PORT ANGELES — Music lovers might see some familiar faces at the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts this year as several local bands are featured in this year’s four-day event.
The 25th annual Juan de Fuca Festival starts today and runs through Monday, with the main festival grounds at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St., in Port Angeles.
The Main Stage and Chamber Stage are at the Vern Burton Center. The Elks Ballroom stage and Elks Stage 2 are in the Naval Elks building, 131 E. First St.
The festival is one of the many productions of the Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts, and the Memorial Day weekend event includes an artisan street fair, student art show and children’s activities in addition to a large lineup of bands playing all weekend long.
Some locals bands playing at this year’s event are Chandra Johnson & the Homeschool Boys (formerly known as Abby Mae & the Homeschool Boys), High Divide, Grandpa’s Grandkids and Joy in Mudville.
Chandra Johnson, lead vocalist and one of the fiddle players for The Homeschool Boys, as well as a well-known band member of The Sam Chase and Crushwater, said the band regrouped and first played together for a couple’s wedding last summer and then debuted as a band for a show with Seattle singer and songwriter Eli West at Calvary Chapel Sequim in December.
Johnson said the band’s music, “combines the timeless tradition of old-time music with Gaelic, blues and gospel.”
She said the band members, featuring Port Angeles locals Hadyen Pomeroy (bass, back up and lead vocals) and Curry Winborn (drums and keys) and Sequim natives Joey Gish (fiddle) and David Rivers (guitar, banjo, drums and vocals) have all been friends for a long time.
“It’s always a real honor because all of us grew up in Port Angeles or Sequim and all of us have been going to the festival our entire lives,” Johnson said.
For this group, the event will be more like a homecoming, she said.
“It’s always a treat getting to play for friends and the community,” she said. “It’s a different kind of experience seeing the people you know and love.”
Johnson & the Homeschool Boys will perform at 8:15 tonight at the chamber stage and at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, also at the chamber stage. The band also will play an after-hours showcase at 10:30 p.m. Saturday at New Moon in Port Angeles.
Kevin Munro of High Divide also shares Johnson’s sentiments after growing up in the area.
“I’ve been going [to Juan de Fuca Festival] every year since I was a child,” Munro said. “I personally feel like it was a formative place for my musical ambitions.”
High Divide, named after a ridge line in the Olympic Mountains, said in one word its music could best be described as “Americana” drawing from traditional folk, bluegrass and rock ’n’ roll genres with its own spin and original songs.
The band’s members — singers and guitarists Forrest Gilchrist and Munro, with percussionist Josh Langland — all started playing music together in high school and later moved to Seattle, where they recorded their first album one year ago.
This is the second consecutive year High Divide will perform at the Juan de Fuca Fest and Munro said the group is gearing up to play a variety of original music and some covers.
“It feels pretty special to play there and be invited back again,” Munro said.
High Divide will perform at 3 p.m. Monday at the chamber stage.
Other local bands include Grandpa’s Grankids, featuring Enoch Bowlby (guitar and vocals), Jacob Wright (bass) Collin McAvinchey (mandolin) Andy Hokit (banjo) Ashley Reis (vocals) and Eric Tonnenson (guitar and vocals), and Joy in Mudville.
Grandpa’s Grankids perform at 1:45 p.m. Monday at the chamber stage while Joy in Mudville is set to play at 5:15 tonight at the main stage and 4:15 p.m. Monday at the chamber stage.
For more information about Juan de Fuca, visit http://jffa.org/.
Chandra Johnson, center, and the Homeschool Boys, including Joey Gish, left, Hadyen Pomeroy, David Rivers and Curry Winborn are a mixed group of Port Angeles and Sequim natives who will perform at the Juan de Fuca Festival tonight and Saturday in Port Angeles.
