This weekend’s 2026 Capitol Hill Block Party may still be 21+ but there will be a block of all-ages energy right outside the fences with music and DJs. And it will all be free.
The weekend on 11th Ave will also mark an important milestone for Eleven:Eleven as the all-ages community venue launches a key fundraising drive. This weekend, the venue and street will be a busy — and the organizers say, safe — place for kids to enjoy some of the Block Party energy. Continue reading
Not everything about the Block Party is big and on the main stage
No, you did not miss it. This summer, the Capitol Hill Block Party happens in August.
The 28th annual edition of the E Pike music festival as we know it takes place this weekend, transforming its blocks into a fenced-off and bustling festival grounds and turning Broadway and Pike, literally, into a main stage.
In 2025, the Block Party “grew up” as the ticketed music fest went 21+ for the first time to resolve challenges around security and layout the longtime all-ages format required. Producers also cut the festival back to two days. This is what the 2025 festival looked like as the Party carried on. Sorry kids.
In the past, CHBP has drawn around 10,000 attendees a day. Producers did not announce totals for 2025.
In 2026, production company Daydream State is stretching the Block Party back out but keeping the 21 and over change in place. For the first time since 2024, the Block Party will be a three-day event. Continue reading
(Image: Capitol Hill Block Party)
A grown-up Capitol Hill Block Party will debut this weekend as the music festival makes its first run as a pared down, two-day, 21+ only event. The CHBP’s neighborhood producers are watching how the new format unfolds and planning for the future. 2028 would mark the 30th edition of the festival, one of the few ticketed, multi-day music festivals on the planet to take place on city streets Continue reading
Outside the gates, thousands also enjoyed the CHBP 2024 show
With reporting by Nova Berger/CHS Reporting Intern
The Capitol Hill Block Party awakens this Monday in a familiar place: facing questions of whether the music festival has grown too much for its neighborhood streets in a hangover of the sunny fun and legendarily good times experienced during its annual three days of music and partying.
“We were thrilled to see the incredible interest and excitement surrounding this year’s festival, especially with the rising popularity of our performing artists,” a Capitol Hill Block Party spokesperson said in a statement to CHS. “This enthusiasm reflects the vibrant and dynamic music scene that our festival celebrates.”
“We are committed to creating a safe, enjoyable, and memorable festival experience for everyone, and will continue to examine our security measures closely and adjust certain aspects for each iteration of the festival,” the spokesperson said.
The $100-plus ticketed event’s producers say they capped sales to 10,000 for Friday’s first day despite the massive surge in interest around the night’s headliner, Chappell Roan. Producers say city officials would allow up to 14,000 people to fill E Pike and the surrounding streets — “the maximum capacity for our footprint determined by the Seattle Fire Department.”
Even with the 10,000 daily limit, festival goers reported near-crush conditions as thousands packed onto E Pike just east of Broadway on the warm Seattle night to witness Roan’s set with reports of people passing out and suffering minor injuries.
The Block Party’s production company includes ownership from Pike/Pine institutions including the Neumos and Barboza family, Lost Lake Cafe, the Comet, and Big Mario’s.
Over the years, the festival’s growing popularity has faced calls for more to be done to address the event’s impact on the surrounding neighborhood including public safety issues, traffic, mobility issues around the festival fencing and production equipment, and noise. Continue reading
The street racing was caught on the SDOT traffic camera at the intersection
The family of Essence Greene, the 20-year-old shot and killed last July as late night crowds formed around street racers outside the fences of the Capitol Hill Block Party at Broadway and Pike, is suing the music festival’s producers.
KOMO is reporting on the lawsuit it says blames organizers “for failing to disperse the crowd so people could safely leave the event.”
KOMO reports the lawsuit, which does not appear yet in King County Superior Court filings, blames producers Independent Event Solutions for failing “disperse the crowd from the event or move barriers so the crowd could disperse more easily.”
The annual Capitol HIll Block Party is a three-day festival that is unique as one of the few music events of its scale in the country to be operated as a ticketed event on city streets.
Greene was one of four people shot when gunfire rang out as large nightlife crowds were dissipating after the street racing takeover of the intersection after the 2023 Capitol Hill Block Party’s second day had ended for the night. Continue reading
The Capitol Hill Block Party is becoming downright dependable as its 2024 edition shapes up with a familiar plan — three days in July, eight stages along E Pike, a mix of free events and activities in Cal Anderson and outside the gates, and a mix of bands including national acts on the rise and local favorites familiar to the neighborhood’s stages at venues like Chop Suey and Neumos. The only thing uncertain is the weather.
