“People can come and play,” said organizer Charlotte Runyan. “People know each other. You just bring your instruments and join in.”
The 19th annual festival, beginning tonight, is a benefit for the Rainier Lions Club.
The event was started by one couple, Art and Charlotte Runyan, because they wanted to create music with their friends.
“We just like bluegrass,” Charlotte Runyan said. “There used to be a big get-together at a friend’s place down in Bucoda. It was at his house. We’d drive in with RVs and have a pig roast.
“We’d been going to big festivals, and we usually ended up jamming in the parking lot. We figured it’s more fun to do that.”
So when the friend stopped having his gathering, the Run-yans decided to host their own. “We had a little tent and a little show. We had about 20-25 rigs come.”
These days, the festival draws closer to 100 recreational vehicles carrying music lovers, plus people with vans, campers, converted school buses, tents – and local visitors. “We have a really nice walk-in crowd, especially on Saturday,” Runyan said. “It seems like there are a few more people each year who discover our festival.”
The festival coincides with the Rainier Roundup, which includes a parade, a flea market and more.
“That’s one reason people like to come,” she said. “They can walk down and see the parade, they can go to the flea market, and a lot of people have yard sales on this weekend.”
Shows are free. The Lions Club sells food, and a modest donation is requested from those who camp in Wilkowski Park and the nearby baseball field.
“We didn’t really intend to have such a big production,” she said. “We tried to keep it small. We can’t get too many more people in, I don’t think, although we haven’t filled up the baseball field yet.”
Carol and Jim Dill of Montesano have been coming pretty much every year since the festival began. Carol plays guitar; Jim plays upright bass.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Carol Dill said. “You get to see a lot of old friends and meet some new ones.”
She sings the National Anthem to begin the festival in Rainier.
While the Runyans also still love to play, they’ll be too busy running the festival to do much of that this weekend. Charlotte and her autoharp, and Art and his upright bass do play at other festivals and all year long at senior centers and nursing homes.
“They like old music,” Charlotte Runyan said, “and you don’t have to be a great musician. You can just make a happy noise.
