The Sub Pop Silver Jubilee was about the best-organized and best-managed festival I’ve seen in many a day.

And it was all free, and (except for one stage) all-ages.

Not that there weren’t people you could give money to.

All up and down the closed-off Airport Way “hip strip” in Georgetown were food trucks, T-shirt stands, and a few chosen charitable causes. One of them was the Parkinson’s Foundation, fighting the disease Sub Pop cofounder Jonathan Poneman now faces.

You don’t need me to tell you all that was there. There was a “pop up” (temporary) revival of the Sub Pop Mega Mart retail store. There were photo and poster exhibitions., DJ sets, and panel discussions.

And there was live music well into the evening on four stages. They ranged from the label’s new stars, such as THEESatisfaction (above),…

…to some of the label’s original acts, such as Tad Doyle (above left), just as grindingly-heavy as ever with his current outfit Brothers of the Sonic Cloth.

For an indie record label to have survived 25 years to today’s Age of Disruption is an amazing thing. Especially for a label that almost died at least three times in its early days.

And the Silver Jubilee, a combo of a street fair and an outdoor concert festival, was as near a perfect day as could be made.

For a few brief hours, it seems like garage-y guitar rock was still the “sound of young America” and a beacon to the future.