We swung by Old Ballard Friday night to take a few photos of the second annual Honk Fest West, featuring over a dozen motley marching bands.
Here at Conor Byrne, a few bands played inside and out to the delight of the dancing crowd gathered on the street corner.
Bands also played at The Sunset, Bop Street Records and the Chai House, and we saw a few others roaming around Ballard Ave. By the way, this is a big month for music in Old Ballard: the Ballard Jazz Festival is coming April 22-26.
Bands have honkin’ good time in Old Ballard
They had quite the presence on Market Street too! :-)
Thanks Honk Fest West, keep up the music, you blessed this town, again.
My hears ache just looking at those pictures.
lol…maybe 'ears'?
This was so great.
My partner and I stepped out of Thaiku after a yummy dinner to find Garfield drumline ( our kid is “08”) bringing it right outside.
BIG crowd loving the music and showmanship of these kids.
I didn't know they were on their way to play the Sunset but tonight I am going to Georgetown for more of the same.
Gag. There was a reason we stayed home last night.
so that explains a lot. i thought something was going on at safeco since we ususally hear the “traffic” from there.
Yes indeed Chopper.
I'd forgotten about this but was down there anyway last night; so it was a fantastic surprise.
The band with the two tubas, five trombonists, and leader wearing a chicken suit put on a great show on Leary; good silly fun.
A fine evening in Ballard.
Really, they should go and do this somewhere that's not public
I mean jeez, can't someone put up the property to keep this noise out of our parks & public squares
What a wonderful surprise to see people dancing in the streets. Ballard needs more joyful celebrations like this… everyone included! Pure joy. Thank you to all of the bands for their generosity and good cheer, you blessed Ballard with your gifts. Thank you, thank you!
The best surprise of all is the kids from Garfield High what a talented bunch of young folks…..come back anytime!
I thought that the point was to share it with the public, and I'm grateful.
So sorry that you'd call it noise >(
this is why I live in the city ^^^
( we have lived here since 1982)
you want peace and quiet in the business district on Friday night?
Buy ear muffs!
I love all the music fests Ballard has been supporting.
It brings the community together and it is art you can EXPERIENCE
I was referencing the recent hubub here about guys with Hondas (or whatever make) hanging out at Golden Gardens together (“Waah, it's noisy”)
The Honkfest is exactly the same thing; not my cup of tea, not that dudes showing off their penile replacements are either BUT
these are both examples of an urban diversity which are supposedly what this city's about
i can see your point about the noise, but this noise doesn't seem to be in the same category.
lol…btw, I think it would be penile 'enhancement'. Some how I doubt that they replaced them…unfortunate, in too many cases ;-)
It's all subjective, Kim.
The bari sax player in the swell jumpsuit and wild tam o'shanter looks like he can really honk!
As there's a reason that some of us spent over a full day total in cramped vans to be there, playing for people whom we liked and who liked us. Thank you, Ballard…it was a great time, and milo dakkat stayed home, and all was right with the world.
Garfield drumline rocked.
Also, I'm with one of those other bands…not the Garfield drumline. I realized after posting that this may not have been clear, and I would hate for my comment to reflect upon them (apart from the fact that they did indeed rock).
This was such a great event! I was a drum major back in high school and it brought back so many wonderful memories!