FYI 98642

One woman's thoughts about her world

You are here: Home / Home

Bluegrass, Vendor Market, Crafts and Activities

By Leave a Comment

Visit Downtown Ridgefield this weekend to enjoy crafts, vendors and Bluegrass music!

BirdFest & Bluegrass is a joint event planned in a partnership between the City of Ridgefield and the Friends of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge that includes virtual and in-person activities, crafts, musical performances, and a Pickers Festival.

Downtown: Musical Performances, Pickers Festival, Vendors and Crafts

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULES

Venue: Overlook Park, 113-131 S Main

-10:00AM – Phoenix Duo; The duo Phoenix consists of award winning songwriters Tim and Kathy Crosby – who have been performing together for well over 20 years. Phoenix rises in the joy of a fresh new sound that highlights the multi-instrumental talents of both musicians, and also focuses on a variety of vocal styles and abilities.

Venue: Ridgefield Craft Brewing Co. Taphouse, 120 N 3rd

-6:00PM – Whiskey Deaf; The band is made up of talented and experienced bluegrass musicians who share a passion for finding and playing lesser known bluegrass and related music from the repertoires of first generation bluegrass, early country and old-time sources, and then giving it the Whiskey Deaf stamp.

Venue: Ridgefield School District Maintenance Building, 304 Pioneer St

-12:00PM – Opus Band; All Opus students are members of the Jam Band. The band plays various gigs around the community and is mentored by upper level students.
-12:45PM – Tried & Blue; Three-piece Bluegrass band.
-2:00PM – Ash Creek; Ash Creek explores the frontiers between bluegrass, folk, and traditional country music.
-3:15PM – Corral Creek; Corral Creek has a mixed set list which includes Bluegrass standards, Oregon tunes, original tunes about life experience, comedy tunes, and a few stories.

Venue: Sportsman’s Public House, 121 N Main Ave

-1:00PM – Whistlin’ Rufus; Our music blends bluegrass, rock, acoustic melodies, and some classical influences to create a unique sound.
-2:15PM – Hardshell Harmony
-3:30PM – Fadin’ by 9; With hot pickin’, tight harmonies, and a mix of “bluegrassified” rock, folk, and bluegrass covers & originals, Fadin’ by 9 creates a unique, uplifting, high-energy sound that will keep your feet tapping all night long.

PICKERS FESTIVAL

Come join in on some Bluegrass Jamming around Ridgefield at the BirdFest and Bluegrass Pickers Festival!

Picker Locations:

  • Ridgefield Craft Brewing Co. Taphouse, 120 N 3rd Ave: 12:00PM-4:00PM (covered)
  • Carts By the Park Food Cart Pod, 219 Pioneer St: 12:00PM-5:00PM (covered)
  • Ridgefield Community Library Teen Room, 210 Pioneer St: 12:00PM-5:00PM (indoor)
  • Sportsman’s Public House Patio, 121 N Main Ave: 12:00PM-5:00PM (covered)

VOLUNTEER EVENT

Join us for Phase 2 of building the Abrams Park Nature Play Area on Saturday, October 2nd from 10AM-1PM. Volunteers ages 7+ are invited to join in and help continue the build of this new play area. Visit our Volunteer page for more details.

VENDORS AND CRAFTS

Vendor Market: Ridgefield First Saturday and Farmers Market vendors will be on site at Overlook Park from 9AM to 2PM.

Craft Tent: BirdFest crafts and activities will be available at the craft tent at Overlook Park.

Bonus! Get a sneak peak at Friends of the Refuge online content on the TV in the “preview” tent at Overlook Park. Access all online content anytime at this link.

Bird Fest

By Leave a Comment

You may be wondering, what is the schedule going to be for the BirdFest part of BirdFest & Bluegrass this year?

Well, there isn’t going to be one technically. All our videos are going to be available all at once on October 2nd, all in one simple link!

We will have a variety of nostalgically themed videos that resemble the activities you know and love from in-person BirdFest events, like the Cathlapotle Plankhouse hike, the Night Hike, birding workshops, Refuge info, and so much more.

Of course, there will be tons going on in downtown Ridgefield for you to check out, which is why we wanted the videos to be easy to find. While you’re downtown, you can view the videos in our “Previews” booth that the city will provide, right alongside the vendors, family activities, and Bluegrass pickers and bands. and of course, don’t forget that the Refuge will be free!

Saturday, October 2nd, we are taking you, Back to the Refuge!

BirdFest & Bluegrass is a joint event planned in a partnership between the City of Ridgefield and the Friends of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge that includes virtual and in-person activities, crafts, musical performances, and a Pickers Festival.

Halloween Hall

By Leave a Comment

This will be the 5th and final year for the Ridgefield Art Association’s Halloween Hall.

It will take place in Abrams Park on October 15th and 16th starting at 6pm but this year the attractions will all be outside! The straw bale maze and performances by Dance Fusion will still be free and take place at the bottom half of each hour on both nights. A $5 fee allows you to stroll along the spooky path in the woods to enjoy the witches, spiders, skeletons and many other fun festive sights. This event is intended to delight smaller children so there will be no bloody or excessively gory sights to cause nightmares.

