Northwest Folklife Festival...

One of the perks of living in a big city is the constant activity.

There's always something new to see, something different to try and endless opportunities for quality people watching.

Enter the Northwest Folklife Festival.

Alysha and Jason came into town from Portland for the weekend, and we all headed up to the Seattle Center to check it out.

We made the right choice.

Not only were the vendors and food booths fantastic -- the crowd provided endless, bizarre entertainment for all.

The coolest thing about the festival was the gathering of local bands, hoping to get a bit of exposure.

You couldn't walk two feet without running into someone with a guitar, keyboard, tambourine etc.

Most of them were actually quite talented.

Even though we had plenty of fresh air, I'm pretty sure we all got a little high.

Northwest folk fans really like their pot...

 The place was packed.

Apparently people come from all over the world for this thing.

And most of them bring their animals.

I think we were the only group without a dog, cat, ferret, parrot or lizard in our possession.

I'm not kidding.

And they say Portland is weird...