MORE SPOKANE MUSIC FESTIVALS!!

The music industry has seen a rapid increase in small and big music festivals around the country. Indoor, outdoor, local, national, eclectic and themed, these have become an amazing way for bands to get exposure and for the community to rally around something worth celebrating. Seattle now has Fisherman’s Village Festival, Timber Festival, Doe Bay Fest, Capitol Hill Block Party, Bumbershoot and more. Spokane isn’t too far behind doing things in our own quirky way with a blend of family friendly and party oriented events that are continuing to grow with each year. It’s pretty cool to see that each of our festivals here (with the exception of father figure festival, Elkfest) have only existed for under 6 years or less and quite a few of them are donating proceeds to various awesome causes. Even though Elkfest, Volume and Bazaar have passed, summer still has a lot of good music and partying left in it for Spokane. Here’s what’s coming up…

MARMOT FEST 7/12

KYRS Fest (the northwest’s only solar powered music festival) is now called Marmot Fest and is coming up quick (7/12)! Headlining band Rogue Wave is an awesome indie band that has been creating memorable tunes along the lines of The Shins and Death Cab for Cutie for about a decade. They will definitely be the highlight of the festival along with the funk-soul jams of Fly Moon Royalty – two powerful acts that make the event more than worth the cover. The rest of the lineup doesn’t bring much that we haven’t already seen this summer at Volume, Elkfest or just other club shows around town. It is however probably the most family oriented of all the festivals and is a chance to support our community radio station, KYRS.

GLEASON FEST 8/23

Gleason Fest returns with some similar bands as the Elkfest lineup, strong local acts and headliner Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real with their interesting blend of country blues and rock. Also, it’s a benefit toward ALS research through Steve Gleason’s foundation…which is an awesome thing to see Spokane continually get behind. Check out more info on the cause here.

BARTFEST 9/5

At The Bartlett we are planning our first annual festival called Bartfest. It’s going to be the week after Labor Day weekend. A bunch of bands, local, national, regional and a massive poster show featuring the best local design talent. The bands that have been announced so far are, Bear In Heaven, Modern Kin and Desert Noises. A 2nd wave announcement comes out tomorrow on Inlander.com. Save the date and visit bartfest.com for tickets on July 7th.

TERRAIN – FIRST WEEKEND OF OCTOBER

It’s never too early to start thinking about our favorite arts festival, Terrain. In fact, you can start submitting your music, art, film or installation proposal now! Terrain is a driving force, a beacon of youth culture that says…”HEY, WE ARE COOL.” In it’s 7th year now, there is sure to be even more exciting things going on. As if this one-night-a-year blast of art and music and culture even needed expansion. But that’s the beauty of Terrain. It’s founders are progressive and creative, always thinking of ways to make this already awesome event even better. Visit the submission site here or follow Terrain on facebook.