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3 Best Washington State Music Festivals for 2014

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9407113070_468b48cc6dI’m sure you all have noticed music festival announcements happening left and right in the past month, signs that music festival season has indeed arrived once again. Here in the Pacific Northwest, after being shrouded in clouds all winter, we like to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. Throw in a ton of incredible local and national acts and it’s a no-brainer. The only problem is, we have so many great festivals to choose from, it can be hard to know which ones to choose.

Don’t fret. Today, we’re featuring our 3 picks for Washington’s 2014 music festival season. The Fisherman’s Village Music Festival in Everett, located just a half hour north of Seattle, is celebrating its inaugural year this weekend. Timber! Fest is celebrating its second year in the idyllic setting of Carnation and features some great national names alongside local talent. And, finally, Chinook Fest, located in beautiful Naches, Washington, in the heart of Central Washington’s agricultural lands, has an amazing lineup for lovers of roots-rock and Americana music.

Fisherman’s Village Festival

The good folks at the Everett Music Initiative have an incredible lineup in store for music lovers this coming weekend, Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17 in Everett. 60+ bands will perform on four stages in Everett’s beautiful downtown district. All venues are within walking distance from each other, including the historic Everett Theatre, the oldest running theater west of the Mississippi.

Northwest favorites The Moondoggies and singer Mary Lambert hail from Everett and this festival is all part of an effort to raise Everett’s profile as a bastion of local talent.

Festival organizer Steven Graham says, “After two years of putting on shows in downtown Everett as the Everett Music Initiative, Ryan Crowther and I decided it was time to launch our own festival. This is all in an effort to bring more quality music to Everett and make it a better place to live, work and play. Events like this festival help shine a light on some of the great talent we have up here in our city.”

The Moondoggies will be performing one of their only shows this year at the festival alongside Rose Windows, La Luz, The Grizzled Mighty, The Maldives, Fly Moon Royalty, Hobosexual and more. Be sure to pick up your tickets in advance as they’re going fast!

Timber! Fest

Artist Home Presents built up their reputation with Doe Bay Fest, which started as a small, isolated music festival located on Orcas Island, in Washington’s beautiful San Juan Islands. The festival turned into a national phenomenon, thanks in part to the Welcome to Doe Bay documentary and festival regulars Head and the Heart’s meteoric rise to stardom, bringing the Doe Bay vibe into the national spotlight.

Last year, they expanded their vision with Timber! Fest in Carnation and Timbrrr! Fest a winter version of the festival located in the German mountain village of Leavenworth. After an amazing inaugural year last year, the word on Timber! is out and this year is pretty much sold out already. It’s testament to their reputation that they managed to snag some great national acts for this year’s festival, namely J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. fame and soul hero Charles Bradley. Also on the bill, Rocky Votalato, Damien Jurado, Seattle Rock Orchestra and more. They even have a kids show that adults will love with Eli Rosenblatt and Mikey Mike.

I went last year and the setting is stunning. The festival is just about a 40 minute drive outside of Seattle at Tolt-Macdonald Park in the small town of Carnation, Washington. Festival attendees will be treated to lush surroundings located by a lazy river with stages hidden amongst the trees throughout the park. There’s camping for tents and RV’s and even yurts that you can reserve. Great for families and just about everyone.

We can’t recommend Timber! enough. The festival takes place on July 24, 25 and 26 and there’s still a few tickets left. Get them now as they won’t be around for long.

Chinook Fest

Summer in the Northwest usually doesn’t really get into full swing until late June. The bonus to that is, the nice weather usually lasts well into September, which is perfect since Chinook Fest is happens on the 12 to the 14 in beautiful Naches, Washington, located in the agricultural heartlands of Central Washington.

Chinook Fest focuses specifically on roots-rock, blues, Americana, country and folk music and will feature 28 acts this year including Pickwick, The Silent Comedy, Austin Jenckes, Cody Beebe & the Crooks, McTuff and more.

This is just a 2.5 hour drive from Seattle at Jim Crick Community Park over on the dry side of the state so expect sunny weather and gorgeous, rolling hills. Also, the drive has been said to be one of the most scenic in the state over Chinook Pass, which is only open 5 months out of the year.

The other nice thing is, you still have time to get tickets and snag a sweet camping spot. You can get tickets right over here and we can’t think of a better festival to close out this year’s festival season with.

Image courtesy of the KEXP blog.