Good Cheer Harvest Party and Music Fest 2011

Good Cheer’s 3rd Annual Harvest Party & Music Fest is this Saturday, September 10th at Bayview from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Admission is Free.

Saturday will be a day full of music and fun for everyone. Special guest, Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet, will be talking about his book and sharing his growing love of backyard gardening.

This is a video from 1966 longer than I usually post, just click the photo below.

Graham will be conducting workshops and signing books in the garden from 11 a.m. until 12 p.m. and will be on stage to speak to us from noon until 12:45 p.m.

Local musicians will entertain, we will have kid’s activities (with prizes),  and raffle drawings. There will be tacos, root beer floats and the now annual Chef Cook Off event. You can also attend one of our many garden workshops or take a tour of the food bank so that you’ll have a better understanding of how Good Cheer serves the needy of South Whidbey.

Master of Ceremonies Jim Freeman; he is always there for us and does a great job!

Here is the performance schedule, as expected,  for this years Harvest Party and Music Fest:

The Good Cheer Singers

From the left Rita Burns (Good Cheer Operations Manager), Kathy McLaughlin (Good Cheer Executive Director), Kay Stanley (Good Cheer Board Member) and our Bandleader playing guitar Diane Fraser.

The Good Cheer Singers will be playing their rendition of  ”We Are Family”.

Julie Mae Pigott

Julie is an adult and children’s singer, songwriter and entertainer who has been playing music with others for over 30 years. Her most recent work has been singing sacred chant music with the Bhajan group Shakti. She has performed in Alaska and Western Washington. Julie has played in programs at the Sno-Isle Libraries and Benaroya Hall to support Operation Sack Lunch.

Warm Hearts 

Dinah Stinson and Linda Edeling

Natasha & Nicole 

Natasha (Bass) and Nic (Guitar and Vocals) have been playing music together since October of 2010.  This is only the second time that they have not performed without their full band “For the Birds” although Nic has played the Harvest Festival the past two years as a solo performer.  The girls play gigs with For the Birds in Seattle,Tacoma, Anacortes, locally on Whidbey, and at various private venues.  They hope to continue their musical path throughout their journeys through life.

Graham Kerr

Graham will share the experiences of his kitchen garden and pass on some tips that he picked up along the way. He will bring along his book, Growing at the Speed of Life, which is his story about becoming a cook for healthier living. “You can eat plants in more creative ways”. As he says and “Dig your own garden. There’s nothing more rewarding. Do it in the company of your neighbors. Green the neighborhood.”

Sounds like the GoodCheerGarden!

Graham has a website and a blog that you can explore by clicking here.

The Dandelion Family String Band  

The Dandelion Family String Band is a father, son, daughter trio from Whidbey Island, Washington.  Harrison Keating plays the fiddle and performs vocal while Megan Keating  plays the cello and the banjo. Their father Pete Keating plays the guitar, banjo and performs vocals. They started making music together in the spring of 2010 and have performed at various festivals and events in Western Washington over the past year.  The group especially enjoys performing early and contemporary folk classics in addition to their own brand of original material.

Piper Reva 

Photo Credit Robbie Cribbs of SoundTrap Studios -- Freeland

Piper Reva is an original act, with theatrical flare, singing with a soul on fire. She’s a Warrior Princess Wordsmith. Her tunes are heart-wrenching, comical, pure and playful, ranging from the dark caverns of love-gone-wrong, tales of the road and strangers met along the way, to the sweet sunny fields of gratitude.

She plays a hand-painted guitar, wears many hats, and is guaranteed to bust out some abstract improv with the audience. Her voice is as dynamic as they come, with seductive kitten purrs and freight train howls, devoted to rip you to pieces and put you back together again like a Humpty Dumpty Soul Revival.

She now resides in The Dragon’s Tail of Whidbey Island, Washington. Piper, nick-named “Piperoo” as a child, is also an established visionary painter and photographer with artworks in galleries and homes throughout the United States.

Riva will be playing locally at the 1904 Public House and on Friday, September 9th and again at the Meerkerk Garden Fest Sunday October 2nd from noon to 2 p.m. Piper will have 2 different albums for sale at Good Cheer.

The Muse & The Eye 

The Muse and Eye is a country/folk duo fromWhidbey Island. The group combines the singing and songwriting talents of Russell Clepper and the vocal talents of Sarah Dial Primrose to deliver music in a genre that Russell has described as flatland folk or buffalo grass music or vague country. Russell  has performed from Quebec City and Montreal to New York City, most of the Mid West, all overTexas, and much of Western Washington.

Sarah’s parents grew up in West Virginia where she listened to her grandparents and other relatives sing old Appalachian ballads and laments.  Later on, she performed both solo and as a much sought after vocal accompanist to up-and-coming folk singers on open mic stages in New York City, most notably at the legendary Gerdy’s Folk City.

They are big supporters of the food bank. “The Good Cheer Harvest and Music Fest event is a community celebration we are proud and honored to be a part of.  The thrift stores, the food bank, the staff and all the volunteers deserve our heart felt thanks and recognition for what they do here on South Whidbey”.

Swinging Nettles

Steve Showell, Joanne Rouse and Judy Magidson

Karin Blaine  

Indie-folk powerhouse, Karin Blaine, describes her show and music as a ”liza-minelli-meets-bob-dylan-kind-of-experience”.  A complete original in her songwriting and stage persona ,Blaine maximizes the potential of one voice and one guitar to provide her listeners with the ‘goods’ emotionally and musically.

You can listen to Karin by clicking the above photo!

A seasoned performer, Blaine has played Seattle’s Bumbershoot, Passim’s in Boston, the Crypt in New York City. She was a songwriting finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, Texas and appeared on many PNW radio stations. Karin is a WICA 2012 LOCAL ARTIST winner and will bring her show to the WICA stage on March 16, 2012 inLangley.

She has also created “The Power of YOU in Songwriting” workshops to support self-expression and creativity in aspiring songwriters. If you ever thought of being a songwriter Karin is presenting a beginning level ‘HOW TO WRITE A SONG’ workshop through CCE (Coupeville Continuing Education) on Sept. 28th at the Coupeville Middle School.  Clicking here will get you there.

Open Mic and Good Cheer Announcements

Hey, this is going to be one great day of fun!

See You There!

Good Harvest and Good Cheer!