The Tumbleweed Music Festival’s origin story begins in 1976, when John and Micki Perry moved to the Tri-Cities from the Hudson Valley of New York, an area with an active music and folk community, where they were close friends with Pete Seeger and his wife Toshi, and extremely active in the effort to clean-up the then heavily-polluted Hudson River, and also the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater non-profit organization.  In 1976, the Seegers, and the Clearwater Sloop organization, started an annual environmental music festival that is still held every summer, once called the “Great Hudson River Revival”, and in 2020 the Virtual Great Hudson River Revival. 

In the 1980’s, a community organization called SunFest was founded, which produced a series of summertime entertainment and family events at Howard Amon Park in Richland, WA. John and Micki were involved in the production of several of the SunFest concerts and festivals including an International Festival, a Children’s Festival, a Chautauqua, and the first Ye Merrie Greenwood Faire. In 1987 they produced The Downriver Bluegrass Festival, aided by Jim Honeyman, who knew much more about bluegrass than they did. The first Down River Bluegrass Festival was held on Labor Day Weekend in Howard Amon Park and featured  folk acts on Saturday, and regional bluegrass bands on Sunday, culminating with the Sunday evening concert with the nationally-known  bluegrass act The Seldom Scene.

The Down River Bluegrass Festival continued for two more years after 1987. Also, in 1987, the organization that became the Three Rivers Folklife Society (3RFS) came together.  It took some time for the right mix of talented and dedicated people to find each other, but by 1987 an informal group began to form. Before then, Bret Cannon had produced some contra dances, Jim Honeyman had produced some bluegrass concerts, and the Perrys had opened for a Dan Maher concert produced by Patty Stratton, followed by a brunch where folks interested in forming a folk society came together.  Crystal Midnight, the sound company that had helped with that concert, donated $150 as start-up capital for the new organization.

The first two 3RFS concerts featured Utah Phillips and John Gorka.  Soon we were holding monthly concerts, contra dances and coffeehouses and had a newsletter, Folk Talk, to publicize our events. Under the leadership of Mark Horn, 3RFS attained legal non-profit status in Washington state in 1990, and federal non-profit status in 1991.  Each year brought more organization, and the involvement of more people.

The first 3RFS Coffee Houses began in 1990, produced first by Jeanette Lockhart, then, from 1996 to 1999, by Robin Hill, and, beginning in fall 1999, by Sally Butler, and finally by Alan Page. Three Rivers’ coffeehouses and concerts became so successful that by the late 90’s we were having two concerts a month, and we knew that many mostly Northwest artists wanted to be featured in 3RFS events and were building an audience.

In 1997 we  felt the need to finally have a  festival to accommodate all those favorite regional performers, and also to fill a local vacuum left when SunFest went bankrupt due to over-extension of promises to some of the national acts they booked. Some of the lessons we learned from SunFest’s misadventures were: that to be financially successful it is important to focus on regional acts who can perform for nominal travel costs, along the lines of the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle; community sponsorship, including the City of Richland, is essential to assure ongoing success; and finally, that It is essential to have a solid base of volunteers to organize, produce, and operate the festival, limiting purchased services to the greatest extent possible.

In 1997 a core of dedicated volunteers emerged with a vision for a festival, and they became a  strong steering committee:  John and Micki Perry, Perry and Liz Campbell, Dave Oestreich, Theresa Grate, Gary White, Harry Babad, Jim Mock, Robin Hill, Mickie Chamness,, Frank Cuta, and Robert Phillips. Many are still active volunteers involved in the production of Tumbleweed. Janet Humphrey was Tumbleweed Chair for the first 3 years. Our generic Tumbleweed logo was designed for our 10th anniversary by Teresa Grate who also designed our 3 Rivers Folklife logo and did the graphics for Folk Talk for many years.

The Tumbleweed Music Festival is now an annual event, with an estimated 4,000 plus attendees per year. Each year that number grows, as does the number of performers and workshops.  Continued successful growth has been made possible every year by Tumbleweed’s strong dedicated chairpersons and the dedication of hundreds of volunteers every year. Volunteers are our lifeblood to support folk music and bring music and events to the people. 

