When the Harvest Moon Blues Festival kicks off Friday afternoon at Cheadle Lake Park in Lebanon it will be the culmination of months of work for a local couple.
Gates open at 3:30 p.m., and the show starts at 4 p.m., with some 15 bands appearing. Proceeds from the three-day festival will benefit the Lebanon Community Foundation.
“We have a Grammy Award-winning surprise coming in on Friday night,” said Edie Wilcox of Sweet Home, and this event will be the first for Curtis Salgado following lung surgery.
The festival is organized by Wilcox, Steve Magnolia of Lebanon and Kate Naiman of Portland. They also do smaller shows and operate as Harvest Moon Productions in association with Left Coast Roadshow.
“Basically, it started out as an idea for a blues festival here in the valley,” Wilcox said. “We sought out different sites where we could have it.”
Magnolia has been on some nine “blues cruises,” and he hired some of the acts from those, Wilcox said. “Some of the musicians on the blues cruises wanted to play smaller venues.”
“We named it Harvest Moon because this is the grass seed capital of the world,” Wilcox said, and it’s about harvest season.
The group started out looking in Sweet Home, but while they were looking, the Sweet Home Rodeo was still expected to operate this year, Wilcox said. “Cheadle Lake basically dropped into our laps. It was available for our dates.”
They didn’t want to try to use school property, trampling the grass two weeks apart with the Jamboree, she said. “When Cheadle Lake was offered to us, we went and had a look at the site.”
With some 35 acres, it was plenty, she said. They got the idea because they heard from many blues fans that they weren’t able to make it to the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival.
“The foundation has done a fantastic job getting this site prepared for this event,” Wilcox said. “You won’t find greener grass than at Cheadle Lake.”
They decided to bring a blues festival to the mid-Willamette Valley and provide more opportunities for the residents of the mid-valley and further south.
They would like to see attendance reach 10,000 or more, Wilcox said, but they anticipate 3,000 to 5,000 at the festival’s first outing.
In addition to the Lebanon Community Foundation, the Boys and Girls Club has exclusive rights to sell bottled water at the festival, Wilcox said, and The River Center will operate a food drive. The Albany American Legion, Post 10, will host the Sunday pancake breakfast as a fund-raising tool to help rebuild. The Legion Hall was destroyed by arson. The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Greater Santiam also will provide showers during the event. A shuttle will be available from the campground to the club in Lebanon.
Misting tents and alternative water access also is available to help keep concertgoers healthy during the expected hot weather.
“It is a challenge,” Wilcox said. “It’s crazy as with any first-year event. Everybody sits back to see how it comes together.”
But it’s drawing a lot of interest from Corvallis to Sweet Home, Wilcox said. And visitors are coming from San Diego, Calif., to Chicago.
Ticket sales have been picking up lately, Wilcox said. They started selling in February, and it’s been surprising how well they’ve been selling as publicity has increased.
Volunteers are still needed, Wilcox said. The event has about 150, but organizers would love to have 300. Volunteers may sign up at the festival website, http://www.harvestmoon2012.com or call Kim Almasie at (541) 543-4062.
Vendors are set for the 2012 event, Wilcox said, but anyone interested in next year’s event or a last-minute slot can visit the website for more information.
The festival also is seeking an anchor sponsor, she said.
Gates open at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, 11 a.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. on Sunday. Breakfast is served from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday.
A three-day pass costs $80. Friday only is $30. Saturday only is $50, and Sunday only is $10. A camping pass is $30.
Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers headline Friday at 9 p.m. Opening are Lydia Pense and Cold Blood at 7:15 p.m. Michael Osborn and the Drivers with Stu Kinzel and Robbie Laws in a Wall of Blues Guitars perform at 5:30 p.m. Reggie Houston’s Crescent City Connection with Lilla D’Mone begins at 4 p.m. Guido’s Juke Joint will feature the Calapooia Allstars with special guests.
Saturday night is the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue, with Tommy Castro and the Painkillers, Kenny Neal, Deanna Bogart and Terry Hanck. Salgado plays at 6:15 p.m. Zac Harmon performs at 5 p.m. Mark Hummel and the Blues Survivors are scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Ana Popovic of The Ukraine takes the stage at 1:45 p.m., and Cee Cee James kicks off the day at 12:30 p.m. Guido’s Juke Join will feature the Robbie Laws Band with special guests.
The Blues Gospel Review, featuring Glenn Kaiser, Zac Harmon and Lilla D’Mone, will be held Sunday with times to be announced.
For more information visit harvestmoon2012.com or facebook.com/HarvestMoonBlues.