1,000 volunteers and more than 7,000 musicians, dancers, tradition bearers and visual artists who contribute their time, talent, and energy.

2008 Seattle Cheese Festival

Chef Joseba Jiménez de Jiménez, co-owner of the Harvest Vine, gives at cooking seminar and talks about his special asparagus sauce.

Friends, (from right) Erin Dillon, Dost Bardouille and Katie Paul, enjoy the cheese during the festival.

The fourth annual Seattle Cheese Festival was well underway on May 17, 2008. The festival featured cooking demonstrations from local chefs including Joseba Jiménez de Jiménez, the owner of the Harvest Vine; tastings from a variety of Washington vineyards, and others.

The lack of melted cheese in the record-setting, 90-degree temperature was testament to the number of people that attended the festival. I had never seen that many people in the market, prior to this event.

This event was a definite treat as it made me aware of the variety and taste of the local fare, and represented a nice introduction to the taste of Seattle for this food-loving, new Midwestern “transplant.”

It was also a nice way to enjoy the culture of this great city. The people that I met were really warm, friendly and fun loving