PORT ANGELES — Gary Sorenson couldn’t stand to see his beloved Jazz in the Olympics Festival go down the drain, so he has stepped back in to take charge.
Three years ago, the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce agreed to take over running the three-day festival, which has been held every April for the last 11 years, but chamber Executive Director Russ Veenema announced in early May the chamber no longer wanted the job.
Sorenson, Jazz in the Olympics Society director, said he stepped down as festival organizer because he was tired.
“At the end of the 2007 festival, I told the board I was out of gas,” Sorenson said.
No one in the group was willing to take on the task of organizing the festival, which draws audiences from across the country for a long spring weekend of Dixieland jazz.
“There was no one to take my place, so we [the festival board] offered it to the chamber. It’s been comfortable just being an attendee.”
At the May Chamber of Commerce meeting, Veenema cited declining attendance and increasing costs as key factors in the decision to pull out of the festival.
Veenema told those in attendance at May’s meeting that this year’s festival saw an 8 percent to 10 percent decline in attendance, although exact figures were not available.
Veenema, who was on vacation and could not be reached Friday, also said, “We have to pay for the bands and their lodging and travel, and those costs could skyrocket.
“If that were to happen and [we] still did not have the attendance to make up for it, we could be in the red very fast. We are not in a position that we can financially do that.”
Jim Hallett, Chamber of Commerce president, said the chamber took the festival “in perpetuity.”
“After the first year, we realized it took more staff time than we anticipated,” he said.
“The second year was a little better, but not enough.”
The board decided the festival was of limited local interest and not financially beneficial to the chamber.
“We were not in it for the money, but we can’t afford a loss either,” Hallett, a financial planner, said. “It just doesn’t pencil out.”
The Jazz in the Olympics Society dissolved its membership after turning the festival over to the chamber but still maintains a board of directors.
“When they announced this would be the last festival, some of us thought that would be a shame,” Sorenson said.
“This festival is recognized as one of the finest traditional jazz festivals in the nation. We hire bands that are the finest examples of New Orleans-style jazz in the nation.”
And it wasn’t just the festival circling the drain — Jazz in the Olympics is charged with supporting endeavors to further traditional jazz.
Jazz for youth
The largest project is an annual summer camp for young jazz musicians held at Camp David Jr. on Lake Crescent.
Each year, the festival is able to fund 40 local musical campers at $550 each, who are joined by up to 40 more campers from across the country.
Jazz in the Olympics also fosters The Jazz in the Olympics Dixielanders Youth Band, which performs locally and at the festival.
Sorenson said the lineup for next year’s festival is already set, as bands need to be booked a year in advance.
“It was nearly all set up when the chamber backed out,” he said.
Willard Gatlin will continue as music director, while Sorenson’s wife, Pat, will be in charge of volunteers and the treasury.
“It’s a hands-on, full-time job for the three of us right now,” he said.
The Sorensons will cut short their winter time in California to return to run the festival.
Jazz in the Olympics typically is held at four venues in Port Angeles. This year’s venues were the Vern Burton Community Center, the Port Angeles City Council chambers, the Elks Lodge and the Eagles Club.
At next year’s festival, the Red Lion Inn will return to the lineup, replacing the Elks Lodge.
There will also be a pre-festival kickoff concert at 7 Cedars Casino featuring the Titanic Jazz Band from California.
Sorenson estimated annual attendance at around 2,500 or 3,000 with up to 1,000 people seated or dancing at all venues at any one time during the festival.
Pointing to his own thinning hair, he cited an aging Dixieland jazz fan base as a major factor in declining attendance.
“The age group with an affinity for this music is getting smaller,” he said, and he wishes they could attract younger people.
“If they came, they would see this is happy music. It’s foot-tapping, feel-good music,” he said.
“It’s one thing to listen to music on the stereo or car radio, it’s another thing to listen to live music being played by a band.”
He also estimated that at least 80 percent of the audience comes from off the North Olympic Peninsula, but that organizers would like to see more locals attending the home-grown festival.
“We’d make them happy — a day of this is like taking a bottle of vitamins.”
Hallett said the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce is committed to helping the group that takes over the festival.
Anyone interested in volunteering for Jazz in the Olympics 2011, April 1 through 3, can phone Sorenson at 360-681-6143.
________
Features Editor Marcie Miller can be reached at 360-417-3550 or marcie.miller@peninsuladailynews.com.
