St. Helens Bluegrass Fest is expected to draw large crowd for the 32nd annual event.
A sellout crowd of over 200 people filled the Veterans Memorial Museum in February to see Whiskey Deaf play its renowned bluegrass music.
Like a pyroclastic flow, the annual Mount St. Helens Bluegrass Festival is fast approaching. This year will mark the 32nd incarnation of the yearly gathering of traditional music makers and revelers in Toledo.
The festival, which will run Aug. 12-14, will be headlined by Kentucky’s own bluegrass stalwart Sammy Adkins and his Sandy Hook Mountain Boys. Adkins spent four years as lead vocalist and guitarist in the late bluegrass great Ralph Stanley’s band before starting his own group in the 1990’s.
Four popular West Coast acts will join Adkins and his band, including Whiskey Deaf, a band featuring IBMA award-winning fiddler Annie Staninec. Staninec has recently been playing shows at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas for Rod Stewart’s band.
As usual, the show will be held outside at Toledo High School with the main stage set up next to a wooded tree line.
“It’s a great place to watch a show,” said Washington Bluegrass Association President General Cothren, of Winlock, in a press release. “We have a few rows of chairs set up in front of the stage and a set of bleachers set back toward the trees. Lots of people bring their own lawn chairs, too, and the whole setup has worked out well for us over the years.”
The schedule for this year’s event has five bands performing regular sets on the first two days plus a special gospel show on Sunday morning in the commons area inside the high school.
Most of the bands will perform more than one set over the weekend, with four sets scheduled for Friday, Aug. 12, and a full eight sets set for Saturday. The lineup for the gospel show has not been finalized yet.
“We try to spread the sets out a little so people who can’t come on Friday night and miss one band they wanted to see can still come out Saturday and see that band perform,” explained Cothren in the release. “It’s been a good deal for both the bands and the fans.”
Other acts slated to perform at the bluegrass festival include California-based bands the Central Valley Boys and the all female Hossettes. Fern Hill and Whiskey Deaf both hail from Oregon.
“This is a great lineup,” insisted Cothren in the release. “It’s sort of like the 1927 Yankees batting order … There isn’t a weak spot anywhere.”
Other events at the festival will include a band scramble, various workshops, a quilting room, food concessions and prize drawings. Tickets will be $20 to the Friday and Saturday night sets, with all-day passes available for $25 and weekend passes available for $35. Additionally, dry camping is available on the school grounds. A three-day pass costs $25.
For more information, or to purchase tickets in advance, contact Cothren at (360) 785-3478 or WBA board member Jamie Guenther at (360) 880-9667.
