View of Downtown Seattle from Gasworks Park

Northwest Folklife Festival to launch A-Y-P Centennial

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On Memorial Day next year, Folklife will officially kick-off a summer-long Centennial celebration. Held almost exactly 100 years from the opening of the original A-Y-P, it will feature performances, films, ephemera and more.

Radio broadcasts, a Viking ship, parades and exhibits will illuminate changes in our state’s culture and traditions since 1909. Panel discussions on race, culture and social justice will demonstrate the changes in cross cultural relations that have occurred over the last 100 years. Unlike what happened at the A-Y-P, Seattle can now be proud of how it honors and respects the cultural traditions of all its citizens regardless of race, social class, native language, place of origin or economic condition.

Folklife, Seattle’s largest community arts festival and one of the largest in the entire United States, will also exhibit 1909 ephemera as well as segments of other exhibits from around the region.

Held over Memorial Day weekend at Seattle Center, the 2009 festival (May 22–25) nearly coincides with the June 1 opening of the original A-Y-P.

Partners

  • Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and 4Culture

    Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and 4Culture

    The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Centennial Celebration is a project of the City of Seattle's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and 4Culture, King County's Cultural Services Agency, in collaboration with dozens of organizations and individuals around the region.

    If you are or your organization is working on projects for the 2009 Centennial Celebration, HistoryLink and 4Culture have put together a community organizing website (aype.org) where you can collaborate, share information, request help and learn about the progress of A-Y-P-related projects.