[Dixielandjazz] The day the music died at Sisters.

[Steve Barbone]

The below article was also posted on the All About Jazz website as wewll as
the on line edition of the Bend (OR) Bulletin:
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=16244

A sad commentary on the state of Trad Jazz in the USA, but very predictable
given the audience demographic for most Dixieland Festivals and bands.

Looks like it's "Darwin Time". (Survival of the fittest - <grin>)

Cheers,
Steve Barbone 


 
Sisters Jazz Festival ¹07 was event¹s last stanza
Smaller crowds, other factors took toll on a 17-year tradition

By Ben Salmon / The Bulletin / Bend Oregon
 
After 17 years of bliss, the Sisters Jazz Festival is ceasing operations
indefinitely, festival Chairman Steve Mills announced Tuesday.

There are several reasons for the decision, but the primary factor is
declining attendance, Mills said.

³Over the past few years the number of people that have attended the
festival has gone down a little bit each year, and the last couple of years
it¹s been significant enough that it¹s had a financial effect,² he said.

³We just felt like at this point in time Š it would just be better to stop
it.²

Exact figures were unavailable, but Mills said about 1,300 people attended
the three-day festival in 2007, down 10 percent to 15 percent over 2006 and
20 percent to 23 percent over the 2000 event. In recent years, three-day
passes cost $70 and one-day admission cost between $25 and $35, depending on
the day.

The festival, held every September in downtown Sisters, brought to town
regional and national bands that played a range of traditional jazz, from
Dixieland to ragtime to big band. It was started in 1991 by jazz fans
looking to add their own twist to the town¹s busy fall, which also includes
a folk festival and quilt show.

The jazz fest and the Sisters Folk Festival run on consecutive weekends, but
are organized by two different groups, and the decision to shutter the jazz
festival does not affect the folk festival.

Part of the reason for the jazz fest¹s declining numbers is the age of the
people who seek out traditional jazz, Mills said.

³Our audience is an older audience,² he said. ³This is the music they grew
up with ‹ the memories and the war and all the different things that
happened during their history. You can just sit there and watch them listen
to the music and (sense) the nostalgia that they¹re feeling.²

As the music¹s fans get older, they become too unhealthy to attend or they
die, and a younger generation of fans isn¹t showing up to take their place.
An attempt two years ago to attract a younger crowd by booking contemporary
jazz ‹ sometimes called ³smooth² jazz ‹ was not well-received, Mills said.
As a result, this year¹s festival featured only bands specializing in
traditional sounds.

Mills also cited the elimination of the popular Sisters RV Park on the west
side of town as another nail in the festival¹s coffin. Over the next year,
the 83-spot RV park site is slated to become home to a new Ray¹s Food Place,
according to earlier reports in The Bulletin.

The RV park was ³nice and convenient² for the event¹s older crowd, Mills
said. ³A lot of them that would attend would come in their RVs and they
would stay at the RV park, so that¹s one contributing factor.²

And in 2007, Cycle Oregon, a gathering of 2,000 cyclists, hurt the jazz
fest, Mills said. Cycle Oregon started in Sisters during the town¹s folk
festival and ended during the jazz festival.

³It really took a drain out of the community, with three big events weekend
after weekend, and it was tough on people,² he said. The cyclists ³took all
of the hotel rooms in town,² Mills said.

Other factors aside, however, the writing has been on the wall for the jazz
festival for years, Mills said, noting that similar events are shutting down
across the country.

³Costs are going up and the number of people that are attending is going
down, and that¹s not a good formula,² he said. ³Bands cost more, lodging
gets more expensive every year, the tent and equipment gets more expensive.
It¹s tough to stay on top of all that when your audience is declining.²

The nonprofit group that runs the festival will remain, and it¹s possible
that another event could pop up to take its place in the future, Mills said.
But nothing has been decided.

And even if something does take its place, Mills wants to thank the
volunteers, sponsors and patrons who supported the festival for the past 17
years.

He also worries about the future of the music.

³It¹s the kind of music that¹s going away,² he said. ³And I think with this
last generation, you know, when it goes, there aren¹t going to be too many
people listening to Dixieland and traditional jazz anymore.²

Ben Salmon can be reached at 383-0377 or bsalmon at bendbulletin.com.