Click HERE to submit your band.
Thank you so much to everyone who joined us in Winolequa Park in Winlock this weekend for our annual Pickersfest event! We hope you had a great time — we know we did.
If you attended Pickersfest 2023, you already know what an absolutely 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.
If you are available to volunteer your time working at the festival, you will find
it to be a very FUN and REWARDING experience. Pickersfest always
welcomes exceptionally friendly, easy-going volunteers. We appreciate people who love
music and who love people, and we're grateful for all the dedicated volunteers who make
the festival and related music programs possible.
Click here for information about volunteering
at Winlock Pickersfest.
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.
We will have a cell
phone USB charging station located in the large covered picnic area.
(Please bring your own charging cable.)
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. If you plan on playing int the Jams, you might want to bring a chair and music stand.
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.
This jam can include Gypsy Jazz, and Swing music, or simply swing. Swing is a form of popular music developed in the United States that dominated in the 1930s and 1940s. The name swing comes from the 'swing feel' where the emphasis is on the off–beat or weaker pulse in the music. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement.
You'll want to check this page regularly to find out about the 2024 Raffle.
Winolequa Park: 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 for Sunday is 3:00 pm. All camping registration must be paid for at the Pickersfest entry gate.
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 AVAILABLE! The shower is located in the large covered picnic area near the restrooms. (NOTE: If you plan on using the shower (4 quarters for 1 hour), 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