PORT ANGELES — Whether you want to do the Argentine tango, try a contra dance, learn the swing or try a little of everything, this weekend’s Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts is here for you.
And besides some 80 performances and six stages open to pass holders, there are free outdoor events, including shows for children in the Turtle Tent, a New Orleans-style parade and the 60-vendor Street Fair.
This is the 22nd annual Juan de Fuca Festival, opening at noon Friday at and around the Vern Burton Community Center, its hub at Fourth and Peabody streets.
The free Street Fair is a spread of art, gifts and sustenance from vendors such as Bangkok Bistro, Maggie May’s Espresso and Olympic Mountain Ice Cream.
It attracts about 15,000 people over the four-day event, said Dan Maguire, the festival’s executive director.
The fair stays open until 7 p.m. Friday. Its hours are from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday.
This year, a beer and wine garden is part of the fair, as is an audience-participation parade Saturday.
The Transcendental Brass Band from Portland, Ore., will strike up at noon out in front of the Vern Burton, inviting everyone to join in and let the good times roll.
For kids, storyteller-puppeteer-singer Alleyoop, also known as Al Hirsch, will set up the Turtle Theater tent.
Yes, it’s a roomy turtle-shaped tent in the Vern Burton’s front yard, where he’ll do four free shows both Saturday and Sunday: at noon, 1:30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The Juan de Fuca Festival tradition is a family-friendly one, with free admission for children 12 and younger.
But it has its grown-up attractions, too, including blues, bluegrass, Americana, jazz, folk, funk and rock ‘n’ roll from across North America.
Nearly 40 groups will step onto festival stages between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Monday.
A full-festival pass, at $70, covers everything indoors: the shows at the main Vern Burton venue; intimate concerts at the adjacent Chamber Stage; tango, swing and contra dance lessons at the Masonic Lodge, 622 S. Lincoln St.; and more shows at the Elks Naval Lodge, 131 E. First St.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday night bring After Hours shows — at 10:30 p.m. — at Kokopelli Grill, 203 E. Front St., and the Metta Room, 132 E. Front St.
Single-day tickets are available, too, at $25 for Friday, $30 each for Saturday and Sunday, and $20 for Monday’s shows.
All tickets are sold at the Vern Burton and via www.JFFA.org.
Maguire, who has spent the past seven months booking these acts, aims for a festival of discovery.
Come for the bands you’ve not heard of yet, he advises; that’s the spirit of the thing.
The Everyone Orchestra, a big band billed as an “improvisational musical adventure” from Portland, Ore., is one of the six acts performing Friday night.
Saturday brings soul singer LeRoy Bell, the Redwood Tango Ensemble from California and Eric and Encarnación’s Flamenco Duo from Spain via Seattle.
Festival-goers of a certain age will recognize It’s a Beautiful Day, the San Francisco band famed for its 1969 hit “White Bird.”
The group, led by David LaFlamme, will bring its classic cuts and new music to the Vern Burton at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
Local bands are many, too: FarmStrong, the Robin Bessier Trio, Joy in Mudville, PufnStuff, Twisted Roots and Hot Club Sandwich will take the stages Friday night through Monday.
Also in Friday night’s lineup are the Dusty 45s, a nationally known roots-rock band based in Seattle.
Billy Joe Huels, the band’s horn player, singer and songwriter, likes to light his trumpet on fire — turning it into “a big Zippo lighter,” as he calls it.
Aside from the blazing music, “there are no explosions involved,” Huels said, adding that he’s had no mishaps since launching the horn-aflame technique back when the Dusty 45s were brand-new in 1997.
The quartet will take the stage at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Vern Burton for its first set; then it’s on to the Metta Room for a Festival After Hours set starting at 10:30 p.m. — and “it’s more than just great music. The band’s very engaging,” Huels said.
That’s the feeling Maguire is going for with the whole Juan de Fuca experience.
The festival is considerably smaller than many on the West Coast, so venues are less crowded and performers are seen out mingling with the audience.
For plentiful details about the performers, start times, venues and Street Fair, see the Juan de Fuca Festival program available outside the Vern Burton and at the festival’s downtown venues. Information also awaits at www.JFFA.org.
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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.
