World Music Day fills streets of Aberdeen with sound

In the days leading up to the third annual iteration of the Aberdeen edition of the World Music Day Festival, the forecast called for a break in the weather, the nice weather. On Saturday, Grays Harbor awoke to cloudy skies, mist, and drizzle, and temperatures hovering around 55 degrees.

Dreary conditions didn’t stop the music or the festival goers from drifting down the streets of Aberdeen from stage to street corner to stage as bands and solo musicians filled the air with a cacophony of acoustic and electrified and amplified sounds. Food vendors lined the sidewalks, adding a layer of hunger-inducing aromas to the mix of country and rock music.

According to event organizer and executive director of the Downtown Aberdeen Association, Wil Russoul, events like World Music Day are vital to the city of Aberdeen.

“Everything in Aberdeen needs to be a headliner; it should be promoted, we should be telling our story as much as we can,” Russoul said. “Talking to some of our businesses last year, they told me it was the most successful day they’ve had in Aberdeen. If Aberdeen wants this kind of foot traffic, we grow into it. I’m learning as we go. It’s Aberdeen’s turn. It’s Aberdeen’s turn, isn’t it?”

Russoul added that events such as World Music Day don’t happen without the support of civic leaders.

“It’s imperative. You can’t take over a city if they’re not involved, and if they’re not supportive it reflects out to the people who are here,” Russoul said. “The people who are here are largely volunteers.”

Jessie Preston, senior director of Artists and Repertoire (A&R) for Indiegroove Records, who traveled from Texas, added, “It’s a music town, there’s so much talent here.”

World Music Day also heralded the much-awaited reopening of the D&R Theatre on South I Street. The iconic venue’s doors flew open just in time for the festival as musical acts graced its stage for several shows, including a Friday night concert that kicked off the three-day event. The D&R Theatre was one of 26 official venues in all.

The proprietor of one of those venues, Dustin Knutson, co-owner of Messy Jessy’s Bar and Grill diagonally across from the D&R Theatre, echoed Russoul’s sentiment about the importance of events like World Music Day and street festivals in general in Aberdeen.

“Super important, it’s an awesome event, because it brings all the local musicians, people from out of town in to enjoy the music and have a good time hanging out together,” Knutson said. “This is what Aberdeen needs, they need stuff like this in town to help grow because Aberdeen has a lot of possibilities, and there’s a lot of stuff going on in this town that wasn’t here a few years ago.”

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc, with more than 1 million Americans succumbing to the disease during the three years of the declared global pandemic. Many businesses and activities that involved public gatherings such as bars and restaurants were forced to scale back or shut down completely due to public health and safety directives and guidelines. Concerts and music festivals were hit especially hard.

Numerous concerts were cancelled because artists got sick, or out of concern for fans’ well-being. Recording artists, singers, and musicians had to get creative, often taking to YouTube, Instagram and TikTok to get music out to their fans and keep their fans engaged.

According to Knutson, live music has definitely made a comeback and continues to attract more and more concert and festival goers the further removed we get from the pandemic.

“I’m watching venues pop up left and right giving more people opportunities to be seen, it’s a big opportunity for the musicians,” Knutson said. “Our place is all ages, we get to help the younger crowd stay out of trouble, they get to come express themselves with music. I get to see all these young musicians with older musicians do what they do, they love it. People had time to make up new music during COVID because they couldn’t go out and now there’s a bunch of people with a bunch of new songs.”

As people walked the streets of Aberdeen, various sounds could be heard in doorways, alcoves, and on corners. Guitar players, singers, and family bands all performed their brand of music for onlookers who paused to listen. The larger stages on South K Street and South I Street attracted the bigger audiences.

Native American rock band and Indiegroove Records recording artist One Way Sky drew quite a crowd that included Aberdeen City Administrator Ruth Clemens, Grays Harbor County District 2 Commissioner Rick Hole and his wife Linda, and Tony Enzler, Chief Operations Officer for Quinault Corporate Enterprises.

Local thrash punk metal band Clear Nothing’s loyal following created a bit of a mosh pit in front of the stage on South I Street. Lead singer Scott Cokeley said it was exciting to play a free show in front of the group’s fans, but also attract new listeners.

“It’s pretty cool, it’s going good, it keeps getting better every year, I think there’s a lot of potential and a lot of growth, and a lot of good things here, a lot of opportunity for young kids too,” Cokeley said. “This is only one of the few all-ages shows we’ve been able to play around here in our hometown. It’s a free show, we like doing free shows, it’s not about the money, it never is, it’s always about the music. It’s all about networking and friendship. We all just kind of help each other out.”

Clear Nothing concluded their set reminiscent of 1980s skate thrash with Cokeley performing a song called No Reflections with fans in the mosh pit.

With the weather such as it was, the dreary conditions didn’t stop music lovers and revelers from enjoying the festivities. Indoor locations, along with eateries and watering holes not on the venue list, especially enjoyed brisk foot traffic and an uptick in business.

Performances and activities carried on into the evening and Sunday, with Westport and Cosmopolis getting into the act as well. Local media personality Rick Moyer set up shop at the Music Project and conducted interviews throughout the festival.

June 21 was chosen as World Music Day to coincide with the summer solstice and is associated with Fête de la Musique, which launched in France in 1982. Make Music is celebrated on the same day in more than 2,000 cities in dozens of countries around the world.

And if this past weekend is any indication, World Music Day will continue to be celebrated in Aberdeen for a long time to come.