What do you get when you combine nine local bands, sunshine, beer, barbecuing, camping, a racetrack and local music lover extraordinaire Don Slack? The answer, of course, would be the daylong event of music, drinking, debauchery and general fun in the sun that is Slackfest, which is happening Saturday at Slime Dog Racetrack in Stanwood.
This year Slackfest brings together Moondoggies, Zoe Muth and the High Rollers, Pipsisewah, Wayfinders, Country Lips, Big Wheel Stunt Show and a pair of Guerrilla Candy favorites in Hounds of the Wild Hunt and Hobosexual. Also on the bill are The Rolling Stones, but they aren’t those Rolling Stones. This is Seattle’s version of the Rolling Stones, which is to say they are a Stones cover band. They’ve been called Seattle’s best rock band by many critics and they will undoubtedly be one of the many highlights on Slackfest’s killer bill.
Aside from being curated by Don Slack (duh), one of the things that makes Slackfest so great is that it takes some of Seattle’s best rock bands and puts them in an extremely unique setting. As noted above, Slackfest takes place at a racetrack. But that doesn’t quite capture the essence of the festival’s atmosphere. Slime Dog racetrack is on the Stillaguamish River and all of the bands play on the back of a flatbed truck parked on the dirt racetrack. It’s an outdoor festival unlike no other. In fact, it’s such a cool experience that my friends over at Sound on the Sound voted it best music festival of the year last year.
On top of bands playing on a racetrack there will also be a grill fired up offering burgers, hotdogs and other culinary goodies fit for a bonfire party during a day at the races. Oh, and there’s beer specials too. Hilliards Beerwill be selling beers for $3 a pop, or if you’re feeling extra thirsty you can get a “SlackPass” for a suggested donation of $15 which will let you drink all you want until the kegs run dry. Try getting those drink prices at any other local music festival.
If all of that sounds like fun, and you know it does, then you’ll be thrilled to know the kind folks over at Slackfest have given us a pair of tickets and camping passes to give away to one lucky reader. All you have to do to enter is drop a comment below using a valid email address. Be sure to include your first and last name so it can be added to the Slackfest guest list in case you end up winning. A winner will be chosen at random and notified Thursday night. Good luck.
And in case you aren’t feeling lucky, or if you want to secure your weekend at Slime Dog, you can purchase tickets to Slackfest here.
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David Stoll
Camping, live music, and Hilliards beer? I am so there! Pick me please.