Fans of bluegrass music, residents of Rainier and everyone in-between enjoyed the genre and celebrated an eventful weekend Aug. 25-27 at Wilkowski Park for the 29th annual Rainier Bluegrass Festival.
George Johnson, a Rainier city councilor and member of the group “We Love Rainier,” described the annual festival as being great.
“I think the bluegrass festival went well. We had lots of local people show up for it and both shows. We also had a big crowd on Sunday for the gospel music. I think we had about 40 or so people there,” Johnson said. “I love this community, and I think it was a great event for attendees. I saw a lot of people I’ve known for over 30 years there, and they thanked ‘We Love Rainier’ for putting on the events. It also didn’t cost them a penny to come out for two or three days.”
Johnson said he “wouldn’t even take a guess” on how many people attended the festival over the weekend, though he added the people in attendance did have a “great time throughout the weekend.”
Throughout the weekend, attendants camped near Wilkowski Park for the festival. Johnson said 58 rigs showed up to camp over the weekend, some from as far away as Kansas, and eventually performed.
Johnson said he’s proud to be a part of an organization like “We Love Rainier” that gives back to the Rainier community.
“We live in a great community where the people support the things that ‘We Love Rainier’ does,” Johnson said. “We appreciate that. It puts a smile on all of our faces. We enjoy doing it. We want to thank everyone that showed up and supported this event, it was great. They raved about the corn feed, which we got from the pumpkin patch out in Rochester. We also appreciate the people that helped sponsor this event for the community.”
Johnson said event organizers were thankful for Turner Automotive, Signature Service Realty, LUV Cookies in Tumwater and others.
“We’re very fortunate for the support we got from all of the sponsors to be able to put on a good event for Rainier,” Johnson said. “All of the events that we put on at ‘We Love Rainier’ are free. We have people that love to put these events on, and they get such joy from it. None of us do this for personal gain, we just love our community and want to give back. We can give back in this way.”
“We Love Rainier” will next host Halloween in the Park on Saturday, Oct. 28.
“As usual, we’ll have trunk-or-treaters, and people giving candy out. We’ll have games, and we’ll probably have a food vendor,” Johnson said. “There will also be a Halloween Ball afterwards for the kids to dance. The kids always have a good time at that. It’’s a lot of fun and free.”
To stay up to date with “We Love Rainier” join its self-titled Facebook group.
