On June 3, I was on my way to Bike Works in the Columbia City neighborhood when I heard a variety of horns playing a couple of blocks away. I was intrigued to what it was and decided to postpone my bike shop trip to find out where the music was coming from. To my surprise, it was a music festival happening at Columbia Park and the surrounding area.
HONK! Fest West is a music festival that highlights brass band culture within the Northwestern United States. However, the festival also includes performers from states like New York and California. From the afterwork hobbyist, to the middle school band member, HONK! fronts a diverse set of crowds that delivers different takes on brass band music.
The annual music festival has been running for more than a decade. One attendee, who has visited the festival since 2014, said, “This really is an important event to Seattle’s cultural scene. It showcases a genre of music that isn’t the most popular, and it gives local musicians a chance to shine in front of an appreciative audience.”
The head of operations, Lizzy Bourton, said, “I don’t get paid a cent to do any of this.” Although not a musician herself, Bourton expressed her appreciation with the brass band culture, “It’s a fun music subculture, [and] itself is a great community.” HONK! is staffed by volunteers, so the 3-day musical event is completely free.
Bourton also emphasized activism within the music festival. The bands that perform at the festival are often heavily involved with activism in regards to social issues and the reclamation of social spaces as a way to build community.
The music that played throughout the park, and the diversity of performers at the event, exemplified the teeming multi-dimensional subculture that Seattle shelters. Sometimes a simple detour off of a bike ride can show you things that you would have never discovered
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