Story and Photos by Summer Luu
The refreshingly sunny university campus welcomed the 45^th Willamette Valley Music Festival on Saturday afternoon. It was a warm, almost cloudless day as the sun shone down on music lovers and students alike. Stages were spread across campus—the main stage located in the EMU ballroom, the student stage located in the EMU amphitheater and the KLCC stage in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Every year, the University of Oregon Cultural Forum produces this music festival for the enjoyment of university students and Eugene community members alike. “It’s great to see our student fees producing something like this—it’s a lot of fun,” said Charley DiBartolomeo, a junior.
The Willamette Valley Music Festival is a free one-day music festival held on university campus featuring a range of artists and bands from bluegrass, rap, rock, alternative, blues, jazz, hip hop, folk, electronic, dance and indie. Some acts in the past have included: Phantogram, Y La Bamba, Yeasayer, A-Trak, Baths and Blue Scholars. This year, WVMF had 22 artists: AgesandAges, All Your Sisters, Christine and Nate Hanks, Dreamdog, Ghillie Dhu and the Dhon’ts, Grass Widow, Homeschool, Hot Milk, Jade, June Apple, North Eugene Ukulele Orchestra, Nurses, Red Pajamas, Sol Seed, Stein, The Architex, The Great Hiatum, The Groundblooms, The Huckleberrys, The Silent Comedy, The Weather Machine, Theme Night and the soul funk headliner, Mayer Hawthorne and the County.

Mainly local folk musicians were housed on the KLCC stage, giving the music festival the great taste of rhythmic guitars as the student stage juxtaposed with pop, rock and rap performances. Not long ago, the annual festival was a folk festival with the majority of the performers playing folk music. The student stage housed two sustainable bicycling machines, assisting in electric power for the music—very Oregonian. Lastly, the main stage held performers from across the nation (unfortunately the stage moved from the Memorial Quad to the EMU ballroom due to the chance of rain). Accompanying the WVMF was the ASUO Spring Street Faire, providing an array of delicious food-cart style cuisine, beverages, crafts and shopping to music fans.  The WVMF catered to student parents as well and had set up children’s activities and music workshops.
The music festival experience was ideal due to the warm weather, the constant interactions at the street faire and amazing musical entertainment. When asking students’ their opinion of the entire atmosphere of Saturday’s event, most were just very happy it was nice out and there had been an abundance of elephant ears. “I think people really enjoy the street faire because it only comes twice a year and they don’t take it for granted, especially when there are really cool bands playing here too,” commented junior Madyson Zetterberg.
Both the Student Stage and KLCC Stage closed after 6pm but the Main Stage went until midnight, with its last act, Mayer Hawthorne and the County. Many sponsors had been involved with the event, such as the UO Outdoor Program, ASUO, Jordan Schnitzer Art Museum, KLCC Radio, Ethos Magazine, Eugene Weekly and of course, the UO Cultural Forum. Students can only wait until Spring 2013 to see what the Willamette Valley Music Festival has in store next.

Gallery • 6 Photos

Eugene’s Own Music Festival