When Curt Krause’s band Lost Autumn Gypsy takes the stage tonight, his parents will be watching, and his grandmother, too.
An outdoor rock festival may not be a 75-year-old’s typical hangout, but Carol Krause wouldn’t miss it.
The Swans Trail Music Festival isn’t some Woodstock wannabe. It’s a family affair as well as a fundraiser for a cause close to Carol Krause’s heart.
Proceeds will benefit Sherwood Community Services, a Lake Stevens agency serving people of all ages who have developmental delays and disabilities. Sherwood offers early learning for children, day care and employment services for adults.
“So many need this help,” said Carol Krause, whose 47-year-old son Matt is blind and has learning disabilities. Matt Krause has a job with Sherwood’s Career Connection program. “His whole life is that job,” she said.
The music festival is planned for 4 to 10 p.m. tonight on the Snohomish area farm where 21-year-old Curt Krause grew up.
Now called Swans Trail Farm, it’s where Curt’s parents Ben and Carole Krause – his mother shares his grandmother’s name – play host to a Washington state corn maze each harvest season that draws thousands of visitors.
The Snohomish County Dairy Family of the Year in 1997, the Krauses now grow sweet corn and pumpkins on their 125 acres. They also reap income with a picturesque wedding venue.
A year ago, Curt and his older brother Nate decided their bucolic home along the Snohomish River would be great for a rock concert. Lost Autumn Gypsy, with Curt on guitar, was joined by a few bands last summer in a hastily arranged show that helped the Snohomish Boys &Girls Club and a food bank.
“There’s a lot more to it this time,” said Curt Krause, a Washington State University student who describes his band’s sound as “straight-up rock and roll.” Other artists on the family-friendly bill are Sean Knox and the Lonely Lovers, Delta Haymax, Wired Band, Rory Corbin, Eric Miller, and Fiends and Harlequins.
With his Uncle Matt being helped by Sherwood and his grandmother serving on the agency’s board of directors, it wasn’t hard picking a charity.
“My parents are really supportive,” said Curt, whose brother Nate, 30, is a teacher at Cascade View Elementary School. “The idea of a music festival is really cool, and this is something special.”
Curt’s grandmother sees the festival as a way to boost Sherwood’s coffers and raise awareness of the help it provides for families all over Snohomish County.
When Matt was little, Carol Krause didn’t know where to turn. She’d drive him from Snohomish to a preschool program in Seattle. “He was 3,” she said. “Every book I read said to get them socialized.”
By age 6, Matt Krause was a residential student at Washington State School for the Blind in Vancouver, Wash. He now works at Sherwood and lives with a caregiver near his parents’ Snohomish home.
Rebecca DeFrang of Lake Stevens is grateful Sherwood Community Services was there when her 5-year-old daughter Claire was born. Claire, who is developmentally delayed, spent four months after birth at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle and came home with a feeding tube.
“She was really sick,” DeFrang said.
Through the state’s Birth to Three program for children with special needs, Sherwood came to the DeFrangs’ home to provide Claire with speech therapy and other learning opportunities.
Claire is now old enough for special education in school, but DeFrang is still on a fundraising committee for Sherwood, which she sees as a blessing and a safety net. Someday, she believes Claire may make use of Sherwood’s employment services.
With three small children, DeFrang doesn’t have much time for rock festivals but will happily make an exception.
“They really are good bands. The BBQ Shack in Snohomish will be serving food. It’s wonderful,” DeFrang said. “We’re just thrilled they picked Sherwood.”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com
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