We could learn today or Friday whether the Wintergrass music festival will move to Bellevue next year after 16 years in Tacoma.
If the festival board opts for Bellevue, it won’t be due to any lack of effort from local folks to keep it here.
When word got out that festival organizers were considering relocating north to a city better known for its shopping than its roots music, representatives from the city and hospitality industry went into action. They put together an attractive incentives package designed to keep the bluegrass festival here, bringing thousands of music lovers from all over the country to Tacoma, filling up hotel rooms and injecting millions of dollars into the community every February.
Bellevue offers logistical opportunities for the festival that Tacoma can’t – particularly the ability to put up everyone in one hotel (the 700-room-plus Hyatt Regency) at a reasonable price instead of scattering them around at different locations. Five stages would be offered at one site, saving on the cost and inconvenience of shuttling between venues.
But the most important incentive Bellevue offers is less tangible than room rates and performance sites. The Hyatt apparently has promised something that festivalgoers have felt lacking in Tacoma the last few years: a jam-friendly hotel atmosphere.
The Sheraton Tacoma Hotel was always a warm, embracing “festival central” for Wintergrass musicians and fans, open to impromptu jam sessions. But when it was bought by Portland owners and became the art-filled Hotel Murano, that warm atmosphere turned noticeably chilly.
Festival organizers believe that change – along with the economic downturn and competition from a Portland bluegrass festival – is why attendance dropped by about a quarter this year.
If the festival board decides to give Tacoma a second chance – and we hope that it does – the city needs to work on Hotel Murano’s absentee owners and impress on them how important keeping Wintergrass is for downtown. And local folks who’ve always meant to attend the festival but never got around to it should make the effort in 2010.
Joni Mitchell wrote, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” It would be truly unfortunate if Tacoma were left singing that song.
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