Stay In Tune With Summer And Hit Musical Hot Spots This Weekend

Fri., Aug. 25, 1995

Anne Windishar

(From For the Record, Saturday, August 26, 1995:) The Irish music gathering hosted by The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick will be at noon Sunday at Mission Park. A story in Friday’s Weekend section gave the wrong day.

Even if you’ve been reluctant to shell out the big bucks for The Gorge or Sandpoint concerts this summer, you don’t have to go without good tunes. You’ll find plenty this weekend at low or no cost.

The Posies, “the Seattle band known for bucking the Seattle sound,” will headline the University of Idaho Palousafest ‘95. It’s a free festival to welcome UI students to the Moscow campus, but anyone is welcome.

Entertainers and musicians will perform from 3 p.m. to midnight Saturday and merchants and university organizations will have booths set up on the Memorial Gym lawn.

In addition to The Posies, you’ll hear Don Maher, a folk guitarist, the Bed Heads, a rock alternative group, GQ, a saxophone and piano duo, and US 95, a country music band. There’s more, including a magician, food booths and a tug of war.

More than 10,000 people attended last year.

If your tastes run more toward salsa, head to Sandpoint on Sunday to hear Fuego, the Latin jazz dance band, as it headlines Santa Fe on the Creek, an outdoor social to benefit the Panida Theater.

The full evening of entertainment, including a Southwest grilled dinner, will run from 6 to 9 p.m. along Sand Creek, behind the Panida.

Fuego hits several musical influences, including Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican, Caribbean, Brazilian, American jazz, funk and the blues. The seven-piece ensemble recently played the Kaslo Jazz Festival in British Columbia.

Admission to the dinner and entertainment in advance is $12 for adults and $5 for kids ages 10 and under. They’re available at Gregory’s, Java Adagio or Eve’s Leaves in Sandpoint.

Prices at the door are $14 for adults, $6 for kids. Admission to just hear Fuego is $5 at the door.

If you’re up for a longer drive, you can head to Twisp in Central Washington for the Sweetgrass Ridge Bluegrass Festival at noon Saturday at Twisp City Park.

The festival features bluegrass greats like John McEuen, Grass is Greener, Ranch Romance and the James King Band. There are also workshops on banjo and stringed instruments (with McEuen) and fiddling (with “fiddle master” Richard Greene) at 4:15 p.m. and 5:45 p.m., respectively. The workshops cost $20 each.

Admission to the festival, which features an arts and crafts fair and food vendors, is $15. Children under 16 get in free.

On Saturday, the Stevens County Arts Commission is holding an Inland Jam, five bands playing from 3 to 7 p.m. near Springdale.

The bands are Shrinking Violets (Spokane), Nadir (Tacoma), Swelter (Olympia), One Ton (Olympia) and Kept. Tickets are $5 and can be found by calling 258-4270.

To get there, take U.S. Highway 395 to the Loon Lake exit. Take a left and follow the signs to the Jam.

The latest KPBX Kids’ Concert is today, featuring Spokane Brass Works from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in City Park, Coeur d’Alene. Admission is free.

Here’s something completely different: The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick are hosting a day of Irish music, jigs, songs and dancing at noon Saturday at Mission Park in Spokane.

There’s no charge, although donations are accepted. There will be food, door prizes and raffles. Anyone is welcome, Irish or not.

Later next week

Starve yourself early next week because PigOut in the Park starts Thursday at noon. About 40 food booths will set up shop in Riverfront Park for a culinary extravaganza. It lasts throughout Labor Day weekend.

On Wednesday, you can get your fill of Dixieland jazz when the Uptown Lowdown Jazz Band from Bellevue performs at the Spokane Valley BPOE, 2605 N. Robie Court.

The music and dance runs from 6 to 10 p.m. Cost is $6 for general admission, $5 if you’re an Elk.

The final lecture in the series “Rivers and Dams: Promises, Progress and Perils,” is Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Cheney Cowles Museum. The speaker is Keith Peterson from Pullman, who will lecture on “River of Life, Channel of Death: Fish and Dams on the Lower Snake” (also the title of his recent book).

The lecture is free.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: GETTING OUT Sometimes we associate harvest season only with apples, squash and pumpkins. But really, we should be celebrating harvest all summer long, starting with the strawberries grown locally. If the harvest festival at Green Bluff is one of your traditions, there’s no need to wait until October to begin celebrating. The growers at Green Bluff let us know that the peaches grown on Green Bluff are ripe now for the picking. The wet and temperate summer weather means the peaches are extra juicy and big this year. To get to Green Bluff, head north on the Newport Highway and watch for the signs.

This sidebar appeared with the story: GETTING OUT Sometimes we associate harvest season only with apples, squash and pumpkins. But really, we should be celebrating harvest all summer long, starting with the strawberries grown locally. If the harvest festival at Green Bluff is one of your traditions, there’s no need to wait until October to begin celebrating. The growers at Green Bluff let us know that the peaches grown on Green Bluff are ripe now for the picking. The wet and temperate summer weather means the peaches are extra juicy and big this year. To get to Green Bluff, head north on the Newport Highway and watch for the signs.