Listen, play, eat, repeat at annual Blue Waters Bluegrass Festival

A melody of fiddles, banjos and voices will soon drift across the surface of Medical Lake from the annual Blue Waters Bluegrass Festival.

For 22 years, this celebration of music has brought people together.

“It’s a really good time and usually the weather is very nice” Joe Nuess, the secretary of the Blue Waters Bluegrass Association said.

Among other activities taking place, seven different bluegrass bands perform, experienced musicians lead workshops, and a youth camp teaches participants a set of bluegrass songs.

The festivities start Friday and end Sunday.

At 4 p.m. Friday, the performances will be kicked off by a two-hour-long open mic. Anyone can sign up to take the stage.

“I’d definitely encourage people to do that and it’s really fun. There’s some great stuff that happens there,” said Nick Burgis, the president of the Blue Waters Bluegrass Festival Association.

During the festival, there will be several workshops including guitar, mandolin, fiddle and songwriting. One workshop offers the opportunity to meet the members of New Dangerfield, a band that often plays in the jazz bars of New Orleans, and soon on the Blue Waters’ stage.

Seven other groups will be sharing that stage: Full Cord, the Jacob Jolliff Band, Rock Ridge, True North Duo, Floating Crowbar, Dry & Dusty and Monroe Bridge.

“Some of them have won awards from national committees and also at really renowned bluegrass festivals in previous years, so the music level is just really high,” Burgis said.

Visitors of the festival will also get the opportunity to personally meet the musicians if they choose.

“The bands are very accessible after they play and they’re out for signing autographs and doing all the talking to people and that stuff,” Nuess said.

Another activity of the festival, the Blue Waters Youth Camp, also called Blue Camp, is a two-day music workshop for anyone under the age of 21.

The cost of the camp is $40.

All participants will get to learn from experienced bluegrass musicians, and on Saturday, after a day of practice, they’ll perform on stage.

Along with the Blue Camp performance on Saturday, that night will also see a special tribute set by “a rotating cast of musicians,” Burgis said.

In years past, the tribute has highlighted a specific person influential to the history of bluegrass.

“It’s a really special one to have,” Burgis said.

But this year it’s focusing on multiple early bluegrass musicians.

“It goes back to a bunch of the early early guys and I think this year it’s concentrating on a bunch of the Black musicians who used to play it,” Nuess said.

As people listen to a variety of musical performances, they can enjoy food, shop for art, or even get a massage from one of several vendors set up outside the festival’s fence line.

For food options, the vendors will offer coffee, hot dogs and some sweet treats, Burgis said.

Another vendor the festival association is excited to host is Feast World Kitchen.

“It’s going to be a rotating menu, different food on all three days,” Burgis said.

Because the vendors will be set up outside the festival’s fence, they’re accessible to anyone.

Waterfront Park, where the festival takes place every summer, is usually filled with people who aren’t even attending the festival, Nuess said.

“There’s people out there just playing around and swimming and all that stuff, while the festival’s going on … You don’t have to pay to get into the park. You do have to pay to get into the festival,” Nuess explained.

Ticket prices vary: A single day ticket for Friday is $33, one for Saturday is $48, and Sunday is $38. Kids 12 and under get free admission with a parent or guardian. An advanced weekend pass, which offers access to the festival on all three days, is available for $64.

It’s common for festival attendees to buy the advanced weekend pass if they plan on camping at one of the festival’s campgrounds, Nuess said.

Blue Waters offers a tent campground and a dry RV campground, where “lots of jamming” happens, Burgis said. A pass for either is $58 and lasts the whole weekend.

“People in the RVs all gather around one RV or something and they’ll just play music,” Nuess said. “They play all day long, all night long. I mean people will be up at 2 o’clock in the morning; they’ll be singing, they’ll be playing.”

Unfortunately, last year’s fires in the area left parts of the RV campground scorched.

“There were a lot of trees in that area, and those are mostly burned down now, so it’s really open, which makes the landscape seem quite different,” Burgis said.

Nuess had an optimistic perspective.

“We’ll still have the full area open, and we actually might have a couple extra spots cause some of the trees burnt down.”

Thankfully, the area where the festival itself will be set up was untouched by the fires.

Nuess said they “got lucky on that one.”

“Things are burnt down, and that’s just kind-of ugly, but the park itself is beautiful,” Nuess said.

Since the festival has been a beloved event in Medical Lake for so long, Burgis thinks it will be uplifting for residents to attend.

“We’re certainly hoping the community will support the festival and that that will kind of help boost their morale,” Burgis said.

Though many festival attendees are residents of Medical Lake, people come from all over.

“We get people from out of state, from Canada,” Nuess said.

The Blue Waters Bluegrass Festival Association puts year-round effort into this festival, meeting once every month to get it put together.

“It’s been a lot of work for people, but we really enjoy it and the end product is really something that is fantastic,” Burgis said. “We’re really happy to see everybody out there.”