Washougal Songcraft Festival is back bigger and better with 24 songwriters and 5 concerts

The 2024 Washougal Songcraft Festival will feature more concerts, more performers and more venues than it did its first year. Some of that growth is by design and some of it is the result of some unexpected news delivered by the owner of one of the 2023 festival’s host venues.

54-40 Brewing Company co-owner Bolt Minister told organizers that he lost the rights to his back space, so the festival would not occur in the same place.

“That fueled us to dig deeper, and pushed us a little quicker than we had anticipated,” Fest co-founder Stephanie Corbell said.

As a result, the 2024 festival will unfold at four Washougal venues. It will include five concerts and feature 24 regional songwriters and three vocal-music composers.

All of the concerts are free and all-ages.

“We are extremely excited,” Corbell said. “The amount of love and support we have from the singer-songwriter community is just outstanding.”

The inaugural summer festival in 2023 featured three concerts and 16 performers at Reflection Plaza and 54-40 Brewing Company.

“Last year, I really got the reinforcement that what we’re doing has some value, that the artists and that the community gets why it’s cool to have original songwriting,” said Christopher Corbell, Stephanie’s husband and festival co-founder. “We’re trying to build here with regional artists, and last year taught us that works.”

In July, the Washougal City Council allocated $2,000 from the city’s Arts Commission and $3,200 from its lodging taxes to the festival, which will cost an estimated $14,630.

“It’s been really great to watch them basically start this effort of getting music into Washougal … and watching it grow from what they had last year,” Washougal City Councilor Michelle Wagner said. “Last year, it didn’t encompass as many days or as many venues, so I’m really excited for the future … I’m hoping we can have those T-shirts that say ‘Third annual Washougal Songcraft Festival’ in the future.”

The Corbells launched the Washougal Songcraft Festival as a nonprofit in 2023 to promote arts education, foster and celebrate the craft of songwriting and develop the local performing arts community.

“We’re not in any certain genre,” Christopher Corbell said. “We’re not a rock festival. We’re not a folk festival. We’re just about good songwriting, and that’s one thing that I think people can expect when they hear our performers.”

The group also hosts a monthly song circle in Washougal from October through June.

“Our vision is so focused on building something that happens here every year, that’s part of Washougal’s cultural identity, happening in the civic center and not out on private land somewhere, and (featuring) local singer songwriters,” Christopher Corbell said. “Our vision is wanting to see Washougal be known for something cultural. We hope to build a legacy.”