PORT ANGELES — Live music, dance, food and drink from across the Pacific Northwest will return to four stages — indoors and outdoors — during the 29th annual Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts this Friday through Sunday.
In the first 100 percent in-person fest since 2019, the traditional free, public street fair will surround the event’s hub: the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St.
Open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. all three days, the fair ranges from art to toys to teas and gourmet food from regional makers, said Kyle LeMaire, executive director of the Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts, which presents the festival.
An outdoor stage with local performers, the Community Tent showcasing local organizations and yoga on the lawn are also part of the free street fair, LeMaire noted.
Poser Yoga of Port Angeles will lead yoga classes at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday on the grass outside the community center.
As for the more than 40 music and dance acts, performances will start at 6 p.m. Friday and at 11:30 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday, and they continue until 10 p.m. all three nights at the indoor venues.
They are the traditional ones: the Vern Burton Main Stage, the adjacent Chamber Stage and the Elks Naval Lodge ballroom, 131 E. First St. Single-day tickets at the gate are $30 for Friday and $45 for Saturday and Sunday.
Full festival passes are $100 general and $50 for students, while youngsters 14 and younger are admitted free throughout the Juan de Fuca Festival.
The full pass includes a drink ticket for the beverage garden and $5 off a festival T-shirt designed by local artist Lindsay Smithberg, LeMaire noted.
For information about the festival lineup, added after-hours shows, street fair vendors and festival workshops, see JFFA.org or phone the foundation office at 360-457-5411.
Among Friday’s highlights are the Port Angeles-based Chandra Johnson and the Homeschool Boys and the Seattle soul and blues singer Lady A with her band.
At noon Saturday and Sunday, Ballet Victoria’s dancers, who have performed at many Juan de Fuca festivals, return to the Elks ballroom.
Saturday brings a full day and night of music, including Rose’s Pawn Shop, the Shook Twins, Country Lips and The Shift, one of the festival’s bands from the Port Townsend area.
On Sunday, another local band, the Backwoods Hucksters, will step up. So will an additional dozen acts, including the zydeco ensemble the New Iberians, singer-songwriter John Craigie and the Port Angeles Symphony String Quartet.
“Our goal is to put together a fun concert including familiar music and a diversity of styles, while giving our audience the feeling of a spring serenade,” said Quartet violinist Jory Noble.
“We are looking forward to serenading our Peninsula neighbors.”
For more about the fest and the Juan de Fuca Foundation’s offerings through the year, see JFFA.org or see the foundation’s Facebook page.
Ballet Victoria’s dancers will return to the Elks Naval Lodge ballroom, one of the four stages in this weekend’s Juan de Fuca Festival in Port Angeles. (Diane Urbani de la Paz)
