Contact us
Back to All Posts

Many new bands play the Washington County Fair, from The Fairlanes on down the line

About half of the bands playing at the Washington County Fair this year are new, continuing a trend for area festivals, as the 145th annual event begins its five-day run on Wednesday, Aug. 3, in Lake Elmo.
These are the bands at the fair, which has enough music going to delineate having a main stage. This is what you’ll find there:
— One of those new to the fair is a 7:30 p.m. Wednesday performance by Shermin Linton, a true veteran of the biz who has played country music since the days when it was first getting going. Linton’s music has spanned several states and various demographic groups. Known as a mid-America champion when it comes to country, he transcends audience members from the traditional to the hipster.
— At 8:30 p.m. Thursday is a dance and entertainment show, complete with games, that is geared largely to teens.
— Friday afternoon brings a 3 p.m. Elvis tribute show, bringing Graceland to the St. Croix Valley.
— Then at 8 p.m. Friday is Coyote Wild, a band of five men and two women. They played a recent local show as a recurring gig, and had some different takes on the country format. The dreadlocked lead guitarist really rocked through Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith, doing the vocals as well, as part of their format where these duties are exchanged. To wrap up the night, there was the combination of introductory plinky guitar and power chords to a Journey song.
— Saturday kicks off with some jigs, provided by the O’Shea Irish Dancers at 3 and 5 p.m.
— At 3:30 p.m. Saturday is another “big band,” the nine-member Dirty Shorts Brass Band. They are a New Orleans style brass group, and according to their online bio, play everything from jazz to Dixie to funk to blues to rock n’ roll to gospel to swing. That’s a mouthful and the band even has sousaphone and mellophone players, to boot.
— The Rockin’ Hollywoods, who have rolled on for decades, bring their classic Old School pop and light rock sounds to the stage at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. The guys still look cool in their deep purple vests and not-really-graying hair.
— Cottage Grove’s own Darlene & the Boys, also new to the fair, will put on their country and variety music show at 3:30 p.m. Sunday. They look the part of traditional country, with their manner of dress, with the exception of the occasional stocking cap, and the lovely Darlene is shown all over the web page with her Old School attire.
— The last act new to the fair are The Fairlanes, on Friday at 2 and 4 p.m. at the Park Pavillion, who specialize in doo-wop music from the ’50s to the present. The repertoire includes gospel, pop and jazz standards, plus original songs written by quartet members.
— Closing out the set, (or should I say the fair music lineup), is the South Washington Community Band at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Park Pavillion.

Share the Post:

Related Posts

  • Urban Table has solo and duet acts already in the books, and the tunes put in its vault, as they’ll soon be brought back for more music events. and positioned practically tableside tonight in their designated intimate enclave, has been enlisted an acoustic ensemble, turning it into an ample stage, and then another band next Saturday, just for starters. Bluesy, yes, and even jazzier. And always eclectic.
This about all that soft jazz, and a whole lotta related offerings, taking a renewed seat at the table, like a not-seen-for-a-while relative at Thanksgiving dinner, as they have plenty of quick eats or full meal to go with the music too, at a venue that adds another element to the local song scene. It’s an intimate setting, where you can be not much more than an arm’s length or two from one of the players as the regele you with their sung stories — and still stay out of reach and vocal range of that odd uncle, but close...
Read More
  • Clarity. Craft. Better together. Like a guitar harmony. Or Clarity & Craft Co., for penning business proposals that turn old notes and rough drafts into persuasive plans for your client’s action. Like a concerto. Choir to double down, on composing ditties.
Business writing, and even life, is like penning a song. It moves through the various seasons, like The Rain Song. (Snow coming soon.) But the very season at which we choose to begin is telling. And it may vary. For each client’s, or band’s needs. Or the second side of an album. They say keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your bandmates closest, because they are the ones you hole up with for long periods and churn out the creative process. One of those for me, is the pen during the day, and voice at times at night when...
Read More
  • Nicolas Cage has been around locally for weeks filming one of his latest projects. Could ‘Parish’ be considered a cage match between he and St. Michael the Archangel, a local parish, with sword slitting sinner’s neck, considering his bent for projects of a spiritual and apocalyptic nature?? But farmhouse famously. Read on, or see it in a theater soon …
When I first heard that star actor Nicolas Cage was in town for an extended stay to film one of his new movies, it didn’t take too much of a deep dive to discover that the film and its protagonist takes the name of Parish, which made me think it had something to do with things post-apocalyptic and churches, like some of his past flicks. (Spoiler alert: It actually is not a parish in the sense of the name of a church, but has that end of the world and eternity vibe, as it’s about a man who decides to hole up in his adapted...
Read More
  • MAGA goes South, and everyone from South Park to various ends of St. Croix County ‘can plainly see’ it. Yes, Republicanism may have won the day in the county, but in the final tally in the state, and country, it was curtains for them keeping a majority, being tied too closely to Trump. aberations in that county voting were Knoke vs. Zimmerman, and the early tallies in Town of Hudson absentee voting.
Mr. Hat, meet Mr. Reality, meet Mr. Mandate. Via Mr. Crowley. If you don’t get that post-election humor, then there’s no hope … When it concerns the latter, check out the Ozzy song and it’s message, “won’t you ride my white horse” and “did you think you were pure,” see if you then get the gag, as a U.S. dictator’s realm falls in a landslide rarely seen. “Your lifestyle to me seems so tragic.” As the last midterm election tallies are being, well, tallied, South Park (and later SNL too) roared on with its satire on Wednesday night, getting going at it...
Read More
  • Sick of getting flyers in the mail, as many as five a day, and leaving no room in the box for the postman? Even if they happen to target a political interest of yours? I went through more than 100, so offer this synopsis, which got very detailed, as your primer for when you go to the polls today. (See results here in coming days.)
The divide in politics these days is not still as much left vs. right, with granted little center, it’s become the informed vs. the uniformed or downright ignorant, and by the flyers politicians put out, you can see they are catering to this predilection. So I propose a solution, though radical, as long as these days we’re throwing that word around all over the place even when it’s not merited, and it’s mentioned literally hundreds of times in Republican flyers across the state: If you are not going to educate yourself, don’t vote. If you think about it, this is very Darwin-ish. Another...
Read More
  • Few inflatables? Just Chip away at the beyond-rigatoni-like-structured (Penne please?) them plastic bones? Halloween has come crashing to a sugary candied conclusion. But not before the alley cats were spooked, if they were not caught with their costumed tails between their legs, (no prizes), or by a pirate that’s DEPP-osed, (maybe.) Or, did Zappa do it? Double, double P. —– But hence, tomorrow is Election Day, and I will provide detailed coverage and how-to-fight-through-the-chaff analysis that will include the local polling numbers. You will see that much sooner here than in the local paper, as they do not staff elections firsthand.
Hark Halloween has been buried, as the big inflatables are now being sacked and stored — they were slowly being replaced anyway by some bigger creatures of all, very tall types and rounds lengths of plastic, currently used as the centerpieces, not the ones that often end up laying flat on the ground, strung out. As far as the bigger than gourds, such pumpkins were seen around town at the bars and antique shops, such as three of carefully chosen shades set in a triangle, of all different colors were the shapes painted on — they being squares and circles of...
Read More
Scroll to Top