Lots of History Behind U-District Street Fair

5/18/25 U-District Street Fair

In its 54^th year, the U-District Street Fair is the longest-running festival of its kind in the country. Although I’ve sketched at it only a few times, I’ve been attending regularly since the late ‘70s when I was a University of Washington student. The fair has a long history, and I learned a bit more of it on Sunday with USk Seattle.

Shiga's Garden at 55th and University Way NE

As I walked slowly up and down the 10 blocks of the fair, I stopped occasionally to capture snippets in my sketchbook. Most fun was the Bellingham juggler who said he has been performing at this street fair for 15 consecutive years. With a continual comedic patter, he juggled a variety of props for his captive audience circled around him. Related trivia: Jane’s son went to school with the juggler!

During the throwdown, I learned from Noel (a Seattle native and current member of USk DC) that a nearby P-Patch was named for Andy Shiga (1919 – 1993). The longtime U-District merchant and owner of Shiga’s Imports was also the founder of the U-District Street Fair in 1970. On my walk back to my car after the outing, I happened to pass the P-Patch, which was an appropriate final sketch for the day. (The shop’s website includes interesting history on the Shiga family in Seattle.)

Drizzly U-District Street Fair

 

5/18/24 U-District Street Fair

After a streak of good weather during USk Seattle outings (well, except for soggy Cinco de Mayo), our luck ran out Saturday: The U-District Street Fair was mostly damp to drizzly. Still, I managed to duck under awnings and trees to catch the general fair ambiance of tents and attendees, a balloon man, and two members of a jazz group performing on the stage.

Eventually I got chilly and tired of being dripped on by trees, so I retreated to Ugly Mug Café and Coffee Roasters, where the windows cast a nice backlighting on patrons.

5/18/24 Ugly Mug Cafe

Our luck was back for the throwdown, when it finally stopped raining and the sun even appeared briefly. (By that afternoon when I was back at home, it started pouring! I feel bad for the vendors, who probably lost a lot of sales to the miserable weather.)

For three decades before the pandemic, the annual U-District Street Fair was one of our favorite summer (or near-summer) events. Begun in 1970 with roots in activism for social and political change, this was Seattle’s first street fair and the country’s longest-running festival of its kind. It came back strong in 2022 after a necessary pandemic pause, but we didn’t attend the last couple years. Despite the rain, it was good to be back last Saturday, especially with USk Seattle. (The last time USk Seattle met there was in 2019.)

Speaking of USk, today is my 12-year anniversary since I joined Urban Sketchers Seattle!

Material notes: The bright blue Uglybook I recently filled was a joy to use, but now that summer is nearing, it was time for a change-up: Sunny yellow! (The light blue paper above is the larger-format Uglybook.) And as much as I love the comic-y look of markers, I had been missing my beloved pencils. In addition to being sunny, I was hoping the high-key color would be light enough to show graphite, especially the water-soluble graphite ArtGraf pencil used above. When activated, ArtGraf is almost as dark as a marker. Unfortunately, I’m not sure it’s going to work out with my comics style. Even with a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens for assist with dark backgrounds, graphite just doesn’t have the solid punch of a marker’s bold line. I’m not giving it up yet, but I’m not feeling it, either.

On the upside, waterproof Pitt pens saved the wet day: Several times my pages got hit by big secondary raindrops from tree limbs above, but no running occurred!

50th Annual U-District Streetfair

5/19/19 Didgeridoo busker

While the summer season offers a multitude of community festivals and fairs, the University District Streetfair holds the distinction of being the country’s longest-running festival of its kind. USk Seattle helped celebrate the fair’s 50^th year on 10 city blocks of art and craft vendors, street food and music.

As I usually do at street fairs, I found myself irresistibly drawn to a wide variety of buskers. A classical cellist, a tuba and clarinet/washboard duo and a didgeridoo player (whom I had caught a couple of years ago at Folklife, too) were among the musicians performing for the crowd.

While sketching the guys on tuba and clarinet, I was standing near a very colorfully dressed balloon man who had created an eye-catching palm tree (I think?). He asked me to guard his prop and supplies while he went to use the restroom, so I obliged. When he returned, he told me a lengthy story about how a competing balloon vendor at another fair had stolen a hundred dollars’ worth of balloons from him, so he has been extra-cautious ever since. “I don’t trust just anyone to watch my stuff, though,” he assured me. “Usually I ask first if they are from Vashon Island to make sure I can trust them.” He had more stories to tell, but he was interrupted by customers (though he didn’t seem particularly happy about it).

 

5/19/19 Colorful balloon man with stories to tell.

Meanwhile, the tuba player came over to see what I was doing. Relieved that I was only sketching, he and the clarinet player had been afraid that I was writing them a citation.

The other balloon vendor I sketched had no drama to impart. A young man who was good with kids, he first started making what I thought was a tall purple crown, but he suddenly had so many customers that his headwear remained unfinished while I sketched. Later I saw in Swagatika’s sketch that it wasn’t a crown at all – it was the foundation for a well-designed unicorn.

After all that, I got hungry, so I explored the food booths, which are getting more and more state fair-like. Deep-fried PB&J, anyone?

Langostino sushi burrito, didgeridoo, and balloon man drama: Something for everyone at the U-District Streetfair.

 

5/19/19 Jazz and blues from clarinet/tuba players

5/19/19 classical cellist

5/19/19 This balloon vendor began by making his own
headgear, but he got too busy to finish.

P.S. Although I forgot to mention it then, yesterday’s outing was a personal celebration for me: It was my seventh anniversary since joining Urban Sketchers on May 20, 2012!

Happy 7th anniversary to me!