LebowskiFest 2010

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from Louisville Courier-Journal

This year's Lebowski Fest was a testament to how much "The Dude abides" in so many of the movie's fans.

The ninth annual weekend festival, which is based on the 1998 comedy "The Big Lebowski," staring Jeff Bridges as Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, brought two fans together in Louisville from about 2,500 miles apart.

Mike Barrett, 57, flew from Portland, Ore. to attend the festival and visit his friend Harry Bell, 59, of Ashland, Ky. Barrett said he and Bell are doctors and longtime friends from their years as residents at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, NY.

"For the past month, (Mike and I) have been texting each other various quotes from the movie. It's been fun," said Bell, who dressed as the film's narrator -- also known as "The Stranger" and played by Sam Elliott.

Barrett, who came as "The Dude," said Saturday at Executive Strike & Spare that the unifying theme of the festival is the attendees and the atmosphere they create when they get together.

Edd Easton-Hogg, 30, said the festival draws in people who live out the ideologies from the movie.

"It's a chilled-out atmosphere." he said. "You don't have anything to worry about. There's no 'weird' here."

Josh Nutting, 29, said this was his first time attending the festival but that he loves the movie. To show it, he has "The Dude" tattooed on his left arm and the faces of the movie's characters on his right arm.

Richard Sattich, 59, who won second place in last year's costume contest as the Malibu Chief of Police, said he has been to every festival since the second one.

"I just got hooked on watching the movie and picking up on the details," he said. He added that he spent 2 1/2 months transcribing the movie's script, which is on the Lebowski Fest website.

Will Russell, 33, one of the festival's creators, said the strangest thing he has seen at the event happened when some guys from Cleveland brought the ashes of a late relative in a Folgers coffee can -- the way one of the movie's character's Donnie was laid to rest -- and entered him in the costume contest. Russell recalled that they won second place.

Scott Shuffitt, 37, who also helped create the festival, said the duo has begun organizing a 10th annual event and have high hopes for it.

"We are hoping to get some people here that the crowd would like to see," Shuffitt said.

Both founders said they never imagined the festival would become so popular. It has now taken place in 16 U.S. cities and the United Kingdom.

Shuffitt said they will continue doing the festivals as long as people enjoy them.

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I'm off to abide. (A 'Dude' smilie right here would've been awesome.)