PORT ANGELES — Opening night was long — longer than planned — but when Saturday came, so did blazing sunlight and bright sound, flowing across stages indoors and out.
The 19th annual Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts began Friday evening, with a dozen shows on six stages: from local bands such as Abby Mae & the Homeschool Boys and San Francisco’s Blame Sally to Thomas Mapfumo of Zimbabwe.
Those last two were to play the main stage at the Vern Burton Community Center, with Mapfumo and his band, the Blacks Unlimited, slated at 7 p.m. and Blame Sally at 8:30 p.m. Friday.
But a bit before 7 p.m., Mapfumo and company phoned festival director Dan Maguire to say they had gotten stuck in traffic en route from Seattle; the band ended up taking the stage about an hour and a half late.
Many festival-goers were in Port Angeles to see Mapfumo, so Maguire had the band do their set, though it meant Blame Sally would come on much later.
The all-woman band got up there rocked until around 11:30 p.m., Maguire said the next morning.
At the same time, the Juan de Fuca Festival After Hours sets also filled four downtown venues with music.
Mapfumo was at the Elks Naval Lodge, Abby Mae at the CrabHouse and the Canadian cabaret band Maria in the Shower at Bar N9ne.
And at Bella Italia, hot jazz and Western swing were on tap from the Two Man Gentlemen Band, aka Fuller Condon and Andy Bean from Los Angeles.
“They were out of this world,” said Jerry Freilich, a festival fan and volunteer.
“They were my kind of music,” as in vintage swing on upright bass and guitar — and not something Freilich can hear in Port Angeles very often.
“Every year [at the festival], there’s a band that becomes the talk of the town,” he added.
A few years back, it was Haugaard & Hoirup, a Danish duo whose CD Freilich bought at the festival — and whose music he can now enjoy any old time on his iPhone.
Saturday at 11:30 a.m. brought Blame Sally back to the festival grounds for an intimate concert for the Juan de Fuca Festival’s members.
The reception and performance, held in the Port Angeles City Council chambers — known as the Chamber Stage this weekend — was a thank-you for supporters who have helped keep the festival alive for nearly two decades now.
“We have more revenue from contributions than from ticket sales,” Maguire said. “We always want to tell [members] how much we appreciate them.”
Next door to the Chamber Stage on Saturday morning, the Vern Burton center filled up with a whole lot of sound, courtesy of the Stevens Middle School Jazz Band, a festival tradition.
Then the day played out with some 25 more performances, including one by Baka Beyond, the Afro-Celtic band that Helen Catlett of Santa Rosa, Calif., wanted to see Saturday night.
Saturday afternoon found her relaxing amid the sun’s rays with a latte-chip ice-cream cone.
“I love the artwork and the jewelry,” Catlett said, referring to the wares available at the festival street fair outside the Vern Burton center.
One vendor is artist Johnny Rickenbacher of Port Angeles, who said Saturday that life, and sales, have been good so far.
Along with Doug Parent and Jeff Tocher, Rickenbacher creates live paintings during the evening concerts on the main stage.
This festival experience is pure thrill, he said. “The energy in the room — I’m getting it from both sides,” from the dancing audience and from the band on stage.
Rickenbacher and his fellow performance painters will be on the scene again tonight, as Michael Shrieve, Santana’s drummer at Woodstock, and his band, Spellbinder, arrive at the Vern Burton center.
Their 7 p.m. show will be followed at 8:30 p.m. by Allen Stone, a young soul singer who’s coming to Port Angeles straight from Sasquatch!, the Northwest’s largest music festival, held at The Gorge Amphitheater.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
