It’s finally here. Starting tonight, October 3, Kirkland’s Umbrella Fringe Festival is a three-day celebration of performance, art, music, and community that spreads across downtown all weekend. There are more opportunities to see great art than there is time. The beauty of Fringe is that it rewards both careful planning and spontaneous discovery—you can follow a set itinerary or wander into a venue at showtime and be surprised. Here’s a suggested schedule that balances theater, music, art, and time to enjoy Kirkland itself.

Friday: Opening Night Energy

The festival kicks off Friday with a high-fidely concert at the Kirkland Performance Center, featuring Good Day Sunshine, a Beatles-experience band that always adds some psychedelic energy to the evening. Starting here sets the tone for the weekend: communal, upbeat, artistically-rich, and a little suprising. You’ll be right in the heart of downtown, where cafés and restaurants buzz with pre-show diners and festivalgoers. Plan to arrive early for dinner nearby—Kirkland Avenue and Lake Street are lined with options—and head into the theater with plenty of time to settle in.

Saturday: The Heart of Fringe

Saturday is the busiest day, with overlapping shows across multiple venues from morning through late evening. Start at Kirkland Urban’s Art Show “The Mod”, which runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Stroll among local artist booths, installations, and live performers setting up throughout the plaza. This casual, outdoor experience is the perfect way to ease into the day before diving into scheduled shows.

Late morning, head to the Kirkland Arts Center for Ollie Yama’s Been There, a spoken word and music piece that blends storytelling with rhythm. If fashion is more your thing, the Kirkland Teen Union Building hosts Africans on the Eastside, a midday fashion show celebrating cultural identity through clothing and performance. At the same time, the Kirkland Library and Moss Bay Hall will feature music sets ranging from acoustic folk to lively ensemble performances.

The afternoon offers plenty of variety. Moss Bay Hall will feature Latin music from Monamor, while Kirkland Arts Center hosts the immersive storytelling of Paul Barach’s You Will Forget This. If you want something interactive, swing by Kirkland Urban for Beatbox Panda, a crowd-pleasing blend of rhythm and audience participation.

By late afternoon, the tempo quickens. Dance and theater fans should catch Not Your Quiet Goddess by Naga Lakshmi Bhagavatula, a powerful solo piece, followed by samba rhythms at Moss Bay Hall and the quirky, comic performance Rock Paper Scissors: A Brief History & Tournament at the Arts Center.

As evening falls, the Fringe energy really comes alive. Gabey Lucas brings wit and local PNW historic absurdity with A Berkshire Boar Walks Into a Bar, followed by Lexi Nguyen and her band at Moss Bay Hall in a concert designed to uplift and inspire. The night ends with Bar Stories Live on Stage, an evening set that captures the irreverent side of Fringe. Don’t be surprised if the crowd spills out of Moss Bay afterward still laughing, pondering, and talking about the show.

Sunday: Closing on a Creative Note

Sunday leans more casual, perfect for winding down after Saturday’s packed schedule. The Kirkland Urban Art Show continues, giving you another chance to explore booths or revisit artists you discovered the day before. The performances this day are concentrated at Kirkland Urban, creating a festival-within-a-festival vibe.

The morning begins with Taal Tarang, a dance and narrative piece rooted in classical tradition, followed by NST, a group improvising electronic music with layered textures that can feel both meditative and experimental. Later in the afternoon, Ascended Reality mixes spoken word with soundscape in an immersive performance, before the Eastside Improv group closes out the afternoon with audience-driven comedy. It’s a playful, lighthearted way to cap off a weekend of art.

Though there’s no major headliner scheduled Sunday evening, this is an opportunity to slow down. Stroll Kirkland’s waterfront, enjoy dinner at a local restaurant, and reflect on the performances you’ve seen. Most of all, plan to come back next year!

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Fringe

  • Prioritize but stay flexible. With overlapping shows, it’s impossible to see everything. Pick your must-sees but leave room for serendipity.
  • Mind the map. Venues are close together, but allow a buffer to walk between Kirkland Arts Center, Moss Bay Hall, and Kirkland Urban.
  • Look for surprises. Some of the most memorable Fringe moments come from stumbling across an unlisted performance or pop-up act.

The Umbrella Fringe Festival is more than a schedule of shows—it’s a shared experience that turns downtown Kirkland into a creative playground for three days. Whether you follow this itinerary closely or strike off on your own path, you’ll leave with stories, songs, and memories that linger long after the parasols come down.

For the full roster of everything that’s happening at Umbrella Fringe Festival this weekend, visit: https://kirklandartscenter.org/kirkland-fringe-festival/.