"If giving away T-shirts is an accurate way to estimate attendees, then at least 750 people made the trip to Linuxfest Northwest in Bellingham, Wash., last weekend. Linuxfest Northwest 2005 continued the conference's strong focus on highly technical presentations--this is not a vendor-centric event.
"The all-volunteer, grassroots festival is held annually on the Bellingham Technical College campus. The college provides facilities for the event at no charge. Mark Ashworth, a Linuxfest volunteer, explained that the low overhead allows the event to be free to the public and also helps make it all about the technology. Funds are raised through a raucous raffle at the end of the day, and also from the $100 donations that are requested of exhibitors. Ashworth said there are about half a dozen key volunteer organizers and 30 more student volunteers who help out on the day of the festival. '[It's an] all volunteer staff. We're not paid at all,' he said..."
