It’s hard to believe that the Celebration is over and we are already planning for the 25th Anniversary for June 21-24, 2018!

This year was filled with so many musicians from all over, with competitions and dancing. The competitions were held Friday and Saturday at the Festhalle and the results are below. Our youngest this year was 6 years old and oldest is hard to say as no one wanted to share their age.

The Gazebo hosted a variety of musicians this year and the bleachers were filled. Even the rain on Friday didn’t keep people away. On Saturday, it was a beautiful day for the Accordion Parade that ended at the Gazebo playing all the way there and more songs were played when they arrived.

There were excellent workshops this year given by John Giuliani, Mark Myking, Stas Venglevski, Jim Tobler, Steve Albini, Kim and Dan Christian, Kory Tideman and Max Kyllonen. Free Accordion Lessons were given in the Grange by a number of teachers and were well attended by people who were excited to try out the accordion for the first time.

Evaluations were also at the Grange where you could play a piece for an adjudicator and would be given an evaluation sheet on how to improve your playing and what to work on for performing. Free Concerts were also going on at the Grange in the afternoons.
Then when most activities come to a close, the Festhalle comes alive with Concerts followed by Dance bands.

This year having Dance Bands at the end of the Concerts was lots of fun and there was dancing all around the Festhalle. The playing continued at the Andreas Keller where everyone tried to get in and get a seat for the Jam that took place for the rest of the evening. It seems this year we had Accordions, Button Box, Diatonic, Stand up Bass, Guitar and other fun musical wood instruments to keep the beat. It was a fun time for all ages.

Sunday was the Awards Ceremony and the Celebration came to a close until the next year. The Committee has already started working on our Special 25th Anniversary with lots of great surprises for everyone.

So mark your Calendars for next year to attend the Leavenworth International Accordion Celebration.
For more information go to our website www.accordioncelebration.org

Northwest Accordion Society is the host for this wonderful celebration. For the Love of the Accordion!