Music lovers headed to Sisters for festival

Thousands of music lovers are headed to town for this weekend's Sisters Folk Festival.

For the first time, the festival declared an early sell-out on all-event passes for this year's event.

"We can't really pinpoint a particular reason that ticket sales got so hot so fast this year," said festival board chair Jim Cornelius. "It's a great line-up, but we always have that. We think it's just the fact that the word is out: this is a fantastic weekend of music in a beautiful place, and people want to be here."

The lineup for this year's festival includes legendary songwriter James McMurtry, festival favorite Mary Gauthier, and "Walking Woody's Road," a celebration of the life of Woody Guthrie, featuring Jimmy LaFave, Eliza Gilkyson, Slaid Cleaves, and Sara Lee Guthrie with Johnny Irion.

The festival will also welcome Abigail Washburn with Kai Welch, Gregory Alan Isakov, Brian Blade, Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three, Catie Curtis, Keith Greeninger, John Fullbright, Phoebe Hunt, David Jacobs-Strain and the Crunk Mountain Boys, and more.

"One of the unique things about the Sisters Folk Festival is that so many of our venues are small and located in local businesses," said Cornelius. "Those venues fill up fast; if you want to see a particular artist at a particular venue, get there early."

New this year is a tented venue at Melvin's Fir Street Market on Hood Avenue.

"That's going to be our party spot this year," said Cornelius. "In the evening we'll clear the chairs out so that people can throw down and dance. It's a nice, big space for that."

Cornelius noted that Bronco Billy's Ranch Grill and Saloon has served as that type of venue in the past and is not part of the lineup this year.

"We appreciate (owners) John Tehan and John Keenan's support over the years," said Cornelius. "We just needed a bigger, more accessible spot for the kind of show we are trying to offer for folks who want to shake it a bit."

Also new this year is a singer-songwriter venue at Clearwater Gallery/The Open Door courtyard on Hood Avenue, which will run on Saturday evening.

Managing growth while maintaining its identity is paramount to festival organizers.

"It's a tricky deal trying to let the festival grow naturally while maintaining the intimacy and sense of community that makes the festival what it is," said Cornelius. "We know that bigger isn't necessarily better, so we're always looking for ways to go deeper, do better, and still stay what we are, which is a small, friendly festival in a small, friendly town."