Halloween costumes are encouraged for all ages. Dress for the weather but note that Bennett Hall will be open for seating and dining on food provided by the Lion’s Club. The Ridgefield Library will also have a fun booth inside the Hall.

Saturday night, Oct 16th starting at 5:30, That Damn VolksWagon Club of Vancouver will line up their amazing “trick or trunk” so bring a small bag for goodies. Smokey and Napolean from Mountain Peaks Therapy Llamas and Alpacas are scheduled for a brief appearance at 7 pm on the 16th. Look for them dressed in their fine pirate costumes.

The local parking lot may fill up so consider parking at the elementary school and walking down the short hill along the sidewalk to enter the park. This event is a fund raiser for the RAA. We hope to see many repeat spooks along with new ones!

For more event details please check out the Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/Ridgefield.Art.Association or webpage

http://www.ridgefieldartassociation.com/

Make a Difference Month

By Leave a Comment

A message from Lee Knottnerus, Deputy City Manager

I would like to invite you or an organization you are involved with to participate in Ridgefield’s Make a Difference Month. The kick-off for the month is the First Saturday in November – we would like to do two things. First, add volunteer organizations to the vendor fair – to provide information and recruit members. Second, provide a variety of volunteer activities to be completed in the morning hours of First Saturday.

So my question for you – Would you like to:

  1. Host a booth at the event: November 6, 9AM-2PM, Bennett Hall @ Abrams Park.
  2. Provide written information that we can include on a coop-type table.
  3. Host a volunteer activity. We will be providing lunch at noon for all volunteers. And, we can help recruit the volunteers for you
  4. Plan a volunteer activity in your neighborhood. We can advertise the neighborhoods that are participating and need volunteers.
  5. Volunteer for an activity that is organized by someone else – and maybe recruit a few of your friends to do the same.

Or, if you have other ideas about how we can encourage the residents of Ridgefield to help Make a Difference, I would be happy to hear it.

What is Make a Difference Month? The Ridgefield community consistently acts to help one another through difficult times. With Make a Difference month, we want to recognize and promote those actions in our community as we enter a time of year that can be tough for many – especially this year. Each week of November, beginning with the First Saturday volunteer services, will have its own theme, activities and challenges that contribute to making a difference in the Ridgefield community. The themes will focus in four areas: stewardship, kindness, gratitude and connection.

Please join us! And please forward this information to anyone you know that may be interested.

Thank you in advance, Lee

RAA Seeks Members

By Leave a Comment

The Ridgefield Art Association was established 30 years ago with the following mission statement:

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

  • Create an environment that allows all forms of art to flourish in the Ridgefield community.
  • Promote Ridgefield as an arts and culture community and bring artists together.
  • Showcase local talent and participate in events that benefit artists and culture in the community.
  • Work towards the development of a permanent creative arts center and gallery in Ridgefield.
  • Create a network for mentoring artists while providing encouragement and education through scholarships and grants.
  • Participate in ongoing artistic development of the community.

Serving as the vice president for this organization for the past 6 years, I have seen the RAA achieve nearly all of these goals but that doesn’t mean we are done. With the huge increase in population we believe there will be even more opportunities to “support the arts” in this community.

Please consider becoming a member of this vibrant group even if you don’t think you have any artistic talent. You may find that you actually do and just hadn’t had the chance to explore it yet.

Or, perhaps you can offer another administrative or organizational skill to the group. Our next meeting will be held Tuesday September 28th at 7pm in “the commons” of the RACC which is located at 510 Pioneer Street (the old middle school). We’d love to meet you!

~by Maureen O’Reilly, vice president of the Ridgefield Art Association

Filed Under: Art

Ribbon Cutting at Overpass

By Leave a Comment

Port of Ridgefield staff, contractors, local elected officials and representatives from Washington State’s 18th district were on hand at the Pioneer Street Rail Overpass celebration event on September 11, 2021 to do the ribbon cutting honors for the Pioneer Street Rail Overpass project. Elected officials and port staff in the photo are from Left: Port of Ridgefield V.P. of Operations Laurie Olin; Port of Ridgefield Commissioner Bruce Wiseman (white shirt); Senator Ann Rivers, Port of Ridgefield Chair Scott Hughes (behind Senator Rivers); State Representative Brandon Vick; Port of Ridgefield CEO Brent Grening (back, white shirt); and Port of Ridgefield Commissioner Joe Melroy (white shirt); State Representative Larry Hoff, who was on the scene, was standing behind Laurie Olin.

The Pioneer Street Rail Overpass will open to pedestrians and vehicle traffic in the early hours of September 17. This Port of Ridgefield project provides safe, uninterrupted passage to and from the Ridgefield waterfront. The overpass span was the third and final phase of this safety project that started 17 months ago. This phase tied the earlier Port of Ridgefield-constructed overpass approach roads together to complete the rail overpass.

Hopefully this will mean no more train horns at 3:00 in the morning!