It looks like its happening! i hope to be there Friday and Saturday. Especially Saturday to hear Ludovic Beier on the Accordina.
I ordered a new Marcel Dreux Accordina in early July and it just passed Customs and it should be here in a few days - possibly as early as Tomorrow even! If he holds an accordion workshop I might drag my 3 row C-system Soprani to that. But not the Accordina. Hopefully he can provide some safe one-on-one tutorial outside with social distancing for that and I suspect there won;t be any other Accordina players there. Otherwise I may avoid any indoor workshop.
So I will have this instrument with me - it is of course the signature Ludovic Beier model. Light at 1000gr like the original but more fragile Borels. And the best sounding to my ears.
I will also have my new Shelley Park serial number "250 X √-1" with me and will want a few to try it and give me an opinion. Maybe if it impresses let someone take it on stage - though I'd rather not suffer any inevitable scratches (this happened with one of the big shots trying #250). I wish John Jorgensen was coming - he would be my 1st choice and I'd probably let him borrow it for a month or more.
Reminder that this guitar features something that Shelley used at my request that had an amazing effect to the response and sound. If she decides to show up I may let her display this instrument. We both would like to know what people think - especially before we reveal what this feature consists of. For now we are simply calling it Secret Sauce.
FYI I am planning to sell the Soprani Accordion. Its in great shape after the work done by Michael Arralde. More on that later...
Casey
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Where do people usually stay the night at this festival? I was looking at accommodations and it seems most places are booked. Kind of an odd place to have a festival considering it has limited sleeping accommodations, although I'll admit I haven't looked at every option yet. It certainly is a beautiful area.
I live in Kingston and simply stay at home. Many stay at the Fairgrounds adjacent to the festival where there is a session every night that goes to Sunrise. Some stay up island in Oak Harbor and some simply catch the last ferry and stay somewhere in Everett.For years I wish they would move this festival to Fort Warden in Port Townsend which can support up to 500 attendees at the fort alone, has a food concession, tons of workshop space, and several excellent performing venues. This year the large concerts were done outside. Word on the street is that they are using the WICA facility only which I hope means the smaller theater. The old school next door is stuffy and dangerous in the time of Covid. Apparently the Wica venue was upgraded ventilation-wise.
There are also a ton of Airbnb type places on Whidbey Island. Beautiful setting though, however, you'll need a car to get anywhere from the airport out here, unfortunately.
Even before AirBnB, it was never too hard to find a place. Campground works, and amazingly has a shower and bathrooms, BUT be prepared for rain if you do.