On July 16-18 2010 the sounds of drooling banjos echoed along the Kootenai River from Bonners Ferry ID to Libby Montana. The Troy Fine Arts Council along with the entire community of Troy proudly welcomed all potential bluegrass enthusiasts to the 3rd Annual Kootenai River Bluegrass and Beyond Festival at Roosevelt Park in Troy Mt. Our third year events offered some of the finest pickers in the Pacific Northwest as well as from afar all coming together in one of the most picturesque mountain valleys in northwest Montana with a beautiful setting on the banks of the Kootenai River. This year’s lineup includes Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, the Foghorn String Band, Jackstraw and Broken Valley Road Show along with five of the finest bands across Montana. Our event is powered by community volunteer support and offers free camping; instrument workshops open mic opportunities, recession day ticket prices and a place for young and old to come together in a family friendly atmosphere to celebrate the bluegrass experience. If you were able to attend our last 3 festivals and plan on coming over next summer bring some friends with you and help us create a tradition in Troy. If you are pondering attending for your first time you just may discover a family festival that offers a little something for everyone and will keep you coming back as well
The bluegrass festival both encouraged and inspired the Arts Council to jump in with both feet for 3 years running. There has been an increase in audience turnout by about one third each year of the festival and bluegrass bands from across the Northwest ask to be a part of this annutal event. The 2010 lineup brought the heart and soul of bluegrass together with acts including the young band from Missoula, Derailed, a collection of 14-16 year old award winning pickers, the Andre Vachon Family Band , PInegrass, a 20-year Missoula favorite, Ramblin Rose , a classic Bluegrass duet, and Bozeman’s hottest pickers the Bridger Creek Boys. These acts combined with the BG road warriors Dirty Kitchen, Foghorn Sting Band, Jackstraw, voted the favorite band of past Troy Festivals and the contagious Broken Valley Road show for a weekend of nonstop picking. Bands also offered instrument and vocal workshops on Sat morning and gospel music on Sunday. Music started at 5:00 pm on Friday; went all day from 1:00pm on Saturday and from 10:00am until 4:00 on Sunday. Web links to all the bands can be found on the Schedule tab.
We continued to offer free dry camping and RV/Camper parking on site and this year offered Sat and Sunday morning showers at the nearby Morrison School.. Back stage the Kootenai River offers a swimming beach for the natural bathers. Shade had been an issue and this year we had a large circus tent set up in front of the stage. The City Of Troy continues to do landscaping work in the camping area and there is also off the grid camping downstream from the stage on the walking path along the river in the trees where vehicle parking is not allowed. We recommended that campers face their tents and motor homes doors towards the river and have shade canopies. There are a number of water stations on site and ice was available as well. There are numerous national forest campgrounds in the surrounding area all in beautiful settings. In particular the Spar Lake Campground, the Bull Lake Campgrounds, the Yaak River Campground and the Yaak Falls Campgrounds all offer magic settings yet are within 15 miles of the venue. Info and phone numbers about campgrounds can be found on our accommodations link. We had a collection of food vendors ranging from the vegetable oil powered Vegetarian bus to the grease dripping ribs wagon. There are playgrounds and a wading pool with sprinklers along with this year’s offering of misting stations to chill out under.
We have learned a lot about what was right and what needed to be fixed about the festival in the last 3 years from past attendees and the majority of comments were about the right parts. We will be keeping our ticket prices at recession day’s rates and are proud to offer prices well below other venues we have researched. We have discovered that the more we pay for the band does not always give us the type of music that we’re looking for. The bands lined up for this year are bands that folks need to hear. They’ve got a lot of heart and play for the love of playing and musicians that add a little of who they are to each song they play. We feel we have a good blend of traditional and progressive Newgrass that give all listeners something to look forward to. There is a dancing area,{Troy loves to dance}, alongside the stage and we ask that tobacco users please step away from the listeners to partake. We ask that dogs be kept on leashes and away from the audience area to help prevent animal commotion distractions.. We have a dinner break and we also offer open mic time slots for interested pickers. We are considering a beer garden this year but continue to debate the pros and cons. We do allow discretionary or perhaps discreet use of alcohol on grounds but ask for moderation of such use and to remember that our event is all about families and friends coming together to celebrate bluegrass music and not about getting hammered and making fools of ourselves.
We had a lot folks that came for the bluegrass and once discovering our beautiful mountain valleys came back to further explore the Cabinet Wilderness area, the numerous mountain lakes and fishing streams/ rivers not to mention Kootenai Falls and the 400 year old Ross Creek Cedars. This area was a special place for the six bands of the Kootenai tribe and has a feel that draws one back for more. Whether its floating the river, leisure kayaking on a lake, shooting the rapids, hiking to the headwaters or just sitting around camp picking and grinning for three days our community volunteers and appreciative local businesses will you feel like you just found a new home in the mountains.
