The Festival at Sandpoint begins tonight.
The opening concert in the series features "An Evening with Brit Floyd."
https://www.sandpoint.com/entertainment/festival-at-sandpoint.php
For 39 years, the outdoor concert series at War Memorial Field has been known for its centerpiece, an iconic white tent.
No more.
The news that the white tent was no more came as a shock to the community this week, and, according to the article below, even a shock to the Festival staff who loved the tent.
We have all lived through this before in our community with the loss of local icons like some of our old elementary schools, the grass of Barlow stadium or the IGA or even back in the day, the Motor Movie.
It's always kind of sad to say "good bye" to these institutions, but we all know that the show of the times must go on with a few changes.
From the sounds of things, safety was a major factor in this decision.
And, the Festival will move on into its fifth decade as a continued work in progress which has strayed a bit from its roots of its main feature being the Spokane Symphony Orchestra.
We seldom attend the Festival anymore because we're old and not too thrilled with crowd situations.
Back in the day, though, Bill and I and a whole lot of other volunteers had the responsibility of managing those crowds at the Festival.
Bill inherited the job as head of the Festival ushers from Al Jacobson. I think we, as a family, may have worked in that role for about four years.
For the most part, we enjoyed it and, of course, loved the fact that we could watch Johnny Cash or Tony Bennett or Wynton Marsalis or Alison Kraus in return for the work we did.
All were great concerts, but over the years, the crowd stuff lost its luster, especially the night Bill summoned a drunk from the crowd down front and urged him out of the venue while listening to the F-bomb from him and his girl friend all along the way.
That was our last year. Still, we had no regrets and appreciated the opportunity.
Wishing the Festival staff, featured acts and all the festival goers well through this season, while we'll remain content to stay home.
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