I’m writing this column to give you a heads up. I’m writing this journalistic masterpiece to make sure you – the reader and informed public – have the necessary information in a timely matter. I’m writing this opinion-based, semi-factual account to shed light onto a critical and beneficial news story. I’m here to tell you what you need to do with yourself because let’s face it: The media simply know everything. I’m here to tell you that you need to get your act together, get whatever funds you can scrape together – even if that means hocking your prized Lil’ Wayne albums at CD/Game Exchange – and get your ass to the Northwest’s only nationally noteworthy music festival known as Sasquatch.
Now that you’ve been warned, know this: It is next weekend (May 24-26) so planning time is short, but it can be done. Firstly, if you can financially afford this trip, you shouldn’t hesitate in taking it. In case you have been buried alive with pointless, meandering schoolwork and have never heard of the Sasquatch Music Festival, here’s a rundown: It’s a collection of roughly 90 bands, artists and comedians performing at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington – a 20,000 grass-seat venue that has been named North America’s best outdoor concert venue nine times! In short, it’s the closest place to heaven in the Northwest and potentially the rest of the continent.
But maybe the hyper hippie scene isn’t really your forte. Maybe you’re a Lake Shasta/houseboat kind of person. Maybe you don’t really like the bands performing at a three-day show where tickets are about $70 per day. Maybe you’ve got killer finals coming up the following week, and economically just can’t afford to take a mental break as huge as Sasquatch demands. These are all lame excuses. You can do this, you should do this, and it’s not out of sight yet. Let me begin by saying a large part of Sasquatch is not about the music, the killer venue or even the exorbitant amount of readily available drugs, but about supporting a Northwest tradition. We don’t get the huge names like Coachella or Lollapalooza, and we shy away from the mainstream industry’s spotlight. What the Northwest lacks in a national music and arts identity – because you know everywhere else in the nation thinks we’re wild forest dwellers – it makes up for in the spectacular Gorge Amphitheatre. This is the best venue in North America for a reason, and with it served at your feet on a silver platter; a six-hour drive is easily doable. This is a place every college student in the Northwest needs to experience at least once.
Even if you are not native to Washington, Idaho, or Oregon you – as a University of Oregon student – are part of a Northwest community that thrives on local love and support. An event like Sasquatch is rare not because it happens only once a year, but rather it is something uniquely Northwest in its composition that ties together the region of hipsters, hippies, college students, rednecks, families, punks, environmentalists, not to mention a plethora of indie-rock bands, and of course the expected turnstile of excruciatingly hot and numbingly cold weather. People-watching at Sasquatch is often far more entertaining and captivating than the performances. What more could you ask for out of a Northwest Memorial Day Weekend? To be in the Northwest is to be weird in itself – embrace it.
A lot of my columns are rooted in a concept of community, friendship and acceptance. Sasquatch is that personified manifestation. This is an event that summarizes all the best things about the Northwest, including a non-stop barrage of strange people and stranger music. For three days, Sasquatch offers people the opportunity to be free of worry, free of responsibility and free of doubt. Aside from some relatively small price obligations, this is the best event an Oregonian could ask for.
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