Annual Accordion Festivals
Repeatedly a number of persons ask to know more about summer accordion festivals. In response to those inquires, here is a list of annual accordion festivals/conventions/events, listed in calendar sequence for ease in making your own plans this year or next:
---In March, generally1st or 2nd week Fri.-Sat., National Accordion Convention, previously known as Texas Accordion Association Convention, always in or near Dallas; 2 days indoors, with multiple players, workshops, and events throughout the day and special evening programs/concerts. Go to www.accordions.com/naa
---June 22-24, 2006, Leavenworth Accordion Celebration (Washington, near Wenatchee), Thurs.-Sat., in prominent Northwestern U.S. alpine tourist village, where one of its three headliners this year will be SLAAC’s Janet Todd; indoors/outdoors, events are palls playing/performers throughout the day with student competitions simultaneously, and special evening concerts. Go to www.accordioncelebration.com
---June 26-29, 2006, Las Vegas International Accordion Convention, Sun.-Wed., indoors, at the Gold Coast Hotel in glitzy, touristy Las Vegas, city of entertainment and gambling, with multiple workshops during the day and special evening concerts; founded/owned by Paul Pasquali. Go to www.accordionstars.com
---June 29—July 2, Accordionists & Teachers Guild Festival (ATG), Thurs.-Sat., indoors, the prominent long ago break-off from AAA meets in a different city yearly, generally Midwest, this year Bloomington, MN; student competitions with simultaneous workshops daily and special evening concerts. Go to www.accordion.com/atg
---July 12-16, American Accordionists’ Association (AAA) Festival, Wed.-Sat., indoors, the “grand old accordion association,” meets in a different city yearly, generally east coast, this year Buffalo, NY; student competitions daily with other day events and special evening concerts. Go to www.ameraccord.com
---August 3-6, Rocky Mountain Accordion Celebration, Thurs.-Sun., outdoors/indoors, always at historic mining town-tourist area Philipsburg, Montana, this festival continues to enlarge its activities, this year with workshops and name performers, platzl bands and dancing, players performing during the day and a special Opera House concert. Go to www.accordions.com/rmac
---August 26-27, 2006, Cotati Accordion Festival (an hour north of San Francisco, near Petaluma), at the small town of Cotati, in city square; two days, all outdoor, Saturday-Sunday, morning to evening hour after hour of non-stop accordion players and performers, also with non-stop day-long dancing platform/tent nearby, and numerous booths of accordion merchandisers and items. Go to www.cotatifest.com.
---November 10-11, 2006, Florida Smash, Fri. eve.-Sat., indoor, always in Orlando, Florida, the city of Disney’s famous entertainment destination; with workshops and performers non-stop, special Saturday evening concert. Go to www.accordions.com/florida
This is the eight annually held accordion festivals/conventions that appeal nationally or to large regional areas. The list does not include outstanding events held annually in Canada—(a) one of the world’s largest accordion festivals in Quebec; (b) the Kimberley (British Columbia) International Old Time Accordion Championships held in the tourist alpine town of Kimberley; (c) smaller yet well-known festivals in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, among others.
Because many have asked for help through this small maze, here is our “take.” Inasmuch as Janet has played as a featured performer at all of the U.S. festivals the past four years, except the ATG which due to her mother’s death Janet declined the invitation, we have attended seven of the eight. In addition, we attended Kimberley, Canada last year where Janet won the World “Old Time” Duet championship and the International Jazz championship and where concerts were attended by 1,000 to nearly 2,000 people. They say up to 25,000 visitors attend in Quebec in September annually, attending locations throughout the town, but we have not attended yet due to Janet’s Snow Bird commitments at that time. We will know more about Leavenworth after this year. For us in the West, certainly the Cotati Festival is unique, very enjoyable, and should be a “big must” for everyone at least once and few people will challenge the statement that it is the funnest and most dynamic of them all. If you have not attended the Las Vegas Accordion convention, it is something you should do at least once also and it specializes its daytime hours primarily on workshops. Also, don’t ignore the interesting Dallas and Philipsburg festivals and check out their “fit” for you, Philipsburg being closer. Both the Dallas and Philipsburg leaders have made recent decisions to get bigger, better, and more exciting. If anyone goes to the Quebec or Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton events, please let us know so we can get your “take.” Some of these places are not too distant. If somehow this list misses a major accordion event, let us know so we can inform everyone. We all like choices in our lives and like to have new experiences. There are so many “good things out there” and after you attend a few festivals/conventions you realize that no one event “has it all.” So, if you have the interest—schedule one in and let us know what you thought of the experience.
