Bumbershoot: spanning_time Style

Here are the top three spanning_time reasons why Bumbershoot deserves your attention this weekend:

3) Bumberbout - Eight of the nation's best track roller derby teams compete for the inaugural Bumberbout title. Will Seattle's Rat City Rollergirls take the win with their home field advantage? spanning_time has yet to see a bout, and we think this will be a good introduction to the sport.

2) Flatstock - The annual highlight of Bumbershoot, Flatstock features works by some of the best poster artists in the business. It's inspiring just to walk through the room. The best part is that many of the artists also do postcards, so it's a great place to stock up on some unique things to send people.

1) Funnel Cake - We would like nothing more than to get a funnel cake at Bumbershoot. However, every damn year we end up having to settle for an elephant ear. For those of you saying "it's all just fried dough and the same thing" you're technically correct on the fried dough-ness, but it's not the same at all (with that logic you could say a beignet is the same as well, but try making that statement in New Orleans). Funnel cake deconstruction is a joy, with so many interlocked layers to work through. There's a real sense of progress with funnel cake that you just don't get otherwise. For us, eating a funnel cake is a zen-like experience that temporarily removes us from the overwhelming, claustrophobic environment in which we're eating it. Please let them have funnel cake this year. If they don't, we'll likely get more ranty than the Capitol Hill Blog did over the Blue Angels, and no one wants that.

If you need a comprehensive guide to Bumbershoot survival, Metblogs did a great job with that.