One of the best features of the Tumbleweed Music Festival is the deep affection that so many people hold for it.  For many regional performers, and others from across the US, Tumbleweed is and remains their favorite festival.  Hank Cramer III, a Tumbleweed stalwart from the first festival, has said that it is “…the best folk festival in the country.”  When Tumbleweed happens each year, performers, volunteers, and audience members alike all speak of a feeling of a family reunion, of a true community with traditions and solidarity. That solidarity has grown organically  year after year, and the Tumbleweed planning committee and volunteers have striven to treat our performers well, to allow them to have the environment they need to best share their art and love with all of the rest of us.  For this, everyone involved in the organization is justifiably proud.

Each year, a theme for that year’s Tumbleweed Festival is identified. In 2019, Pete Seeger was honored in what would have been his 100th year with the theme “Power of Song.”  The theme in 2020 was “Wind”, and in 2021, our silver anniversary year, it was “Silver Linings.”  The 2022 festival saw our return to a live festival in the park, and that coming together prompted the theme of “Dear Friends.” For 2023, the theme was “Good Times!” The 2024 Festival theme will be “By Water, Under Trees,” in honor of the beautiful location in which we get to present the festival each year.

Not everything has been smooth sailing, however. The year 2020 brought our biggest challenge ever – COVID-19.  The planning committee was faced, in May of that year, with a choice:  cancel the 24th annual festival outright, OR commit to the intense work it would take to hold a VIRTUAL 2020 festival at the traditional time – September’s Labor Day weekend, to inspire change, AND maintain Tumbleweed’s family and community spirit.  Tumbleweed Virtual Music Festival 2020, also known as “TMFVirtual2020,” had a central tenet to maintain the feeling of family and community that has grown over the years among not only the volunteers, but the performers and audience as well.

Among the brightest points of building TMFVirtual2020 were our “wild-caught” performers – people who have heard of our virtual festival and have reached out to us, asking to be a part!  This included bands from the Northwest area, a performer from Indiana, and TWO bands from Ireland!  With the addition of a set by Tom Lewis, another 3RFS and Tumbleweed fixture for many years who now is living in Ireland, we’re tempted to begin calling ourselves the “Tumbleweed International Music Festival!”

The next year, 2021, we were again a Virtual-only festival.  Having the festival website already existing helped a lot, but even more help was finding an actual local design firm to help us revise for the new festival.  Great thanks to ArtMil Design!  The success of the 2020 festival helped word of Tumbleweed get around, and in 2021 we increased to over 100 performances total, including acts from Ireland, Scotland, England, Canada, and Germany!  We also managed to pull together a single, live concert in Howard Amon park during a lull in the Covid rates in the Tri-Cities:  Badger Mountain Dry Band, Cecilia Eng, and Hank Cramer (III) and Friends put on a great show for an audience that finally numbered over 300!  This concert was professionally filmed by our wonder worker Tom Reitter, and is available on the “TMF Virtual 2021” tab as the “Saturday Night Concert.”  

The year 2022 saw us return to being a live festival in the park, and everyone said that it was such a wonderful, homecoming feeling that they couldn’t wait to do it again in 2023! And so we did! Tumbleweed 2023 saw larger, younger, and more diverse crowds and performers than we’ve had before, and again, everyone seems to have had an absolutely wonderful time!

The Tumbleweed Music Festival will celebrate its 28th anniversary live along the beautiful banks of the Columbia River in Richland’s Howard Amon Park on the Labor Day weekend (August 30 – September 1) of 2024; for the archived 2020 – 2023 Tumbleweed Festivals, click one of the other tabs beneath the “Virtual Tumbleweed Festivals” button above.

In both 2022 and 2023, we’ve maintained a virtual segment of the festival; both years saw a dozen or more performers submitting pre-recorded sets, and we also compile recorded performances of our ten Jane Titland Memorial Songwriting Contest finalists and have those available on their respective virtual festival tabs, as well.

It normally costs about $35,000 annually to put on the Tumbleweed festival.  Funds are raised through a combination of grants, sponsorships from the City of Richland, individuals, corporate and local organizations’ contributions, and fund raisers. Without the donated time and talent of our performers, Tumbleweed volunteers, and these grants, sponsors, and donors, keeping the Tumbleweed Music Festival an event free for all would not be possible. Costs include park rental, rental of things such as tables, food for the Hospitality room (beyond what is donated outright), fees for printing, Advertising, licensing fees, and more.

As always, then, your continued support is much appreciated.  You can help us directly by buying tickets at the festival to our Saturday Concert and our Sunday Contra Dance, and by buying our festival buttons, T-shirts, and other items at our Info Booth, and by making a direct donation at https://paypal.me/3RFS .