New York City, August 2004: A crowd of bowlers is wandering around in bathrobes, swigging White Russians, and shouting, "This aggression will not stand, man!" Republican delegates run amok? Nope: It's just the Lebowski Fest, a two-day tribute to Joel and Ethan Coen's 1998 film, The Big Lebowski.
The movie, a convoluted comic caper about a hippie stoner known as "the Dude" whose bowling buddies get him mixed up in a kidnapping scheme, has become a cult classic, thanks to hilarious performances by the likes of Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore, and loopy dialogue—"It's a natural, zesty enterprise;" "The Dude abides." It was just such lines that co-founders Scott Shuffitt and Will Russell were trading at a 2002 tattoo convention in their hometown of Louisville, KY, when they got the inspiration to do an homage to "all things Lebowski." They nailed down a venue (a Baptist-run bowling alley), set up a Web site (lebowskifest.com), and printed up some flyers; when 150 people showed up instead of the expected 30, "It didn't take long to realize we were on to something," says Shuffitt.
DUDERONOMY
Two years later, Lebowski draws about 4,000 "Achievers" ("That's the preferred nomenclature for Lebowski attendees," explains Shuffitt) to Louisville each June and has become a rolling convention of sorts: Besides the New York spinoff, there was a Vegas version earlier this year and a Los Angeles edition is slated for next spring, plus talk of Orlando and Seattle. What accounts for the success of this natural, zesty enterprise? "This event is a participatory event rather than a spectator event like a lot of [other] festivals," offers Russell. "You not only watch the movie, you become the movie."
MOVE OVER, ROCKY HORROR In New York, nearly 1,000 Achievers—dressed in costume as their favorite characters—spent their first night enjoying live music at downtown hipster haunt the Knitting Factory and hanging out with Jeff Dowd (a Hollywood writer/producer who was the inspiration for the Dude character) while watching the movie and, of course, drinking White Russians, the Dude's beverage of choice. The next night, the group headed to the Cozy Bowl in Queens for tenpins, trivia contests, and costume competitions, with first prize a bowling pin signed and illustrated by Jeff Bridges. And, thanks to the movie's uncanny timeliness—it takes place during the first Gulf War—and the real-life Dude's lefty politics, there were also voter-registration tables and antiwar T-shirts for sale.
The festival's so successful, says Shuffitt, that not only has organizing it become co-founder Russell's full-time job, but he'd love to be hired for other events: "I'm an entrepreneur at heart. If I can use what I know to help someone else as a consultant or what have you, there's no reason not to utilize that talent." The Dude abides, man.