QUILCENE — Two one-day mini music festivals are scheduled at the Quilcene Lantern this weekend.
On Saturday, Olympickin’ will bring together bluegrass acts from around the region. On Sunday, Quietly mini music fest will host a collection of folk-pop songwriters.
The Olympic Peninsula hasn’t had a bluegrass festival for 15 or so years since Snow Grass, which was hosted at Port Angeles High School, said Joey Gish, who organized the event.
“It’s a fun style of music, especially fun to listen to live,” Gish said. “It’s very fast. People are improvising licks and solos all the time, so each performance is totally different. You never hear the same thing twice.”
Olympickin’ tickets cost $30 and can be purchased at tinyurl.com/k5zv6duw. Camping is available for $15, and parking costs $5.
Union City Council will open the festival about 2:30 p.m., followed by Rattlin’ Bones, Rainshadow Stringband and Robert Sarazin Blake.
At 6 p.m., Bex Bee and the Old Growth All-Stars will lead a square dance.
Following the dance will be Hemlock Revival, Sweater Weather Stringband and Fog Holler.
Festival hosts Sweater Weather Stringband, with whom Gish plays fiddle, will debut a new song called “Cookie Pants.”
The band also will play a song Gish wrote about a beaver living in his backyard.
Gish said the festival is a reflection of connections. Bergen de Koch, one of the Lantern’s owners, used to live in his house for about a year before the venue opened.
Robert Sarazin Blake will be joined by Matt Sircely of Port Townsend.
Sarazin Blake runs the Subdued Stringband Jamboree in Bellingham, which Gish has attended for years. He’s met others on the schedule through his life in music.
Gish has been consistently and sometimes dizzyingly busy playing music in a number of bands.
“I’ve been playing music on the Peninsula for about 20 years now,” he said.
Gish played in Abby Mae and the Homeschool Boys among other groups.
Olympickin’ will start at 10 a.m. with a free bike ride leaving at 11 a.m. and running 25 miles round-trip to Linger Longer beach and back. The route is moderate; beginners may find it challenging, while regular riders will enjoy a solid cruise, Gish said.
Gish, a longtime avid cyclist, said the obsession has only ramped up of late. Recently he set the record for the Olympic 420 Adventure route.
“Lately I’ve realized you can bike with other humans,” he joked. “That’s a recent discovery.”
Tacos by Lambros will be for sale.
The festival will include kegs of beer from Port Angeles’ Mighty Pine and Port Townsend’s Social Fabric breweries.
The festival will include areas for jamming, even during the performances.
Quietly! music fest
Quietly! Mini music fest is an extension of musician Zach Alva’s booking company Quietly Music.
Alva has previously booked shows or tours for a number of the artists on the program. Alva said he knows it can be hard to entrust something like a tour to someone else.
“It means a lot that they would trust me,” he said. “I want to celebrate this feeling of friendship and music and people that have trusted me.”
The festival will open at noon on Sunday. Tickets are $30 plus fees and can be purchased at tinyurl.com/kbnjakab.
Camping is available for $15 and parking costs $5.
Music will start at 2 p.m.
Nick Delffs will open the festival, followed by Westmoreland, Erisy Watt, Jeremy James Meyer, Sharon Silva, St. Yuma, LAKE — who will play a duo set — and Damien Jurado.
Quietly Music started organically following Alva’s move from Dallas to Seattle.
“When I moved to Seattle, I had all these friends from Texas and elsewhere reaching out, like, ‘Hey, we’re passing through the Northwest, like, will you help us put some shows together?’” Alva said. “I love saying yes to my friends. That turned into me helping plan like five different tours at a time.”
The festival is a family affair. In addition to opening the day under his music name Westmoreland, Alva will join his brother Steven Alva on the bass in St. Yuma.
Caylynn Alva, Alva’s sister, will be giving tattoos during the festival.
Alva also plays bass with Damien Jurado, the event’s headliner.
After playing with him in January 2024, Alva shared with Jurado that his dad Rudy Alva, who died in 2021, was a huge fan and had met the songwriter several times after shows.
Alva said Jurado remembered his dad said he would prioritize talking with him for as long as possible. He reached out to Alva’s family following his dad’s death.
On Monday, Alva released a full-length record — “I Got This Feeling In Bakersfield” — which Jurado worked on.
Photographed on the cover is Alva, shoulders wide and looking proud, with a yellow pin on his chest. He looks like he’s running for city council. On the pin is the name of the record. Alva found the pin in a Seattle thrift store.
Having grown up in Bakersfield, he found it interesting and bought it.
“I was like, ‘Oh, that’s funny. I’m gonna buy that for a dollar,’” Alva said. “It kind of sat with me and I was like, ‘I got this feeling in Bakersfield. What would that feeling be?’ Because I grew up there and I have weird feelings about Bakersfield, right? So it kind of led me down this path of like writing some songs that kind of weirdly tied in with that theme. Thoughts about my family, some grief and loss.”
Alva describes himself as a sentimental guy. He’s generally happy, but he said he likes sitting with sadness and likes to listen to sad music, even when he’s happy.
In his music are subtle bits of sonic humor. He indulges cheesy riffs, he said, to resist the sad songwriter trope.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Quitely! mini music fest event organizer Zach Alva will perform as Westmoreland then play bass with St. Yuma and Damien Jurado on Sunday.
