The numbers are in: A look back at Bellingham’s third annual Northwest Tune-Up Festival
A little more than one week after the third annual Northwest Tune-Up festival took over Bellingham’s waterfront with bikes, music, art and beer, the festival organizers are sharing a breakdown of the event by the numbers.
Attendance, tickets, volunteers and participants
▪ Estimated attendance over three days, including the free public area: 10,000
▪ Number of tickets sold: 4,359
▪ Number of paid staff members: 29
▪ Number of volunteers: 700
▪ Number of vendor booths: 75
▪ Number of musical artists and bands: 20
▪ Number of visual artists and creators: 48
Racers, sustainability and donations
On the first day of the festival, July 12, almost 60 racers participated in the Shimano Pump Track Drag Race on a dual course designed for cyclists to use momentum to “pump” through features without pedaling.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Outdoor Research Galbraith Mountain Enduro race hosted 517 riders, including more than 200 youth riders, in partnership with the Cascadia Dirt Cup series.
Saturday’s Maxxis Waterfront Jump Jam at the festival grounds featured riders aged 9 to 40 years old competing on a bike jump line built collaboratively with the Port of Bellingham and the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition for last year’s Tune-Up festival.
Almost $40,000 in net profits from the craft beer garden, which served brews from over 20 craft breweries, cideries and kombrewcheries at the festival, were donated to the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition.
Thousands of dollars from the festival’s secure bike parking facility were also donated to the local non-profits Shifting Gears, Galbraith Gravity Racers and Whatcom Rowing Association to support local outdoor recreation programs.
The festival also prioritized sustainability initiatives, working with The Cup Project to serve drinks in reusable cups and prevent more than 7,000 single-use cups from ending up in landfills.
