COYLE — The Concerts in the Woods series will step outdoors this weekend with an Outdoor Concert on the Grass at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and a Square Dance on the Grass at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Both will be at the Laurel B. Johnson Community Center at 923 Hazel Point Road. Admission will be by donation.
Visitors are urged to bring their own lawn chairs or picnic blankets to the outdoor performance of the Olympic Express Big Band on Saturday. No seating will be provided.
The performance by the 14-member big band is the first time in the eight-year history of the Concerts in the Woods series that an outdoor concert has been attempted, said Norm Johnson, series organizer.
“We are hoping for good weather that evening,” Johnson said. “We are very excited to hear this huge band sound in our outdoor space.”
The Olympic Express repertoire covers classic top hits from the early 1900s to the present, including big-band swing, standards, business man’s bounces, Dixieland, rock ’n’ roll, jazz, Motown and boogie-woogie.
The band formed in 2008 in Port Angeles and has “that unmistakable ‘big band’ sound created by gathering some of the finest players on the Olympic Peninsula,” Johnson said.
Band members are Steve Lingle, band leader and baritone sax; Signe Crawford, sax and flute; Kevin MacCartney, sax, congas; Dick Thorson, sax; Al Thompson, sax; Joey Lazzaro, trumpet; Kris Grier, trumpet; Doug Brundage, trumpet; Bonnie Booth, trombone; Angie Tabor, drums; Mark Schecter, keys; Elaine Gardner Morales, bass; Brian Douglas, guitar; and Jessie Lee Spicher, vocalist.
Complimentary cookies and coffee will be served at intermission.
On Sunday, the community center will host a square dance on the grass in front of the picnic shelter in anticipation of Fourth of July.
Live music will be performed by a group of musicians from Centrum’s “Festival of American Fiddle Tunes Workshop,” which is held in Port Townsend every July.
The band will be the Coyley Coyotes, with Howie Meltzer on fiddle, Nancy Katz on bass and banjo, Terry Weiner on mandolin and John Hatton on guitar.
David Tilke will be the caller.
Refreshments will be served at intermission.
Hosts will be Norm and Sol Johnson of Music Community Resources of Coyle.
For more information about the Olympic Express Big Band, see www. olympicexpressbigband.biz.
For more about the Concerts in the Woods series, see www.coyleconcerts.com.
For more about Music Community Resources, call 360-765-3449.
