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Many, many thanks to the fans, bands, sponsors, vendors, and volunteers who made the 2010 UnTapped Blues and Brews Festival a wonderful success. 2010 was a year that witnessed many enhancements to the festival, as well as exciting innovations. We upgraded our food vendors, streamlined our volunteer process, expanded our Friday night "blast off" event, improved our grounds keeping, and transformed our lights, sound and stage. For the first time we held an event in April to 'kick-off' ticket sales, brought ATMs to the event, opened on-site camping, initiated a VIP lounge, and launched an 'after-party' for fans who wanted more music. All of these changes and many more were implemented while holding our ticket prices level for the fourth consecutive year.
For the second year we partnered with the Business of Clover Island and Eagle 106.5 to bring some of the nation’s and region’s premier talent to the Tri-Cities. Our main stage featured:
- Curtis Salgado the 2010 Blues Music Foundation Soul Blues Male Performer of the Year.
- Eddie Shaw a monster sax player and comrade of Chicago Blues legend Howlin' Wolf.
- Hamilton Loomis a rising star in the blues community and protégé of Bo Diddley.
- Ed Earley from the Elvin Bishop Band and Fred Wesley who cut his funk with the likes of James Brown and George Clinton.
We also were pleased to host some of the hottest bands from the northwest including the Randy Oxford Band, Kevin Selfe and the Tornadoes, Romagossa Blu, Coyote Kings, and the Vaughn Jensen Band. Additionally, we featured Billy Roy Danger and the Rectifiers, Reverend Honey Bucket Johnson, and Miriam’s Well on Friday night at our Blast-Off Party. Eight hours of music on Friday coupled with 14 hours of music on Saturday gave fans more than 20 hours of blues, rock and roots live music from 12 different bands.
As always we brought some of the region’s best micro breweries to the festival. More than 30 micro breweries competed for the honor of the "People Choice" (voted on by fans attending the festival). This year’s honors were given to Whistran Brewing Company from Prosser (honorable mention), Snipes Mountain Brewing from Sunnyside (runner up for the second straight year), and Ice Harbor Brewing from Kennewick (repeat winner of the prestigious "PEOPLES CHOICE AWARD"”). Ice Harbor Brewing also teamed with the Mid-Columbia Zymurgy Club to brew and release at UnTapped "Wit Pleasure", a Belgium Wit style beer based on a recipe developed by the Club and brewed in at Ice Harbor’s Kennewick brewery. Good brews plus good tunes make for good times!!
This year we honored the service providers of the Tri-Cities with a composition by Miriam’s Well. Miriam sang "Paradise"” to recognize the nurses, teachers, firemen, police officers and many others that serve our community and make it a better place to live. We also honored the long career of Tri-Citian Duncan Pryce with the "Eric Nyberg Award". The Nyberg is awarded each year to someone who has played a key role in keeping live music (especially the blues) a part of our cultural landscape.
For the second year our non-profit community based partner was Kate's Team Foundation in support of the March of Dimes. Kate's Team raises money to help researchers develop ways to save babies who are born too soon, as well as ways to prevent premature births and birth defects in the first place.
We also benefited greatly from our sponsors and business partners including: The Business of Clover Island, Eagle 106.5, KNDU, CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company, Ranch and Home, Broadmoor RV, Wildhorse Resort and Casino, Columbia Energy and Environmental Services, Ice Harbor Brewery, Jack-son’s Sports Bar and Grill, Meier Architecture and Engineering, Elevate Network Management, Columbia Nuclear International and Clover Island Inn. Beyond these fine sponsors we deeply appreciated the support of the Port of Kennewick, City of Kennewick and the Benton County Fairgrounds for helping make the festival a pleasurable experience for our fans. We encourage you to support the businesses that support live music in the Tri-Cities.
This wraps up my second year organizing the festival. It continues to be a joy to work with the sponsors, bands, fans and others to make this event the leading outdoor blues and brews festival in Eastern Washington. To continue to improve the festival we need your suggestions… please send me an email at dave@untappedblues.com or register your recommendations on our guestbook under "more information" on this web site. We may not implement
every idea but we promise to make 2011 better than 2010.
Dave Nichols