2024 Festival Recap

     Another year of great ragtime, Stride, Boogie Woogie and music of the turn-of-the-century at the Historic Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival was enjoyed by all who attended. The level of talent that descends on this Gold Rush town is nothing but amazing, even in the summer mid-90's heat.   Preparation started Thursday Morning with the pianos being moved in place and the decorations going up. The City Hall Auditorium was transformed into a magical Ragtime era venue which hosted the two main concerts, the Pacific Coast Ragtime Orchestra, The popular Youth Concert along with room for dancing. Four O'clock on Friday found the final preparations done and the festival in full swing at four of the five locations. A new venue, "Down The Alley," was a great addition to the Main Street venue locations that included, Choc-O-Latte, Hotel Sutter, Backroads and the City Hall. Music went past ten at most of the venues with the Youth performers taking over the open piano times and had a great time, including Carter Enos, Piotr Barcz, Max Libertor and Michael Flores. Friday ended up with Sonny Leyland, Danny Coots and his new partner Dalton Ridenhour carving up the pianos at the Hotel Sutter.
     Saturday dawned warm with our performers entertaining the crowd at the famous Sutter Creek Farmers Market, to the delight of all the vendors and buyers from 8:30 - 11:30 in the morning. All the venues had open piano from 9 - 10 which was a nice addition. The much-anticipated Youth Concert was inspiring and amazing. Such talent! Lots of great duets this year with three of the venues holding two pianos. Plus the Free Badge Serenaders brought their lively antics to the festival along with a Classy Couple from New York, Charlie and Miss Maybell, playing and singing classic ragtime era songs with an original and historical feel. Soon the day was turning into evening and the chairs in the hotel were turned towards the movie screen as Squeek Steele performed a halfhour short silent film called "Dog Shy." Upon entering the Auditorium for the evening concert, we were treated to the music of the Pacific Coast Ragtime Orchestra which so wonderfully set the mood for the evening. Stevens Price, in his spiffy new Ragtime suit, began the concert with a ragtime song based on one from "The Sound of Music." He also presented two of the youth performers, each with a $1000 scholarship! The concert was a smash and right after there was more great music at the Alley venue, plus Frederick Hodges played along with the full-length Charlie Chaplin silent film, "The Gold Rush", at the Hotel Sutter. Music continued at the other open venues until well after 11 pm.
     Sunday started off with a hymn sing at the hotel led by Squeek Steele, and Stevens Price leading the choir. Music followed at all the venues and soon it was time for the finale concert. Always a crowd pleaser with new collaborations, jamming and hot music expected, along with the anticipated raffle drawing of all the great donated gifts which support the Festival’s scholarship program. All in all, the weekend was an amazing event of music that just makes you happy, in a town that makes you happy anyway! Start planning your next year's vacation with a stop at the Historic Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival, August 8 - 10, 2025.

---