PERFORMERS FROM THE 2014 Clark County Folk Festival play to a crowd of about 100 outside Moulton Falls Winery in Yacolt. The folk festival returns to the local winery this year on Sat., Sept. 12 with six folk acts, food and drinks from Moulton Falls Winery, a dozen craft vendors and a day of family-friendly fun. To see this year’s musical lineup, visit clarkcountyfolkfestival.com.
YACOLT – Hoping to hit one more outdoor concert before the summer festival season is just a warm memory? Look no further than north Clark County. On Sat., Sept. 12, the 2015 Clark County Folk Festival returns to Yacolt’s scenic Moulton Falls Winery, and brings an inspiring group of locally grown folk musicians with it.
“We’ve got a great lineup this year,” says festival organizer Wayne Hoffman. “And most of the bands are from the Portland-Vancouver area.”
This year’s musical acts include folk stars like Dan Weber, a finalist in this year’s prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival “New Folk” competition; Kate Power and Steve Einhorn, who ran Portland’s beloved Artichoke Music store for 25 years before becoming touring musicians and ukulele teachers; and Meridian Green, daughter of folk legend Bob Gibson, who is playing with her bandmates Rick Grumbecker and John Heller as The Fare-Thee-Wells.
Headlining the festival is Peter Yeates, an Irish native turned Northwesterner who has toured the world and opened for bands like the Kingston Trio and the Limelighters, and his band, A Fine Mess. The trio, which includes Yeates, Rich Gillette and Mike West, blends old and new folk sounds from America, Ireland and Scotland – a sound that festival organizer Hoffman was craving during a recent trip to Ireland.
“It was actually difficult for us to find Irish (folk) music while we were in Ireland,” Hoffman said. “Everywhere we went, they were playing American music. Maybe we didn’t stay out late enough.”
Other acts include Aarun Carter and Jonathan Trawick with their grassroots American folk sounds, and Sky in the Road, a group that describes their sound as “folk-based pop that winds its way through bluegrass, reggae, rock, country, Celtic, world folk, jazz and blues.”
The festival organizers donate 10 percent of the gate profits to the American Cancer Society and another 10 percent to the Clark County Historical Museum in Amboy.
This is the folk festival’s third year at Moulton Falls Winery, and Hoffman says he and his wife, Karen Hoffman, are constantly trying to learn from previous festivals and improve a little each year.
This year, the concert will have canopies, donated by the town of Yacolt and the Fargher Lake Store, to help shade the musicians and the concertgoers. In past years, Hoffman has battled rain and wind, but says he’s crossing his fingers for a nice, sunny day on Sept. 12.
The festival kicks off at 1 p.m. on Sat., Sept. 12, and runs until around 7 p.m. The concert is open to all ages, is free for ages 12 and younger, and costs $12 in advance or $15 at the gate for everyone else. Parking is free. Concertgoers are encouraged to bring their own blankets and lawn chairs for seating.
There will be more than a dozen craft vendors on site, and Moulton Falls Winery will sell drinks – including wine, cider, soda and water – as well as food and snacks, including a range of vegetarian options like salads, cheese plates and woodfired pizzas.
“Many people don’t really know what folk is,” Hoffman says. “This is a chance to hear some great folk music.”
Hoffman is still looking for interested volunteers to help on the festival day. Volunteers receive a free admission to the festival. Anyone interested in volunteering at the event should fill out the online volunteer form at clarkcountyfolkfestival.com/contact/volunteer.php. For general information about the festival, please visit clarkcountyfolkfestival.com.
