Children laughed and ran around the streets, the Saturday farmer’s market in full swing while unique talents filled downtown Ellensburg during the Buskers in the ‘Burg festival on Sept. 24th. 

The 12 performers included magicians, violinists, tarot card readers, bands and more. They ranged from children to adults. The two featured performers were local circus-comedy artist Hillia and Big Rich, a traveling magician with a magic rap performance. 

Buskers in the ‘Burg is put on by the Ellensburg Downtown Association (EDA) with help from the Blue Bear Puppet Lab. Giant puppets depicting humans and animals with oversized heads in comical poses paraded through the bustling town.

According to the EDA’s Community Engagement Specialist, Teresa Chanes, the event was originally founded by Lee Honeycutt with hopes to “showcase local artists.” 

Chanes said, “Ellensburg has a huge arts community that people don’t really realize … so it was a way for us to allow people to show and display their talent.”

The artists are found primarily through social media. According to Chanes, the EDA posts on their social media accounts prior to the event with a sign up sheet which can fill fast due to the amount of talent in the valley. 

As Ellensburg is typically quaint and quiet, Tyler Feddema, a Seattle student who frequently visits his friends going to CWU, said, “You just normally don’t see this type of stuff in Ellensburg, it’s been a cool thing to walk through.”

To find more information on future Ellensburg events, or to get more information about next year’s Buskers in the ‘Burg, you can visit Ellensburg Downtown Association website.