2021 Archives

About the 2020 Virtual Tumbleweed Music Festival

2020 is the 24^th Annual Tumbleweed Music Festival.  The Tumbleweed Music Festival is a family friendly event with something for everyone featuring a wide range of free 90 plus performances covering multiple genres.  For the past 23 years our festival has celebrated traditional and contemporary Folk music, Bluegrass, Country, Belly and Contra dance, and more in the beautiful Howard Amon Park on the banks of the Columbia River in Richland Washington.  Along with 4 – 6000 attendees, musicians have come from throughout the Pacific Northwest,the United States and abroad; most notably from Canada and Ireland.   The Festival traditionally takes place outdoors in Richland’s Howard Amon Park along the banks of the Columbia River,

Unfortunately, Due to COVID-19 the park setting is not a safe place to hold a physical festival.  To keep our local community and Tumbleweed attendees safe, this year’s 24^th Annual Tumbleweed Festival is Virtual. Volunteers and performers have applied their diverse skills to make this year’s Virtual Festival a reality.  You can take advantage of this year’s virtual Festival by watching performances anytime anywhere on any of your digital devices.

What is there to Watch, Listen, and Take Part In?           View the Festival schedules

8-Stages Available 24/7! Any time anywhere listen to folk, sea chanteys, bluegrass, blues, Celtic music, dance groups, and more. At each stage there is a set of 6 or more performances each lasting about 10 to 15 minutes.  Go to our Stage Dashboard to browse and/or watch the many performances. You can read descriptions about the performances and then go immediately to that show.  Each stage has its own genre.

Stages and Genre
North:	Larger Acts / Bigger Names
South:	Tradtional Folk and Nautical
West:	Singer-Songwriters
River:	No Age Music
Art Gallery:	Mixed Media
Community Center:	Bellies, Blues and Bluegrass
Second Singers Songwriters Showcase
A Little Bit Country, A Little bit Rock and Roll

 

8 Workshops-Live – US Pacific Time

Workshops run about an hour and will be held Saturday and Sunday from 11am – 5:30 pm.  To view a live or recorded Workshop, please select the Watch button from the Workshop Dashboard schedule.

Shanty Sing – Live – US Pacific Time

Shanty Sing – live is hosted by Shanghaied on the Willamette Sunday 6pm – 9pm.  Come take part in sea shanty songs and much more via the Shanty Sing Dashboard. Enjoy.

4 Concerts – US Pacific timeView the Concert Dashboard programs

3 FREE Concerts

Friday New Horizon Concert: Local and Young Bands

Jane Titland Memorial Songwriting Contest: 10 Finalists, Wes Weddell is Emcee

Saturday Night Tumbleweed Benefit Concert from 8pm – 10:30pm, Dan Maher is Emcee

Sunday Theme Concert:  Theme is the “Wind, ”  Micki Perryis Emcee

Each year Tumbleweed designates a theme. This year’s theme is Wind.  The Sunday night concert and the Jane Titland Memorial Songwriting Contest will focus on the theme with both traditional well-loved songs and new offerings written especially for the festival songwriting contest. The Songwriting Concert presents the top 10 finalists Emceed by Wes Weddell.  The winning song can be watched at the Saturday Benefit Concert.

During the past 23 years, Tumbleweed Music Festival has gained a reputation as one of the best acoustic music festivals in the Northwest. It is certainly one of the friendliest and noted for the sense of community by bringing together diverse communities and folks from all walks of life, ages, all levels of musical experience. Come to our festival and help us carry on the tradition!

Are there any costs involved with the Festival?

In keeping with Tumbleweed Festival tradition all stage events, workshops, Friday’s opening and Sunday’s closing concerts are FREE with the exception of two benefit events; a Saturday evening Concert emceed by Dan Maher and a Sunday evening LIVE Contra Dance featuring Contraversatile Band and caller David Gloor, from Walla Walla.  Monies collected for these events greatly assist to off-set our Festival costs.  Admission is a pay-what you wish; our suggested donation is $15 for the Concert and $8 for the Contra Dance.  Tickets are available in advance.   Miss the benefit Concert?  It is available as a pay-to-view after the Festival.

Donations

The festival is produced and supported by the nonprofit Three Rivers Folklife Society (3RFS) “to support folk music and bring music and events to people.”

Without the time and talent of our guest performers, Tumbleweed volunteers, sponsors, and donors, our free 2020 Tumbleweed Music Festival would not be possible.  While this year’s festival is virtual there are costs to create and run it; software, hardware, hosting, production, licensing fees, other overhead expenses, engaging performers, advertising, engaging youth, and more.  While money is raised through a combination of sponsorships from the City of Richland, individuals, local organizations, and fund raisers, your continued support is much appreciated by buying Tumbleweed merchandise at our Shop and/or buying tickets to our benefit Saturday Concert and Contra Dance and/or making a donation.

This year we offer 4 donations levels.  For details and to donate please select the ‘Donate’ icon.  This will take you to our donation page.

Tumbleweed Music Festival – available till August 2021

Not able to attend Labor Day weekend? Tumbleweed Music Festival will be available on-demand until about 2 weeks before our 25th anniversary Festival at

tumbleweedmusicfestival.org.

All Special Event videos can be found here. This includes Friday Night Concert, Saturday Night Concert, and the Sunday Night Concert.

You can find the Jane Titland Memorial Songwriting Contest Finalists 2021 here.

You can find The Songs of Alice Winship 2021 here.

Andrew Meyer, Manger, Uptown Theatre and Lifesaving Resource Supplier
Anne Shcur, Website UX Designer and Survey Coordinator
Chris Glanister, Master of Video, Audio, and Livestreaming
Chris Mesford, Support and Alignment
David Carson, Coordinator
Frank Cuta, 3RFS Secretary and Valued Counsel
Gene Carbaugh, 3RFS Chair
Jim and Terri Andre, Store Coordinators
Jim Honeyman, Workshop Coordinator
Jim Kelly, Former 3RFS Chair and General Support
Jude Noah, Friday Concert Coordinator
Kathryn Nye, Food Vendor Coordinator
Katrina Knight, Newsletter Editor and General Tech Support
Lauren Wanamaker, Social Media Coordinator
Micki Perry, Programming Coordinator
Terri Widergren, Store and Contra Dance Coordinator
Tom Reitter, Cinematographer and Editor Extraordinaire
Trish Daly-Welle, Booster YAY TUMBLEWEED!!