For such a small spit of sand, we sure do have an abundance of quality music here on the Peninsula.  Seriously.  First, there is the Water Music Festival, bringing world-class entertainers here in the fall for low-cost and free concerts, including school performances.  To fund the venture, they started Jazz & Oysters, a day of amazing music on the historic Oysterville School lawn each August.  And then, last year, the Ilwaco Merchants Association added a raucous party called Blues & Seafood, which is the Saturday before Jazz & Oysters‘ Sunday.

Dang!  That’s a gooood weekend!

In recent years, Water Music Festival has added Tuba Christmas, Music in the Gardens, and Poulshock Concerts to their already robust program.  All of these performances are complemented just about every week with outstanding performances at Ilwaco’s Raven & Finch Wine Bar & Café (You’ll find some notable fine and graphic artwork in that neighborhood, by the way, so go early).

Sabrina and Karl recently finished a complete overhaul of www.watermusicfestival.com.  Take a look:

It’s a sentimental project for Keleigh.  You see, www.watermusicfestival.com was the first commercial site she built under the flag of beachdog.com, back in 1997.   Actually, that was the second incarnation of the site; Keleigh built their first site for them back in 1995 when the ‘net itself was still wet behind the ears.  The site has undergone several complete overhauls in its decade and a half of life and, like the foundation itself, has enjoyed a variety of flavors of leadership along the way.  The result is an organization, and web site, of strength and character.

Ah, but we digress…

Wendi Peterson of the Wade Gallery did a fabulous poster for Blues & Seafood this year, and Sabrina had a blast converting her design concept into a site.  Now the events can each cross-sell combo tickets for the weekend, and Board members and other volunteers with the proper credentials, can update the areas of both sites for which they are responsible.  Nifty!

There are no big-dollar event organizers here, readers.  So give the folks working these events a hearty smile and a kind word.  It takes a lot of people and a lot of hours to pull off events like this and the people who do all that work do so for FREE.   The best thanks you can give them, however, is to come enjoy the party, so get your tickets now!