Find folk’s roots at Deception Pass

The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission Folk Arts in the Parks Program invites the public to the American Roots Music Series at Deception Pass State Park.

The free performances will be held Saturdays from July 19 through Aug. 16. Performance are held from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the West Beach amphitheater on the Whidbey Island side of the park. Here’s a schedule of performers:

July 19: Sankofa, an African-American a cappella women’s sextet from Seattle, Tacoma and points between, will perform a mix of African-American gospel, contemporary, vocal music.

July 26: Ernest Queen and Queen’s Bluegrass performs traditional bluegrass and southern gospel music from Washington’s Skagit Valley’s “Tar Heel” (Appalachian North Carolinian) community.

Aug. 2: Ruže Dalmatinke (Dalmatian Roses), of Anacortes, sing and play songs from the Anacortes Croatian immigrant community. This nationally renowned ensemble has performed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., and at the Statue of Liberty Centennial in New York City.

Aug. 9: Juan Manuel Barco and his TexMex Band play corridos and conjunto music from the borderlands and the Yakima, including “a musical journey through the U.S. with a migrant farmworker family in the 1950s and ’60s.”

Aug. 16: In the final event of the series, storyteller Jill Johnson enacts the story of Deception Pass ferryboat captain Berte “Little, but Oh My” Olson, with Scandinavian music by Vern Olson.

These events are part of a broader series of events celebrating Washington’s diverse cultures. The Folk and Traditional Arts in the Parks Program is a partnership between the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission and the Washington State Arts Commission, in cooperation with Northwest Heritage Resources. Additional funding support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The events are accessible to persons with disabilities. If special accommodations are required in order to attend the event, please call 360- 902-8526, or Washington Telecommunications Relay Service at 800-833-6388. Requests must be made in advance.

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