Everett’s Fisherman’s Village Music Festival celebrates people and place

EVERETT — It takes a village to raise a music festival.

Line up the bands and the stages, but without the support of the city, a legion of volunteers, the business community and local fans, it won’t go far.

That’s the message from Eric Gilbert, who runs the successful Treefort Music Festival in Boise, Idaho. Gilbert believes Everett’s music festival is on track to becoming a sustainable event.

The second annual Fisherman’s Village Music Festival runs through Sunday in downtown Everett.

Everett Music Initiative’s Ryan Crowther and Steven Graham, the volunteers who run the festival, are optimistic about its long-term success. This year the event features 75 acts at five venues.

“It’s the largest urban music festival north of Seattle,” Graham said. “People of all ages need to come out. You’re going to be impressed.”

Crowther and Graham started the music initiative about four years ago to promote the independent music scene in Everett. It started with booking shows for local bands at clubs around the city, and pulling together the occasional outdoor concert. Today, the men are approached by people who book for other festivals, looking for Everett bands.

“Everett Music Initiative has brought attention to music in Everett,” said Morgen Schuler, who writes for Seattle Weekly.

Crowther and Graham hold down day jobs to support their music passion. In 2014, they beat their own expectations. Last year’s Fisherman’s Village Music Festival attracted more than 3,000 fans. The EMI venue, The Cannery, averages about 150 people for each show.

A music festival such as Fisherman’s Village has a lot to offer a city such as Everett, Gilbert said.

“In Boise, Treefort galvanized the community. It’s inclusive, respected and was named a cultural ambassador for the city,” he said. “I imagine that is something Fisherman’s Village is doing for Everett.”

Carol Thomas, the city’s cultural arts director, praises Crowther and Graham every chance she gets.

“The festival is such a great thing for Everett. Ryan and Steven are establishing a thriving music scene that is bringing new visitors to Everett. For emerging musical artists, it’s support that wouldn’t be there without those guys,” Thomas said. “What could be better than when volunteer citizens take it upon themselves to make this city a better place? I could not be more proud of them.”

The festival has Snohomish County Tourism Promotion Area support. Crowther, 30, serves on the Snohomish County Public Facilities District board. Graham, 28, sits on the Everett’s Cultural Arts Commission.

“If we’re going to be something the city and county want to promote, we have to show that our event has healthy success, that we can attach to the bigger goals of Everett and its growing population,” Crowther said. “With the first year behind us, we appreciate the support of the city and the county. We also understand that we have to continue to deliver.”

Well-known musician and showman Jason Webley, who closes the festival Sunday evening, calls Fisherman’s Village a quixotic project.

“It’s the same idea as Volume in Spokane and Treefort in Boise: Take a not-major market and make a big event and bring tons of great bands in. It can go quite well,” Webley said. “The trick here is the not-major market is 23 miles from Seattle. Can that work? I don’t know. I have doubts, but I really support them and would love to see them succeed.”

Graham said the festival is fortunate to have Webley’s support.

“He is all in,” Graham said.

While ticket sales pay most of the festival’s costs, sponsorships and partnerships are necessary, Crowther said. So far, sponsors of the festival include BECU, Hampton Inn, Scuttlebutt Brewing, Sno-Isle Food Co-op, Homestreet Bank, Bayside bikes, KSER radio, KushMart and Leafly.com. Also encouraging Graham and Crowther are downtown restaurant and small business owners.

Part of the challenge is creating a buzz about the festival among older audiences, especially the baby boom generation.

Word is getting around among younger people who appreciate the fact that they don’t have to go into expensive Seattle to see some great Northwest bands, Graham said.

“People are coming from Canada, Oregon, Idaho and other parts of our state,” he said. “But this is an event that celebrates Everett and Snohomish County and shows off our beautiful downtown, which is sometimes lost on people.”

Graham, an Everett High School graduate, said he’s been guilty of not appreciating where he lives.

“It’s time to reverse the mind set. We wanted the name of the festival to remind people of the beauty of this place and what our heritage is here in Everett,” Graham said. “But a village is the beginning of something bigger. That’s where Everett is heading. The attention paid to this festival has benefitted the city, young artists and local fans, who are blown away that this is happening in their town.”

The festival will continue to be a platform for local music, Graham said.

The Everett band Fauna Shade, which just released an album and closes the festival’s program on Saturday night, was the recipient of a Mayor’s Arts Award in 2014 and is a “gem of a band,” he said.

Other locals on the program include Preacher’s Wife, Hot! Donna, Shark the Herald, Born of Ghosts and the Juicy Jets, the winner of the recent Everett High School battle of the bands.

“Juicy Jets is a funk party on wheels,” Graham said. “They have horns, choreography and sunglasses. So great. But, really, I am excited about the entire lineup. It’s gonna be hard to be in three places at once at the festival.”

Most of the other bands set to perform hail from Seattle, Portland and Spokane.

On Monday, the day after the festival, Crowther and Graham have no plans to rest.

“We are already working on next year,” Graham said.

Fisherman’s Village will never be as big as Treefort in Boise, which is a university town, Crowther said. In March, the Idaho festival included more than 400 bands performing at about 20 venues around the city.

“We went there for inspiration,” Crowther said. “We found out that it’s a community thing. Only about 25 percent of the tickets were bought by people from out of state. If Everett gets behind Fisherman’s Village, it will be part of the new Everett, the place people haven’t totally seen yet.”

Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege. A&E editor Aaron Swaney contributed to this report.

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