Cashmere Community Concert Series returns with new location

CASHMERE – After a several year hiatus, the Cashmere Community Concert Series is back with a new location at the Cashmere Community Church.

After the pandemic caused a pause in the tradition, event organizers had a hard time finding a new home for the concerts.

Marie Vecchio is the executive director of the Cashmere Community Concert Series and the Wenatchee Bluegrass Festival.

Cashmere Community Concerts is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide live, affordable, high-quality entertainment to the Wenatchee Valley. 

For Vecchio, the location is a good fit for the music and the atmosphere that the group has cultivated over the years. The Cashmere Community Church is a place where everyone is welcome, and Vecchio finds similarities in that atmosphere.

"We're there for the same mission," Vecchio said. "Our concerts are a gift to the community. We are nonprofit, as I mentioned, none of us get paid for what we do. We spend a gazillion hours arranging music for the community and for the festival. So this was perfect."

Vecchio appreciates that the church has beautiful architecture and great acoustics.

"So the sanctuary is lovely, and that's where we're going to be having our concerts in the sanctuary, and then at intermission, we'll all go into the rec hall and drink coffee and visit," she said.

The group traditionally holds two concerts in the spring and two in the fall.

The first concert in the series is on Saturday, March 30, at 7 p.m. at the Cashmere Community Church at 213 S. Division St., Cashmere.

Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms will perform at the event. The vocally driven duo's music is subtle, powerful, and compelling. Klauder plays the lyrical mandolin, and Willms plays the guitar. They will perform original songs and tunes as well as their favorite picks from traditional and country repertoires. 

Vecchio, a musician herself, is looking forward to resuming the concerts.

"So these concerts not only provide good music but a camaraderie among people, people getting to meet other people or visit with old friends or whatever. But these intermissions were fantastic because they'd sit and drink coffee and eat cookies that were donated by some of the bakers in our membership or whatever, and it's magic."

Not only do the concertgoers build up communities and friendships, but the musicians do as well. 

"The thing about the camaraderie among these folks, like I was mentioning, some of these folks see you travel from festival to festival, which, you know, I do because being the director," she said. "If you see people that you haven't seen since the last Festival, and you know, we're all musicians, so you gather, you start playing music, it's like just where you left off at." 

"You pick it right up again and it's family you're looking forward to seeing people from, you know, from festival to festival, and these concerts, you're establishing ties to these people," she said. "And seeing them from concerts to concerts, well it's magic." 

"Music is magic," she said.

The venue is a smoke-free and alcohol-free environment. Light refreshments will be provided at intermission. The cost is $5 at the door. There will be a "Pass the Hat" for musicians, with a suggested donation of $8 to $15. 

For more information, call (509) 421-0494 or visit cashmereconcerts.com.

"It's priced reasonable for people to be able to bring their families and all the donations that are gathered at the hat pass go to the musicians," Vecchio said. 

"I'm hoping we get back into the groove, you know, after not doing it for so long, we're just praying that we have such a good reputation and we're hoping that our followers continue to support us now that we're at a new location," she said.

Quinn Propst: 509-731-3590 or quinn@ward.media.