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Thank You . . .
UnTapped
Blues & Brews Fans!!
Thank you… fans, sponsors, volunteers, vendors, and musicians, as well as other supporters of the 15th Annual UnTapped Blues and Brews Festival. 2011 was a banner year for the festival in many ways …
- We provided more music on more stages than ever before (two stages at Clover Island, Jack-son's in Kennewick and the Benton County Fairgrounds)
- Area bands, as well as several local musicians gained valuable exposure to fans, festival and venues by playing on Friday or Saturday, as well as appearances on Eagle 106.5 and KNDU.
- Two bands from our area will advance to the state finals for the International Blues Challenge for the first time (The Vaughn Jensen Band and the Coyote Kings).
- More breweries were represented then at any time in our history (40 breweries as well as seven wineries)
- The Mid-Columbia Zymurgy Association in collaboration with Ice Harbor Brewery made a festival beer for our fans (Bourbon Blond).
- The People's Choice winner was Iron Horse Brewery from Ellensburg with Old Schoolhouse Brewery from Winthrop taking the runner up award and Kennewick's Ice Harbor Brewery garnering honorable mention.
- The Eric Nyberg was awarded to Patty Keyes, President of the Walla Walla Blues Society and UnTapped Backstage Manager for her tireless devotion to live music in southeastern Washington including Walla Walla and the Tri-Cities.
- The Blues Headquarters Hotel… Clover Island Inn was booked to capacity with blues fans from across the region.
- Campers filled the Broadmoor RV Campground and were treated to an ice cream social by our campground sponsor.
- A record number of fans attended the Friday ‘Blues on the Columbia’ event at Clover Island.
- More than 2,400 fans, volunteers and vendors enjoyed Blues and Brews on May 14th.
On the flip side… for the first time ever we were forced by weather to cancel our final two acts on May 14th. We prepared for rain and wind… just not 60 mph wind and a deluge of rain. Once our stage became soaked we could not continue… however, our fans, bands, and vendors responded preventing any injuries and only minor property loss. Fortunately, our beer barns remained in action until the very end and our after party at Jack-son's in Kennewick featured the Sugar Thieves, Sammy Eubanks, Billy D and the Hoodoos, Lisa Mann, as well as several of our area musicians.
All in all we had a great event. We learned some valuable lessons that will help make future events even more successful. So make plans for 2012… we will light up the stages on May 11 and 12, 2012.
Dave Nichols
What People Say About UnTapped 2011. . .