34 Years of Beautiful Redwood Coast Music
The Redwood Coast Dixieland Jazz Festival was the brainchild of the late Patty Berg and good friend Bonnie Nealy back in the early 1990s.
Patty, a longtime friend of the Humboldt Senior Resource Center, was looking for ways to support local senior programs facing declining funding. She heard about a jazz festival in Redding, gathered a busload of friends and saw what a fun, successful event it was. They decided they should do this in Eureka.
Local businesses eagerly supported the idea. Hotels could accommodate an influx of visitors at the end of March, and the first Redwood Coast Dixieland Jazz Festival opened in March 1991. Here we are, 34 festivals later.
As the festival grew, it became apparent the event was a huge boost to the local economy. Despite bumps along the way, the festival volunteers were resilient.
The first festival used large tents as venues. The tent at the foot of C Street quickly flooded. Courtney Roberts offered Club West, which became a yearly venue. Tents were popular music venues until their cost became prohibitive. Over 34 years, the festival has survived roads closed by mudslides and snow, musicians stuck at SFO or LAX because of fog, band vehicles with mechanical issues getting stuck in remote areas, and then COVID.
As the senior population aged and were less able to attend, it became apparent that a wider, younger audience was needed for the festival to survive. More bands and different musical genres were added, starting with blues and zydeco.
“Dixieland” was deleted from the festival title in 2004 as different music was added and the Redwood Coast Jazz Festival was born. Lindy dancers from the college discovered the festival and started attending. Word spread and dancers from other areas like Sacramento and Portland came as well. Dance floors were added to every indoor venue along with more varieties of music. Local bands were added to the mix.
In 2015, the festival’s 25th year, saw “jazz” replaced with “music” in its name, and it became the Redwood Coast Music Festival as types of music continued to grow and diversify — different styles of jazz, rockabilly and American roots music.
After the pandemic, the festival date moved to October to coincide with Arts Alive. The better fall weather brought back the Gazebo’s Old Town Concert. Rhythm and Roots, started before COVID, returns on Saturday night this year, with several local bands playing in various Old Town locations. (See Mark Larson, “A Redwood Coast Musical Extravaganza,” page 1.)
All this is possible thanks in part to a grant from the Ink People, the Humboldt Creative Alliance and Humboldt County’s Measure J. Even before this year’s festival tunes up, plans for next year are already underway.
Lynn McKenna is a longtime Redwood Coast Music Festival organizer. Visit rcmfest.org for schedule and info.
