Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The first annual Palouse Music Festival will be at the Palouse Park Saturday, its debut an extension of the Palouse Bluegrass Festival which was started by volunteer Heidi Kite.
The Palouse Arts Council, Chamber of Commerce and Palouse Community Center are working to produce the festival.
The new musical mode will expand the bluegrass motif into string jazz, blues, Irish and American Folk.
“It’s diverse, but local,” said Paul Smith, member of the Palouse Arts Council and one of the performers.
Beargrass, a bluegrass act from Deary, Idaho, will keep the original theme.
Among other new elements this year will be t-shirts for sale by the Palouse Arts Council, a change in ticketing and “Merchant Madness” sales on Main Street.
The t-shirts read “Local is the New Awesome: Palouse Music Festival.”
Instead of tickets or stamped hands for spectators this year, wrist bracelets will be sold.
“We thought it would be easier than in years past,” said Shondra Bohn, president of the arts council.
Starting at 10 a.m., the businesses in Palouse will begin “Merchant Madness” sales along Main Street, offering specials and discounts.
While the sales run downtown, food and music will be the draw in Hayton-Greene Park.
Volunteers from the Palouse Community Center group will pull pork on Friday evening for the first of two pigs to be roasted. The second pig will go onto the spit Saturday during the festival.
Barbecue sandwiches will be served beginning at 4 p.m., along with coleslaw and Palouse Day beans.
To go with the pork, the beer garden will make another appearance, hosted by the Community Center, with beer provided by Paradise Creek Brewery.
Proceeds from the pig roast and beer garden will go to the community center.
There will also be Lions Club hamburgers for sale along with craft vendors on the grass.
Accompanying the food is the music, booked by the arts council.
“It wasn’t very long before we kicked the idea around and we jumped on it,” said Smith, of the time after Kite let it be known that she would not be putting on the bluegrass festival this year.
The council was in a good position to contribute, Smith said, following the disappointment of their effort to buy the Palouse Grange Hall last summer.
The years-long project, which included upgrading the hall, claimed much of the council’s funds.
“To really do this right, you have to go to musicians and say, ‘We’ll pay you X amount of money to play,” said Smith. “You can’t do that unless you have money in the bank.”
All together, aside from handling acts, the arts council will take care of the stage, run the sound people and the gate.
Music will begin at 11 a.m. and runs until 8 p.m.
“We’re ready to roll. We’re really excited,” said Bohn.
“It was too good of an event to let it die,” added Smith.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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