The Yellow Pine Harmonica Festival is one of the most unique festivals in Idaho and it happens this year on the first week of August.
The popular free festival saw a crowd of 3,000 last year. Yellow Pine is located deep in the forest east of Cascade and it takes around three hours to get there from the Treasure Valley. So, Jason Stephens brought a sample of it to the Heritage Social Club on Saturday.
"It's a hype party to raise awareness and funds for the main harmonica festival in Yellow Pine," said Stephens. "There are still a lot of people that haven’t heard about it or they think that it is just about the harmonica."
The harmonica festival started in 1989 when then Governor Cecil Andrus challenged communities in Idaho to come up with their unique festival celebrating their area. There is a lot of mining history near Yellow Pine with the Stibnite Mine.
"The miners would take harmonicas up in the backwoods to keep themselves amused," said Stephens. "It’s small and easy to pack away so that instrument has stood the test of time and we like to continue to highlight that today."
However, the festival has evolved into much more as it features several genres of music, a 5k run, activities for the kids, hiking, fishing, arts and crafts and of course the harmonica. Brent Palmatier will be there teaching harmonica lessons.
"The harmonica can be challenging to play," said Palmatier, who plays the harmonica for the band the Unfortunate Sons. "It’s a pretty amazing instrument considering it fits in your pocket, but it is endless what you can play."
The Unfortunate Sons will play at the Yellow Pine Harmonica Festival, but they are also part of a six-band lineup at the Heritage Social Club on the Road to Yellow Pine.
The event features a raffle, a silent auction and live music until 11:00 p.m. Tickets cost $15 at the door.
