In celebration of CiderFest, Open Space for Arts & Community is putting on a barn dance on Saturday, featuring local country crooner Jennifer Sutherland.
The down-home fun will start at 5 p.m., when doors open for the dance. At 5:30 p.m., dancers can brush up on such steps as the cuddle, inside and outside turns and the two-step, led by instructor Sandi Salagi. Sutherland and her band, The Barnyard Boys, will take the stage at 6 p.m.
Before moving to the Island with her family eight years ago, Sutherland sang with the alt-country band Evangeline. The group recorded several CDs and regularly played the Tractor Tavern, The Sunset Tavern and The Crocodile.
For her show on Saturday, she’s recruited an accomplished band to play along, led by Garth Reeves, a Seattle singer/songwriter, who has selected a set list of favorites from the songbooks of Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson. Reeves will be joined in the band by Jason Staczek on Hammond B3 organ, guitarist Jeff Fielder, bassist Robin Cady and drummer Eric Eagle.
Tickets, on sale in advance at www.brownpapertickets.com and Vashon Bookshop, are $12 single, $40 for a group of four or $15 on the day of the show. The group rate is available only at the online site.
Saturday is full of other Ciderfest activities. At the Village Green between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. the Vashon Island Fruit Club will host a sweet cider tasting, a cider pressing demonstration and an apple crisp sale. At 2 p.m. the Vashon Park District will host a pet show for all animals other than horses. Pets must be on a leash or in a cage and can be entered in four categories: obstacle course, behavior, grooming and costume. There is a $2 entry fee, with registration forms available at www.vashonparkdistrict.org.
Café Luna will host a seminar on hard cider at 4 p.m. and a hard cider tasting, with a cover charge of $10, from 4:30 to 7 p.m.
Saturday night will feature a barn dance with a swing dance lesson at 5:30 p.m. and the dance beginning at 6 p.m. (See page 13 for dance details.)
Throughout the day, the Vashon Island Chamber of Commerce will host a scarecrow contest; for details, see www.vashonchamber.com or call the chamber at 463-6217.
