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SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2016
Making music happen at Winter Music Festival
Artisan Fair
Billy Jones and
Mike Davis
The Shook Twins
he Winter Music Festival Artisan Fair featured the Friends
of the FEC’s Pie Sale, book signings by local authors and
illustrators, crafts, beauty products, fine art and more.
The festival
brought the
Shook Twins, Billy Jones,
Jonathan Edwards and
other musical groups in
a variety of genres to
Florence. For more infor-
mation on the annual
Ava Glowacki
festival, go to www.
signs her book
PHOTO BY KASSY KEPPOL
wintermusicfestival.org.
T
Jonathan
Edwards
Friends of
the FEC pie sale
PHOTOS BY JACK DAVIS AND
CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS
Festival
from 1A
In an interview backstage,
Edwards said, “My music
career began when I first
picked up a guitar in 1964.”
This was his first Oregon
performance.
His hits include “Sunshine
(Go Away Today),” “Shanty,”
“Athens County” and “One
Day Closer.”
“I still call them records,”
he said during the concert.
“Heck, I still call them 8-
tracks.”
Identical twins Katelyn and
Laurie Shook, of Portland,
performed with members of
their band after Edwards.
One of the twins’ most
interesting instruments was a
large percussion “golden egg.”
The folk-focused festival
began in the early 2000s.
Since then, the festival has
featured headliners popular in
the folk music scene.
Although still open to folk, the
Winter Music Festival this
year had a mix of genres,
including bluegrass, country,
alternative,
Americana, story-
telling, pop and
songs from the
road.
A total of 12 per-
formers and groups
played at the FEC, but
other events kept the
musicians making music all
weekend.
Two jam sessions allowed
local artists and community
members to interact with and
play alongside the music
groups.
Crafters, makers
and artists held an
Artisan Fair during
the day on Saturday
and Sunday while
the concerts played.
Local and regional
artists, authors, potters
and more sold wares that
included books, lamps, tex-
tiles, cards, beadwork, metal
work, jewelry and food prod-
ucts.
The Friends of the FEC
held its annual pie sale, which
sold out of 50 pies in nine
varieties.
Jennifer Connor, marketing
specialist for the FEC, esti-
mates that more than 700 peo-
ple came to the festival.
Next year, Pearson hopes to
change the date of the festival
to a better weekend between
football games. She also hopes
to add more time between
music sets so people can
browse the artisan fair and eat
at area restaurants.
“It was a successful transi-
tion from the old folk festival,”
she said. “We had a good mix
of performers, some of whom
had a core group of supportive
fans. People consistently left
the theater with big smiles.”
__________
Follow Chantelle on Twitter
@SNews_Chantelle. Email her at
cmeyer@thesiuslawnews.com.