Next weekend Achievers from across the nation will bust out the Kahlua, smoke a J and roll on Shomer fucking Shabbos to honor Maude, Donny, and, most importantly, The Dude. March 7th, The Big Lebowski Festival comes to Chicago’s Portage Theater. The sold-out festival, like the annual Lebowski Festival held in Louisville, honors the Coen Brothers’ 1998 cult classic, The Big Lebowski.|Next weekend Achievers from across the nation will bust out the Kahlua, smoke a J and roll on Shomer fucking Shabbos to honor Maude, Donny, and, most importantly, The Dude. March 7th, The Big Lebowski Festival comes to Chicago’s Portage Theater. The sold-out festival, like the annual Lebowski Festival held in Louisville, honors the Coen Brothers’ 1998 cult classic, The Big Lebowski. Featuring two bowling nights, trivia and a screening of the film, Achievers (fans) will toast with White Russians in a weekend of zealous debauchery.

Will Russell and Scott Shuffitt co-founded the festival in 2002 and authored the wildly popular 2007 fanbook I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski. The two toss around Lebowski references as if everyone’s listening in on their trivia game. And, in fact, since the entire festival grew from Russell and Shuffitt quoting lines from Lebowski to pass time while vending merchandise for Shuffitt’s company, it seems that quite a few people are in on the game. Strangers at the various events where Russell and Shuffitt worked would join them, offering quotes and sharing their love of the film. After working a merch gig at a “ridiculous” tattoo festival, all the while quoting lines to each other and to other Achievers to wile away time, it struck Russell and Shuffitt: if there can be a ridiculous tattoo convention, why can’t there be a ridiculous Big Lebowski festival? With this thought The Lebowski festival was born.

In the summer of 2002, Russell and Shuffitt rented cheap space in a Baptist center on the bad side of Louisville for the first fest. What was meant to be a gathering of a few of their fan friends drew more than 50 people. The turnout and overwhelming fan camaraderie was a welcome surprise and inspired the duo to plan and promote another festival in Louisville the following summer.

The following year’s festival proved the depth and breadth of the nation’s Lebowski fandom. After a brief article on the festival in Spin and a swell of Internet buzz, more than 2,200 people flocked to the second fest. “It really just kinda happened to us. We had no idea how much fandom was actually out there,” says Russell.

From that initial positive response, the fest kept expanding. From Louisville came Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Austin, Seattle and now Chicago. Russell and Shuffitt began compiling pictures and facts for I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski. The book’s inspiration comes from the fans and is, like the fests themselves, created by and for the fans. Royce and Shuffitt researched the film exhaustively, travelling across the nation to track down the inspiration for all of the film’s characters. “This is one case where the film is better than the book,” Shuffitt quips.

Often described as a Star Trek convention in the idiosyncratic extent of the attendees’ fandom, the festivals, like the films, have developed an expansive cult following. “There are a group of guys that have come to two events. The first year they were ‘3000 years of beautiful tradition’ themed. I’m checking out the scene outside of the bowling just before the doors open and I see this dude dressed up like Moses and I was like, ‘okay, why is Moses here?’ It wasn’t until I saw his buddy dressed as Sandy Koufax that I got it,” Shuffitt says. “The next year those same guys came as the camel fuckers. I think it’s that kind of spirit that really makes Lebowski Fest what it is.”

That said, The Big Lebowski isn’t exactly the most accessible movie, what with all the offbeat humor, bowling and nudity. As a critical and financial disaster for The Coen brothers, the film quickly went underground for cult consumption. All the fans can’t help but be in on the joke, and that’s part of the community’s charm. The theme of “getting it” comes up a lot between Lebowski fans, the action of sharing stories about when they each truly understood the greatness of the film. Both Russell and Shuffitt didn’t “get it” at first. It took a few viewings before the Lebowski genius soaked in. “On the third time around it hit me. I thought, ‘This is so funny – it’s killing me!’ I kept re-watching it over and over again,” says Russell.

Dave Royce, a fanatic who “got it” after his first viewing, hopes to promote Lebowski fandom to the masses by filming a documentary about Chicago’s Lebowski Fest. “The support and e-mails were overwhelming to me! No one wants money or fame, they just want to talk about our favorite film and what it means to them! Lebowski fans are the best, dudette!” Royce replies in an e-mail.

This down-to-Earth, universal friendliness characterizes Russell, Shuffitt, Royce, and all of the other Lebowski fans, in real-life and on the Internet. It seems that all fans are part of one big Lebowski family, with The Dude as some kind of perverse father.

Russell met The Dude, actor Jeff Bridges, in New York City several years ago: “The Dude was so cool, genuine and down-to-Earth. He let me try on one of his Jellies. He threw his shoe across the room and said ‘Try it on!’ When I went to put it on, Jeff said ‘You gotta take your sock off, too!’ I felt the spirit of The Dude shoot right through me. It was great and a little gross.”