Jackstraw band
The Portland band Jackstraw will headline the first ever Kootenai River Bluegrass Festival this summer. Photo courtesy Kootenai Valley Record.
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Bluegrass festival announced
Kootenai River Bluegrass Festival in Troy, July 18, 19 & 20
by Kootenai Valley Record
April 29, 2008
There will be bluegrass in the Kootenai Valley this summer.
The First Annual Kootenai River Bluegrass Festival will take place July 18-20 at Troy’s Roosevelt Park. In February, the Troy Fine Arts Council was awarded a $10,000 grant from the state Department of Commerce’s “Travel Montana” program. The purpose of the funding is for start-up events in communities across Montana, with a goal of drawing visitors from outside a 100-mile radius of a community.
“It’s probably the largest project that the Arts Council has taken on and we are in the process of reaching out to all bluegrass lovers in Lincoln County to help us make this an event that will grow every year,” said Troy’s Ralph Stever. “We have nine amazing bands coming from the Pacific Northwest and as far away as Colorado.”
The music will start at 4 p.m. on Friday, July 18, and five bands will play until 10. Jackstraw from Portland and the Billy Pilgrims from Colorado will be the headliners, but every band on the venue brings something unique to the stage, Stever said.
On Saturday morning, there will be free instrument, storytelling and voice workshops from 10 a.m. until noon, followed by a band scramble and all-day music from 1 until 10 p.m.
On Sunday there will be a morning gospel hour or two followed by kids’ bluegrass music, and three or four bands will finish the show by 3 p.m.
There will be free camping at the Roosevelt Park and overflow campgrounds in town if needed. There will be food vendors selling a variety of foods from Italian to hamburgers to Thai food and barbeque for the entire three days. There will be bluegrass jamming for the entire three day event on the grounds.
In addition to Jackstraw and the Billy Pilgrims, bands at the festival will include the Prairie Flyer Bluegrass Band from Spokane; the Panhandle Polecats, a five-piece family band with home grown harmonies from Rathdrum, Idaho; Spokane’s Big Red Barn, with its mix of mix of traditional and newgrass; Salem Oregon’s True North, with some of the finest harmonies in the Northwest; the Mike and Tari Conroy Band from Hamilton; and Lincoln County’s own Sheldon Mountain Boys. Legendary autoharp player and storyteller Bryan Bowers will be the master of ceremonies and will perform.
Each band will play at least two sets over the weekend, except for Jackstraw, which will close the show Friday night.
The festival will be a family-friendly event with plenty of jamming and things for kids to do, Stever said. On Sunday, kids will be invited to show their bluegrass stuff and win prizes.
“If you know someone who loves bluegrass or are having family visits this summer, this will be the perfect venue for a family reunion,” Stever said.
To make the festival an annual event, the Troy Fine Arts Council needs locals to get the word out and help make Troy the bluegrass capital of northwest Montana, Stever said. Anyone who would like to help out at the event, be a food or artist vendor or offer ideas about how to make the festival bigger and better is invited to call Stever at 295-3016. The festival’s website is beginning to take shape at www.krbgf.org, and the Troy Fine Arts Council is continuing to look for sponsors who will have a link on the web page.
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Editor’s Note: See the April 28, 2008 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, on Monday, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
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