Olalla Bluegrass (& Beyond) Festival celebrates 21 years
"Kick the City Off Your Shoes!" Saturday August 18

WHAT
Kick the City off Your Shoes at the 21^st-Ever Olalla Bluegrass (&beyond) Festival

WHEN
Saturday, Aug. 18, 11:00 a.m. to dusk. Gates open at 10

WHERE
South Kitsap Southern Little League Field
Olalla Valley Road in Olalla, WA

TICKETS
$15– adults; $10 – kids 6-16 & seniors; $40– family pass; Children under 6 are free.

INFO
olallabluegrass.com or call 253.857.5604

(Olalla, WA) - The Olalla Bluegrass (& Beyond) Festival celebrates its 21^st birthday Saturday, Aug. 18 at the South Kitsap Southern Little League field on Olalla Valley Road. Gates open at 10:00 a.m. and music starts at 11:00 a.m.

Known for its family-friendly atmosphere, variety of kids’ activities and the famous berry pie contest, the festival also showcases some of the best acoustic bands in the region. “We always try to live up to our “Kick the City off Your Shoes” motto,” said festival founder Charlee Glock-Jackson. “It’s a lively, fun-filled day with lots of good energy and happy smiles.”

OlallaFest also brings together a number of community organizations, all playing a part in the festival’s success. “The Olalla Elementary School PTA is directing the kids’ games this year,” said festival co-chair Larry Davis. “And Arcadia Montessori School from Gig Harbor will have some wonderful hands-on art-making activities for kiddos, too. And in the afternoon, there’s a ‘round-the-ballfield parade that all the kids in the audience are invited to join.” Internationally known children’s entertainer Jim Valley, of Gig Harbor, will lead the parade and sing a few audience-participation songs afterward.

Last year’s popular Empty Bowl Project, a collaboration between the Gig Harbor Potters Guild and the Peninsula Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (PUUF), returns to this year’s festival. “We’ll be selling strawberry shortcake and also soup in hand-made pottery bowls,” said PUUF’s Hobie Denny. “The potters are making about 200 bowls. Festival-goers get to choose their favorite bowls, have them filled with soup or shortcake and then they get to keep the bowl. All the proceeds go to the FISH food bank in Gig Harbor and the South Kitsap Help Line.”

“One of the very best things about the Festival is that it’s such an inter-generational event,” said co-chair Marty Kellogg. “We have grandparents who bring their grandkids and they tell us that they remember going to community events like this when they were kids – where the grownups and the children and young people all had a good time together.”

“Parents love the festival because they can just let their kids run loose and they’re pretty much in view all the time, whether they’re getting their faces painted, or playing the games or taking a turn at the potters wheel learning to make a bowl, or dancing on the pitchers mound to the music,” added Debbie Kellogg, whose four grown daughters all grew-up participating in the festival.

This year for the first time, two of the featured musicians will offer music workshops. Mandolin virtuoso Radim Zenkl will give a mandolin workshop during the festival, and legendary autoharp player Brian Bowers will lead an autoharp workshop on Sunday at a near-by location.

This year’s musical line-up is:

The Olalla Bluegrass (& Beyond) Festival is presented by the Olalla Community Club. Proceeds benefit local music programs and non-profit organizations in the South Kitsap / Gig Harbor community and also maintain the 100-year old Olalla community center.

Tickets are $15-$40 at Brown Paper Tickets and also at the gate. Parking is $3 per car, collected by the Little League. Camping is $10 per night (no hook-ups). Sorry, no dogs allowed. For information visit olallabluegrass.com or phone 253.857.5604.

For an event poster click here.