2023
Winlock
Pickersfest
August 04 - 06, 2023
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Winlock Pickersfest
Click HERE to submit your band.
If you attended Pickersfest 2022, you already know what an awesome festival it was. If you missed it, please accept our heartfelt sympathy. But all is not lost! We are on the fast track to making this festival even better! Keep watching this website for any updates to our activities and lineup.
If you have any questions regarding our festival activities or festival on-site camping, please go to our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page under the INFO tab of our website. Hopefully, any questions you have will be answered there. If you still have unanswered questions, please use our "Contact Us" form to ask your question.
We have free Pickersfest Wi-Fi near the large covered picnic area. Access information can be found in the Brochure-Handout you get at the park entrance and the info booth.
Starting this year, we will have a cell phone USB charging station located in the large covered picnic area.
To see Winlock Pickersfest band lineups from previous years,
Visit our Lineup Archive page.
Visit our Photo Gallery page to see pictures from past Pickersfest.
Winlock Pickersfest also includes instructional workshops, genre jams, open mics, and plenty of pickin' and grinnin'! Check out the rest of the site to see details about the live bands, the workshop schedule, camping details, ticket info, links, and more.
If you don't do workshops and don't jam, but are looking for something to do during the day, you can check out some horseshoes and play at one of the two horseshoe throwing targets located behind the large covered picnic area and near the park entrance. There will also be a couple of Cornhole (Corn Toss) games to check out, as well.
Our genre jams are always extremely popular and very well attended, with some people coming to the festival just to play in the jams. Genre jams for 2022 include:
Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music. The styles vary considerably to include everything from traditional music to a wide range of hybrids.
An old-time jam is, naturally, a place where folks get together to play old-time music. "Fiddle tunes" form the bulk of the old-time jam repertoire, but other songs may be played as well. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of potential tunes are in the Old-Time repertoire. This varies by region, but there are several dozen "standards" that will be known anywhere. Banjos, fiddles, and guitars comprise the primary instruments, but don't be surprised to find someone playing the bass, washboard, spoon, bones, jug, etc. You're bound to find people of all ages, walks of life, and ability levels. The atmosphere will almost always be welcoming.
Choro Music.com describes Choro as:
"Choro, popularly known as "chorinho," is an instrumental genre of Brazilian
popular music whose origins date back to the end of the 19th century in the city of
Rio de Janeiro.
Choro (pronounced “shoh-roh;” “cho” as in “sho” of “show,” “ro” as in “ro”
of “rose” when pronounced with a Scottish accent), popularly called chorinho, is an
instrumental genre of the Brazilian popular music that has its origins in Rio de Janeiro
in the late 1800s. A choro ensemble is called “regional,” and a musician, composer or
instrumentalist is called “Chorao” (literally meaning “weeper”). Despite its name,
this kind of music has, in general, a very vibrant and cheerful beat, characterized by
the virtuosity and improvisation of its participants. Choro represents the most typical
Brazilian instrumental formation, as well as the longest-standing musical grouping within
Brazilian popular music."
Visit
Choro Music.com for more information about Choro Music.
Nestled in a beautifully wooded area, Winolequa Park is conveniently located close to Interstate 5. Less than 2 hours' drive south of Seattle and an hour north of Portland, this gem of a Pickersfest is within close driving distance of plenty of great pickers who show up every year for it. And since the festival is put on by an all-volunteer staff, the price of admission is remarkably inexpensive.
Winlock now only allows camping during multi-day events like Winlock Pickersfest. Therefore, camping dates for Pickersfest are Thursday, the day before the festival, through Sunday, the last day of the festival. The check-out time is 3:00 pm, Friday through Sunday. All camping registration must be paid for at the Pickersfest entry gate.
PETS: During the festival,
well-behaved pets are allowed throughout the park and camping
area, except in a marked off pet free zone around and in front of the stage and
the large covered picnic area.
(Please clean up after your pet.)
The Winlock Pickersfest is a labor of love created by a dedicated group of volunteers from the Washington Acoustic Music Association (WAMA) and co-sponsored by the Winlock Park Board.
Food is available at the festival, prepared by and supporting the Winlock Youth Baseball organization, at the baseball field concession behind the stage, starting at noon on Friday through Sunday Breakfast.
Park restrooms are located directly behind the concert
seating area (grassy knoll) on the roadside of the large covered picnic area. These
restrooms are ADA accessible. Portable toilets are located near the main camping area
and parking lot.
A coin‑operated shower facility is NOW AVAILABLE! The
shower is located in the large covered picnic area near the restrooms.
(NOTE: If you plan on using the shower, please bring lots of
quarters. WAMA will NOT be able to make change at either the gate
entrance or the Information Booth, and there are NO change
machines in the Park.)
WAMA hosts events throughout the year, so we hope you'll check the WAMA website to see the impressive display of music events offered throughout the year.
WAMA is a Nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization
