A subset of the band (Barb, Cheryl, Joe and Greg) got to go to Adventure Bluegrass, a festival in Stevenson, Washington, in the Columbia River Gorge. It is kind of a small festival, with few vendors, but lots of bluegrass musicians, and in a beautiful setting.
We all piled in Joe's Taurus station wagon and headed south to Vancouver and across the Columbia into Portland and east from there to the Bridge of the Gods and back across the Columbia River to Stevenson, Washington, arriving at the festival just after noon, in time to see most of the instrumental competition.
There were gobs of really good players and the contest was pretty entertaining. It became very evident that if I was going to play banjo in this contest next year, I would be in for a lot of work. After the contest was over and the winners were announced, we wandered around the fairgrounds and checked everything out and, of course, had some fair food. Then we finally got the nerve up to grab our instruments and go jam for a while. We picked an out of the way picnic table next to the water and ran though most of the stuff we knew, and that was fun. A few people stopped and listened as the walked by, and one lady (the winning fiddler from the fiddle contest, actually) came by with a video camera and taped us for a while. That was pretty fun.
Finally, it was time for the "Big Show" so we found places to sit and watch. The Hakanson Family opened the show, having won the band competition the year before. Then we saw Country Current, the U.S. Navy Bluegrass Band. They were really really (really) good; they played everything way fast. There was the tragedy of that damn Lee Greenwood song, but other than that, they were just way good. Following them was Bound to Ride, who used to be called Copper Canyon. They were pretty good, too, but they don't appear to have a website.
Then our butts got tired, so we packed up our instruments and headed back to Vancouver for some supper and our hotel.
The next morning, we checked out, had some breakfast and headed back to the festival, arriving early for the band contest, so we poked around the vendors some more and just kind of took it all in. Finally, the contest started (we had pretty good seats, too). There were two separate contests, the Bluegrass band contenst and the That Ain't Bluegrass contest. I don't remember all of the acts, but the one that I thought was the best, Zach Driscoll & Three-Quarter Time, did not win the competition, but did take 3rd. They played Earl's Breakdown, which may not have been the best choice because I'm sure it gets done a lot, and I think it was their only really really bluegrass number; the other two were more Garth Brooksy, and that may have been their downfall. In any case, all of the acts were good and it was very entertaining.
I missed most of the That Ain't Bluegrass contest, because I was busy getting Barb a new Kentucky F-style mandolin, which is a big step up from the one she was playing on previously. As such, I'll have to let Cheryl comment on that part of the show.
After the contest was over and the winners were announced, the festival was pretty much over, but we drove into the campground and jammed for a while in the deserted Jam Tent. We had a few people stop and listen for a while, and then a mandolin player came by and jammed with us for a while. It was a good time.
Then we packed up and drove home.
It was a good trip and one I hope we make next year.
