NOTE: Today and tonight are Friday, May 23.
PORT ANGELES — Walk down to one of the festival stages, and be ready to hear the sounds of Senegal, New Orleans, Russia, Jamaica, Los Angeles and Port Angeles.
These, and then some, are about to pour out at eight venues, over the next 96 hours, within a few square blocks.
The Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts is underway, with 71 performances, 37 music, dance and magic acts and two yoga classes to come.
The full information can be found at http://tinyurl.com/pdn-jffa2014.
We’re talking blues, soul, tango, country, ballet, bluegrass, reggae, Americana and Latin music, all emanating from the festival hub at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St.
“I can leave my house, go downtown and hear a legendary Irish fiddler play, listen to a great local group, dance the tango . . . and watch some theater,” said longtime fan and volunteer Cathy Lear of Port Angeles.
“To me, this equals happiness,” she added of the festival in its 21st year.
The street fair outside the Vern Burton center opens at noon today; it’s free and ongoing till 5 p.m. Monday.
Free programs listing all of the performances will be plentiful there, while full-festival passes, which cover all shows from 11 a.m. till midnight tonight, Saturday and Sunday plus 11 a.m. till 6 p.m. Monday, are $70 for adults and teens.
Single-day passes are $20 today and Monday; $25 for Saturday or Sunday, while children 12 and younger are admitted free throughout the weekend. Tickets are available at the festival gate outside the Vern Burton center.
Inside the Vern Burton, other attractions include the Art Shack, a gallery for local artists, and all-levels yoga classes at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
For revelers 21 or older, the festival offers nine After Hours shows, each starting at 10:30 p.m. at three downtown nightclubs.
This is also a community party. The people, steeped in all that music and food-truck fare, are in a collective good mood, said Patty Hannah, who with her husband Mark helps run the festival store.
“We’ve been introduced to so many different styles of music,” she added, “that we wouldn’t hear otherwise.”
Dan Maguire, executive director of the umbrella nonprofit Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts, laid out a sample list for the weekend.
■ Curtis Salgado, winner of 2013’s B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award, plays at 8:30 tonight on the Vern Burton’s main stage.
■ Dustbowl Revival from Venice, Calif., LA Weekly’s best live band of 2013, takes the main stage today at 5:15 p.m., does an 10:30 p.m. set at Barhop Brewing tonight and arrives at the Elks at
3 p.m. Saturday.
■ Poor Man’s Whiskey will do an Allman Brothers tribute show on the main stage at 6:45 tonight, then an After Hours set at Bar N9ne at 10:30 p.m.
■ The Paperboys, weavers of Latin rhythms and Celtic reels, play the Elks ballroom at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and the main stage at 8:30 Saturday night.
■ Zili Misik, the all-woman band from Boston, will stir up beats from Brazil, Haiti and Cuba on the main stage at 6:45 p.m. Saturday.
■ Pearl Django, the hot-club jazz group from Seattle, plays twice Saturday, on the main stage at 2 p.m. and the chamber stage at 5:30 p.m.
■ Charles Neville with Youssoupha Sidibe and the Mystic Rhythms, perform Sunday night at the Vern Burton’s main stage, with the Neville Brothers’ saxophone man plus Sidibe, a kora player from Senegal.
■ Paa Kow’s By All Means Band, an Afro-fusion orchestra, features Ghanaian drummer Paa Kow on the main stage at 6:45 p.m. Sunday and at Barhop Brewing at 10:30 that night.
■ Cahalen Morrison and Country Hammer will bring American roots music to the Elks at 1:45 p.m. Sunday and to the main stage at 5 p.m. Sunday.
■ Ballet Victoria comes over from Vancouver Island for two showcase ballets on the Elks stage, at 12:30 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. Sunday.
■ The Lonely Heartstrings Band, a Beatles-bluegrass group from Boston, plays twice Sunday, on the main stage at 2 p.m. and the chamber stage at 5:30 p.m.
■ The Lobo del Mar band, electric violinist Geoffrey Castle, Jason Mogi and Kim Trenerry, the Highlife Band, comedian Hart Keene and the local band Witherow will play the main and chamber stages Monday.
Much more on the lineup and other information await at http://tinyurl.com/pdn-jffa2014, the festival guide. Hard copies are available at the PDN office as well as at the festival ticket booth.