Producer Daydream State, the production company from Pike/Pine nightlife entrepreneur Jason Lajeunesse that puts on the annual three-day ticketed music festival on the neighborhood’s streets, has dropped the 2024 CHBP lineup that includes headliners “Grammy-winning producer Kaytranada, electropop superstar Kim Petras, and indie rock group Still Woozy.” Passes are now on sale.
The annual announcement of Block Party acts has become a rite of Capitol Hill spring, pairing with the Queer/Pride music festival’s lineup drop for a one-two punch of summer enthusiasm for the neighborhood. Continue reading
By Kali Herbst Minino
Anyone who tried to drive anywhere last weekend knows it was a busy, hot weekend for Seattle. Capitol Hill Block Party and celebrated its 25th edition, attracting groups of people from other states and various parts of Washington.
Taking place in a historically LGBTQ+ neighborhood, Block Party organizers have said they hope to continue balancing the impact of a three-day, ticketed music festival with community involvement. CHS reported here on their efforts in 2023.
Capitol Hill’s cultural value shined through for some. Brittany Sides traveled from Tacoma, and thinks Capitol Hill is one of the most fulfilling and creative neighborhoods in Seattle.
“I had a professor who lived here back in the 90s and she remembers when these bars were lesbian bars, she doesn’t really love Capitol Hill now, it was just a little bit grimier,” Sides said. “It’s definitely more gentrified now than it historically was, but, the heart is still there.”
Delaney Trujillo, who was working at a booth during Block Party, grew up on Capitol Hill and says that while they see gentrification happening, they feel that the spread of the LGBTQ+ community reaches further than it did five to seven years ago.
“I’ve seen real good queer shit on the pier, you wouldn’t see that 10 years ago,” Trujillo said.
Trujillo felt that the festival leaned on the club-side, and would have liked to see more representation. Continue reading
By Kali Herbst Minino
“I know music festivals can’t be free anymore, but I’m hoping to see an even bigger local push from Block Party for local artists and local businesses,” Avery Cochrane, a performer at this year’s Capitol Hill Block Party tells CHS.
The 25th year of the music festival takes place this weekend in the heart of Pike/Pine starting Friday and running through Sunday. Three days of sun, warm evenings, and lots of music are predicted.
The price of a one-day ticket to this year’s Block Party is sitting at $95, far above its origins as a free neighborhood event. The now three-day music festival that takes over the blocks around E Pike and Broadway has had split reviews from community members over its 25-year lifetime. Some business owners enjoy increased revenue while others struggle outside the fences put in place for the event. Tensions peaked in 2019 when the city asked for community feedback, but that seems to have faded during the recovery from the pandemic.
As the event has grown and ticket prices risen, so have efforts from CHBP organizers to engage with and support local artists and businesses.
Cochrane wasn’t expecting to receive an email from organizers about playing this year’s block party. She attended the event in 2018 and never necessarily had the ultimate goal of playing at it.
“It’s still weird seeing my name on there, and the font size for my name isn’t even that small, so I’m kind of mind-blown,” Cochrane said. Continue reading
Guess which side has beer
In June, Pride returned to its rightful space on Capitol Hill. It felt good to be there and have dozens of great pictures to share of the triumphant return after two summers of cancellations and postponements.
In July, another neighborhood tradition returned. Below, we’ve shared the scenes of Capitol Hill Block Party 2022 from inside and outside the fences — and from above.
We reported here on the return of the three-day music festival and its ongoing mixed relationship with Pike/Pine’s culture, neighbors, and small business community. Some of the images below are illustrative of the dynamic. There are glorious scenes of a summer party. And there are scenes of fenced-off neighborhood streets. The good news is we found a party on both sides.
Some of the best fun can be found outside the fences
The math will never work out right for Capitol Hill Block Party. There are the two years of pandemic cancellations. And the debate on its origin. Are you a summer of 1997 truther or do you go back further still to the days when the events were more street fair than a massive, three-day festival on the streets of Pike/Pine?
Friday, after COVID’s lost summers, the 24th year of the Block Party as we pretty much know it will arrive.
The main stage crowd in 2019 (Image: Capitol Hill Block Party)
Like this year’s Pride revelers who celebrated in Pike/Pine’s beer gardens in June for the first time in three years, the 30,000 or so attendees who will visit Pike/Pine across Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be experiencing the return of a summer Capitol Hill tradition.
Producer Daydream State, formed by ownership from Pike/Pine institutions including the Neumos and Barboza family, Lost Lake Cafe, the Comet, and Big Mario’s, and the festival’s relationship to the neighborhood appears to have greatly shifted during the lost time.
Some of the fences have shifted, also.
