Bluegrass and blue skies

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, July 26, 2006

For all its indigenous musical talent, Bainbridge Island has had a decided lack of music festivals in recent memory. There are many individual concerts, including the ongoing summer concerts at Waterfront Park, but no honest-to-goodness, full-day-bring-the-whole-fam-damily sort of affair.

Enter, the tireless music organizer, Norm Johnson. He used to book the acts for the Island Music Guild before striking out on his own with Music Community Resources, which books the thrice-weekly musical acts at the Pegasus Coffeehouse.

All it took for Johnson to begin a campaign to bring a bluegrass festival to Bainbridge was a comment from his chiropractor.

“He said he really enjoyed the Foxfire concert at IMG last year, and thought that the community would enjoy hearing more bluegrass in the way of a festival,” Johnson said.

Johnson began tossing the idea around and was met with enthusiasm on all fronts.

“Everyone I approached along the line liked the idea,” he said. He rounded up about 30 volunteers and secured major sponsorship from John L. Scott Real Estate, travel planners Local Escape and Sound Reprographics.

It’s been nearly a year in the works, but Johnson, along with Wendy Tyner and the volunteers are ready to present the Bainbridge Bluegrass Festival, noon to 9 p.m. July 29 at Battle Point Park. Officially it is a joint production of Music Community Resources and Tyner & Associates Productions.

Johnson said he started booking the bands on his own, going mostly with local performers, but that people kept suggesting he contact Tyner for help. Tyner does promotions for the hugely popular Tacoma bluegrass festival, Wintergrass, and Adventure Bluegrass in Stevenson. Tyner was able to use her firsthand knowledge of the bluegrass community, and her infectious enthusiasm, to pull in some of the big names in Northwest bluegrass.

“She knows these bands really well,” Johnson said. “We have gotten much better bands than we could have, thanks to her efforts.”

“We looked at 20 to 30 bands before settling on these nine,” Tyner said. “I think it’s a nice balance between local and regional acts.”

The lineup includes local performers Andrea Good, an 11-year-old fiddle wunderkind, and banjo and hammered dulcimer duo Wes Corbett and Simon Crisman and Friends.

Also on the schedule for the all-day event are Blue Mountain Bluegrass Band, Foxfire, The Coots, Picket Range, Mollybloom, Prairie Flyer and Red Brown & The Tune Stranglers.

Another part of Johnson’s visions for the festival was to make it truly family friendly.

“Bluegrass attracts people of all ages,” he said. “It’s rhythm-driven music that is fun for everyone.”

Battle Point Park fits with the family theme, as it has a playground, duck pond and local hiking trails to entertain anyone who wants to break away from the music.

There will also be food and artists’ booths, and rides and games for youngsters, as well as tours of the historic radio transmitter building at the park. Johnson said any profits from the festival will go toward the Bainbridge Metro Parks and Recreation’s transmitter building renovation project.

Johnson said he has tried to stay away from calling this the “first” Bainbridge Bluegrass Festival, meaning more to follow, as he only intended to do it one time.

“But from the logo to the signage, people kept talking about it being an annual event,” he said, and they have already set a tentative date for next year, Aug. 4.

Johnson said what he’s looking forward to most is simply the music.

“The most rewarding part for me is just standing in the back and listening to the bands,” he said. “Just putting it together and listening to it happen.”

The (First) Bainbridge Bluegrass Festival happens from noon to 9 p.m. July 29 at Battle Point Park, 11299 Arrow Point Dr., Bainbridge Island.

Admission is $5 per person or $12 per family.

Bluegrass Festival schedule:

• Noon: The Coots, “a collection of shaggy, graying stubborn geezers who wade through old-time country and bluegrass with shocking abandon.”

• 1:05 p.m.: Foxfire, from New Mexico, is four siblings playing “high-energy bluegrass, gospel, folk and old time music.”

• 1:55 p.m.: Andrea Good, 11-year-old fiddler from Bainbridge Island, accompanied by her father, Jeff Good.

• 2:25 p.m.: Blue Mountain Bluegrass Band, with lightning fast breakdowns, lively fiddle tunes, ballads, love songs and honky tonk.

• 3:30 p.m.: Wes Corbett, Simon Chrisman and Friends, putting a new twist on bluegrass classics.

• 4:20 p.m.: Andrea Good.

• 5:55: Red Brown and the Tune Stranglers, Olympia band known to “kick out the old-school western swing like nobody’s bees wax.”

• 7 p.m.: Prairie Flyer, traveling “non-stop across the boundaries of bluegrass, folk and Americana.”

• 7:50 p.m.: Andrea Good.

• 8:25 p.m.: Picket Range, “Northern boys who love Southern tunes, playing traditional, disciplined, driving bluegrass with a modern edge.”