Concerts in the Park
The concert lineup at Farragut State Park this summer promises to be many things.
But not a Woodstock West.
That’s how Park Manager Randall Butt describes a rock festival held at the park in the 1970s under the guise of a church picnic. Thousands came to the park near Bayview to listen to live bands. There was a lot of booze, too, along with sex and drugs.
After nearly three decades of quiet, park management is once again allowing rock concerts at the former Navy training base.
“We’re setting this up differently,” Butt said. Thanks to lessons learned in the 1970s, Butt said more restrictions are being put in place. The event ends before dark and concert promoters have agreed to provide security and staff to handle parking.
Though alcohol is being served, it’s in a beer garden setting.
Butt also reached an agreement with concert organizers Epic Productions and KKZX radio and part of the proceeds from the event will go toward the park’s Brig Naval Museum.
The museum specializes in the history of Farragut Naval Training Station, where nearly 300,000 sailors received basic training from 1942 to 1945.
Ed Shaw, a producer for the Aug. 9 Black Dog Music Festival at Farragut, said the daylong concert – featuring tribute bands – will be well-managed.
“We want everyone to have fun, but at the same time we’re going to be safe and make sure the parks and the grounds are taken care of,” Shaw said.
Epic Productions owner Paul Gaither said he one time had a contract for concerts at The Gorge at George, Wash. He got out of the concert promotion business for quite some time, but said he was inspired by the setting at Farragut to create a series of outdoor concerts.
“We have a very, very beautiful venue that’s very unique,” Gaither said. Stadium grass seating, like that of the Farragut amphitheatre, is hard to come by, he said.
With gas prices and prices for concert tickets skyrocketing, Gaither said events like the Black Dog Music Festival provide affordable all-day entertainment for locals.
Several bands are performing during the music festival, including No Quarter, a tribute to Led-Zeppelin; Whiskey Creek performing Lynyrd Skynyrd hits; Doors tribute band American Night; and Blind Floyd, a tribute to Pink Floyd. The Cary Fly Band will also perform.
Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 the day of the show.
Foghat is headlining another show, planned for Sept. 6. Goldie McJohn and Friendz (McJohn was a founding member of Steppenwolf), Leon Hendrix and The Mysterience, Civilized Animal and Java Kola are also part of the lineup.
Hendrix – brother of Jimi Hendrix – plays covers of his brother’s songs, Gaither said.
Tickets for the Sept. 6 show go on sale next Saturday.
Butt said he expects the concerts to have little impact on other park activities.
The amphitheatre, located in the center of the park, is about a mile or so from any campgrounds or the Brig Naval Museum, he said.
Other events are planned in the park the same day as both concerts – a radio-controlled airplane show on Aug. 9 and a Farragut Naval Training Station Reunion on Sept. 6.
Every vehicle entering the park for any of the events is charged a daily fee of $4.
That money goes into the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation’s general revenue account, Butt said.
“It helps keep the revenue strong for the entire department,” he said.
The portion of proceeds going toward the museum is a direct benefit to the park, he said.
In the past 10 years, the museum has been dramatically transformed. More than 5,000 square feet of the former Navy prison has been turned into a museum.
The focus is all things Farragut, from its beginnings as a Naval base to Scouting jamborees held on the grounds once it became a state park.
Local area history will also be featured, including the story of Pend Oreille City – a one-time bustling berg near the present-day park.
Recent additions to the museum include a sculpture of a bust of a sailor, a Harbor Master shed and a display of all 50 states’ flags.
The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.