I Found Naches, Washington, What Did You Do Today?

Chinookfest 2014, achieved.

Woke up at 7, snoozed my alarm until entirely too late. Got up, ate a bowl of cereal, and finished watching Crocodile Dundee 2. Got on my bike and went for a quick four mile ride and came home to shower and finish getting CD’s burned. Put my bass and pedals in their cases and packed up some extra clothes, just in case; you never know. Got the car loaded and headed out around 9:30. The drive out to Naches is really scenic, that’s the somewhat manly way to say that it’s a beautiful drive. If you haven’t gone east that far out I’d definitely recommend it. It was perfectly clear today and the whole way out you could see Rainier on the horizon, still covered in snow. I really want to climb that mountain. Anyway, we got there in pretty good time and pulled around to the ‘VIP’ parking area behind the stages. Basically the way they have it set up is there’s two stages, and they’re set up pretty close together, but not right on top of each other. Each band gets a 40 minute set, and they alternate stages so as soon as one band is done on one side, the other side starts about five minutes later, unless you’re one of the headliners and then you play later in the evening and get an hour. The break in between bands gives people the time to go the bathroom or get food or just move to the other stage area and get situated. When we arrived, we got our passes and food vouchers for the day, awesome. Then we found out that we got complimentary Liberty water bottles that were custom printed with the Chinookfest logo and date and everything. Some had the complete band lineup on them; so cool. And then, oh yeah, there’s more; and then we got custom printed Chinookfest beer! Like full-on commemorative, made for the event cans. What an awesome way to get welcomed to an event. Everyone running things there and helping out, from the event staff to the food vendors, was super awesome and very nice. The crowd was into all the bands throughout the day, and they made us feel like a million bucks after every song. We finished up our set and packed up our gear and grabbed some food. Our good friends in Vaudeville Etiquette played on the same stage as we did right after us, so we had about 45 minutes to get settled in before they played. Their set was great, as usual. They even had some sound/power issues but they powered through like professionals; great band, great people. The same can be said for all the bands I watched and met today.

I sincerely hope we get to play this fest again next year. It was a totally easy and wonderful experience from beginning to end and the people putting it on should know that. You guys are badasses, Hi5’s all around.