Jungible 2014 Music Festival

When: Noon-late, Saturday, Sept. 13

Where: Jardin Du Soleil, 3932 Sequim-Dungeness Way

Cost: $25 general admission. No cost for children under 12

More info: Call 582-1185 or e-mail to: comestogetherproductions@hotmail.com

Online: Jungiblefestival.com or www.facebook.com/JungibleFestival

Music will resonate through the Dungeness valley during the second annual Jungible music festival come Saturday, Sept. 13.

The rolling acres of lavender fields at Jardin du Soleil will transform into a natural venue for a one-day music festival hosted by farm owners Paul and Jordan Schiefen and owners of Dungeness Community Studios, Bill and Ana Yates.

The name, “Jungible” captures the essence of the festival. Although considered a dead word, Paul stumbled across the word and its meaning of “that may be joined,” when the opportunity to collaborate with friends and fellow musicians to host a music festival appeared.

Joined in their passion for music, love for their community and similar lifestyles of raising their families in Sequim, the Schiefens and Yateses have worked together now two consecutive years to produce a music festival for everyone in the community to enjoy.

“We wanted to create something we could take our children to,” Ana said. “It’s nice to have things to do without having to leave the community.”

Lessons learned

Last year’s Jungible festival marked the beginning of the tradition. Although it turned out to be a success, both the Schiefens and Yateses “stressed out over the details, down to how the stage curtains hung,” but this year the group has a better idea about what’s truly worth stressing about, Ana said. They also have learned one another’s strengths and weaknesses when it comes to creating such a production.

Different from the past festival’s goal to simply get people to attend, given it was the first event, this Jungible the hosts are more focused on bettering the event and making it as fun as possible.

One of the big things the Schiefens and Yateses learned from last year was to push the date from August to September.

“We’re still getting complaints from people that weren’t able to attend the last festival because they weren’t back from vacations yet,” Jordan said.

To resolve this issue, the festival’s date was adjusted and both the Schiefens and Yateses made a conscious effort to fully listen to the community’s feedback and make revisions accordingly.

Already looking to next year’s Jungible festival, the Schiefens would like to offer camping at the farm, but that is still a work in progress.

“We have bigger goals for this festival, but we’re letting it grow organically,” Paul said.

All about quality

With the big unknown of whether people will attend the festival or not out of the way, the Schiefens and Yates have put their energy into ensuring a quality experience. To do so they have scheduled a lineup of six groups, including the Polyrhythmics, Armstrong, Lawton and Katz, McTuff, Joy In Mudville, Br’er Rabbit and The Dip.

The music genres range from soul, rhythm and blues, stomp grass, americana to funk.

“It wasn’t so much about reputation, as it was to create a diverse and quality lineup,” Paul said.

In order to prepare the lineup, Paul previews and intensely researches musicians for months prior to the festival. Following last year’s Jungible, only a couple days had passed before both Bill and Paul were back to the drawing board to prepare for this Jungible.

Attendees can expect little downtime between sets, Ana said. This year a mini stage will be available for the musicians from the different groups to jam, and between sets a friend and fellow musician of Paul’s, Dan Perea, will be performing.

“Set breaks are a open invite for other band members to join,” Paul said.

In addition to the tried and true musicians, a children’s stage will also be set-up for any young aspiring musicians to perform and let their creativity flow.

To accompany the quality of music, local food and beverages will be aplenty. Vendors include Maggie May’s Espresso & Outfitter, CRAVEcart, Viking Feast Ice Cream and Nourish will be doing offering food and catering the wine and beer garden.

“It’s really pretty simple,” Ana said. “People want good music, good food and a place to hang with their friends and family in a beautiful setting so that’s what we try to provide.”

Community oriented

One of the biggest reasons for the success of the first Jungible festival was the amount of help from the community volunteers, Jordan said. Without the volunteers or community’s support the festival could not happen. From donated equipment to time, the amount of community support has the Schiefens and Yates in ah. The local organizations and businesses behind the scenes of the events are Nash’s Organic Produce, Dungeness Valley Creamery, Sunny Farms. Maple View Farms and Five Acre School.

“We’ve learned to really love our volunteers” Ana said.

But, just as the community comes together to facilitate Jungible, the Schiefens and Yates dedicate their time and energy into providing a platform for that collaboration to occur. For the hosts’ common goals for the festival are to “see people dance and have fun,” Ana said.

With every year, the Schiefens and Yates hope to allow Jungible evolve, but for now the two couples look to the upcoming festival with excitement and anticipation of yet another successful Jungible.

Reach Alana Linderoth at alinderoth@sequimgazette.com.