October 15 ~ Ridgefield Bluegrass and Old Time Music Festival

Ridgefield is a little town Northwest of Vancouver, Washington. It was a little like an episode of the

Twilight Zone to drive into town, look at the people on the street, and realize you knew about 95%

of them! What they do is turn the entire town into a pickin' party. You pay $5 for music, activities,

and other events from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.  The proceeds go towards their wild bird sanctuary

(Bluegrass for the Birds is another name for this fest).

We played in the community hall, which was very intimate. There was not a lot of seating, so most

people stood.   It was fun to watch them when we'd play something with a little swing in it and they'd

get "happy feet". What we REALLY liked was that they set a speaker outside to draw people in.

We had a great time talking up the fact that this was the one and only time that the audience

could hear our guitar player (Tom O'Connor) at his first gig as a married man!  We sure hope we get

invited back to this one again next year!

September 14 ~ HBO/Charter Communications Company Picnic

This was just too much fun!  BBQ, bluegrass, and lots of prizes being given away under a sunny

Vancouver, Washington  sky.  Kathy took everyone on a little adventure finding the venue (always

check the zip code in Mapquest!), but with some help from a friendly Librarian we arrived and got set

up on time anyway.  Kathy made such a fuss over the cardboard characters that were

positioned throughout the building that the staff presented her with her very own life size cardboard

"Shrek"!  Watch for him, we'll be taking him on the road.

  Tim Crosby plays       Tom O'Connor nails a              Kathy Boyd just             Tom Tower models his

 some tasty fiddle. . .          guitar lead. . . .             having too much fun!          Phoenix Rising hat and

                                                                                                                        trademark grin. . .

August 6 ~ Private Wedding

Who would have thought that our first gig could be so much fun?  After a bit of an adventure when the

transmission dropped out of one of the vans (right in front of the U-Haul, how handy is that?) we played

an acoustic set at the top of Multorpor Mountain (part of Mt. Hood).  This was one of those weddings

that you're just so darn happy to be a part of.  Beautiful weather, a bride and groom who were having

FUN, and the opportunity to ride the ski-lift or mountain slide down from the top of the mountain.  The

reception was a riot, with Phoenix Rising doing a 20 minute (or so, depends on who's telling the story)

version of "Hava Nagila" while the bride, groom, and parents were hoisted on chairs and the guests

danced around underneath them!  We wish the bride and groom a happy ever after and a huge thanks

 for asking us to be part of their special day!

Views like this make       The bride and groom are hoisted           Backdrop for our first gig. . . Wow! 

you proud to be from           onto chairs for the traditional

      the Northwest!                       "Hora" dance. . .

Click here to read about other years!