PORT ANGELES — Juan de Fuca was a Greek and an explorer, a man who made much of his short time on Earth in the 16th century.
It fits, then, that Port Angeles, this harbor beside the Strait of Juan de Fuca, has a spring festival for modern-day musical explorers.
The 22nd annual Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts converges on the city today through Monday, unfurling some 40 performing acts, dance lessons and magic and comedy shows, all on a half-dozen stages of varying size.
And as always, the street fair wraps around the Vern Burton Community Center with scores of artisans, live entertainment and food and drink.
The music travels from soul and rhythm and blues to flamenco and folk rock, and from local bands to the far-flung.
And for one more year — 2016’s festival is slated to move to Port Angeles’ waterfront park — the venues include the Vern Burton Community Center, the Elks Naval Lodge, the Chamber Stage and, returning this year, the Masonic Lodge.
“The Juan de Fuca Festival is genuinely one of my favorites that I’ve ever performed at,” said Halie Loren, the singer who will open the event at 5 p.m. today at the Vern Burton.
She’s been here twice before and found it a heady time, as a performer and as an audience member.
“I was amazed,” Loren said, “that a small festival can bring in so much variety,” on stages like no other.
Loren and her trio have played the snug Chamber Stage, which during the rest of the year is the Port Angeles City Council chambers.
“I love that,” she said.
“How often do you get to do something like this?”
Loren and her trio, with Mark Schneider on stand-up bass and Matt Treder on piano, will then do a Juan de Fuca After Hours show at downtown’s Kokopelli Grill tonight. Their 10:30 p.m. performance is one of six After Hours gigs tonight, Saturday and Sunday night at two venues: Kokopelli and the Metta Room, which is across Front Street.
Saturday starts with a 10:30 a.m. yoga class with Amelia Andaleon, and forges ahead with 17 shows on four stages. Performers include Eric and Encarnacion’s Flamenco Duo, the soul singer LeRoy Bell, the Transcendental Brass Band, the Robin Bessier Trio, magician Joey Pipia and It’s a Beautiful Day, the band known for its 1969 hit “White Bird.”
Among the acts making a Juan de Fuca debut is the March Fourth band, a 17-member bunch of musicians, dancers and stilt-walkers. John Averill and friends formed the group 12 years ago for a March 4 Mardi Gras party. It was supposed to be a one-off, Averill recalled, but the party’s still going on.
The name used to be the March Fourth Marching Band, but Averill and crew have dropped the last two words.
“It’s like a modern-day big band . . . a high-energy funky dance party, really, with theatrical elements. It’s very entertaining. People seeing it for the first time aren’t sure what to do,” he said. Dancing is good, but so is watching, since there’s plenty to see.
March Fourth will take the Vern Burton stage at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, wrapping up a day that will also see shows by Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys, Achilles Wheel, Joy in Mudville, Rose’s Pawn Shop, Hot Club Sandwich, Wild Rabbit, the Frazey Ford Band and the Redwood Tango Ensemble, among other acts.
The festival’s fourth and final day is Blues Monday. That means six bands and many more kinds of blue, all unfolding at the Vern Burton and Chamber Stage.
Out-of-towners include the Stacy Jones Band and David Jacobs-Strain with Bob Beach, while the local scene is represented by FarmStrong, Joy in Mudville and PufnStuff featuring Mike Pace and Ches Ferguson.
The final act at 3:45 p.m. is prototypical blues brother Curtis Salgado, along with his band.
“No disrespect, but I play rhythm and blues,” Salgado said in an interview from his Portland, Ore., home. The blues is Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, while what Salgado does is funk, soul and rock ’n’ roll. They’re R&B’s children.
Salgado, who opened last year’s Juan de Fuca Festival, said he’s honored to be asked back. He’s been making music for a good
40 years now, has survived cancer three times — and still feels that buzz when he starts to sing.
“I could be not feeling well. But you step up on stage, and your body kicks in and starts creating the right chemicals,” he said.
The festival experience, Salgado added, is good for the public health.
“Music is one positive thing,” he said, “that people do for one another.”
