When you live in a tiny town off the beaten path, secluded among the mountains, rivers and trees, you get a little excited when company comes over.
You want to throw a big party, invite everyone and show them a good time.
That’s what the folks in Index are doing Saturday.
It’s a big party called the Index Arts Festival and visitors will be treated to a day of fine art, a stunning selection of wearable art, a labyrinth and other children’s activities, and the chance to get close to a real giant remote-control model airplane with a 96-inch wingspan.
And this party has music from start to finish: 14 musical groups and 50 musicians, including a swing band with two dozen players and Index’s own Spare Rib and the Blue Grass Sauce, which plays selections from AC/DC and bluegrass classics and closes the festival down with a huge street dance.
“They play newgrass to bluegrass,” said Doug Raymur, a bass player who coordinated the event’s musical offerings.
Raymur is moving to Missouri with his soon-to-be wife and said this year’s record number of musicians are partly on hand to play one last time with him.
Besides listening to music, visitors can watch Haida artist Ralph Bennett, who has been recognized internationally for his work, carve a totem pole in the tradition passed down for generations.
Bennett will be among the dozens of painters, sculptors and photographers displaying or demonstrating their craft during the festival. Art patrons can see a retrospective of the paintings of Manfred Lindenberger, Bernie Webber and Russell Lawson, along with some work from former Seattle native Paton Miller.
Warren Hartz and his wife, Edie, who own the business Silk from the Hartz, will show their hand-dyed silk scarves, ties and wraps that display bucolic scenes of nature. The scarves cost between $8 and $95.
For the first time this year, members of the The Barnyard Buzzards Model Airplane Club will display large and small remote-control aircraft. Visitors may be able to get their hands on the controls and possibly see one of these smaller aircraft in flight if it’s not too windy, said Ron Swift, a board member with the club, which is based in Monroe.
“What people can expect is to be awed,” Swift said.
Index postmaster Dana Starfire, whose business card describes her as a “sarong enthusiast” is painting an 86-by-20-foot labyrinth on the grass. The maze-type walking path will meander down to the Skykomish River.
Starfire, who is also coordinating other children’s activities such as face painting and flower pressing on bookmarks, said her labyrinth will be dotted with colorful sarongs so it’s easily spotted from afar.
“I’ve been studying labyrinths for quite awhile. It’s just a passion,” Starfire said.
Local poet Roy Seitz is heading up poetry readings. More than 18 poets are lined up to give 15-minute readings that can range from the “touchy feely to the lunatic war” poetry, Seitz said.
He pointed out that there were two other things not to be missed in Index: the blueberry pancakes at the Mount Index cafe, which he called “a sacred meal,” and the impossible beauty that surrounds the town of Index.
“Whenever I walk from my house through town to the post office, there are 7,000-waiting-to-exhale moments for me,” Seitz said.
Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424, goffredo@heraldnet.com.
Index Arts Festival
This free festival goes from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday. Festival activities include fine art, live music, poetry readings, a crafts marketplace, a children’s art activity area and labyrinth, food and a raffle.
Index is 1 mile off U.S. 2 on Index Galena Road, about 30 minutes east of Monroe.
For a complete list of activities go to www.indexartsgroup.org.
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