By Kirk Boxleitner
Fresh off the County Fair and All-County Picnic, the Jefferson County Fairgrounds will still be busy in August. Next up is the Jubilee Love Festival this weekend.
Jubilee Love Festival describes itself as a BIPOC and queer-led performing arts festival, founded and executive produced by musician Grace Love.
Love says she wants the event to be “an inclusive and diverse community event that celebrates BIPOC and LGBTQ+ creatives and promotes unity and representation.” About 80% of the program is dedicated to performing artists, complemented by a “kids’ zone” for families and a family-style dinner.
Since moving to Port Townsend in 2018, Love has sought to make a lasting impression on the community by encouraging an even greater level of creative and inclusive self-expression.
The original, full-fledged edition of this festival was originally scheduled for October 2019, but Love admitted that those plans were postponed as she “embarked on her journey to motherhood.”
The Jubilee Love Festival is scheduled to make its long-delayed debut on Friday, August 23 and Saturday, August 24. Gates will open at 3pm for performances from 4pm to 9pm, showcasing 10 local and regional performing arts artists, from music to culinary.
“Every day is dinner and a show,” Love said with a laugh, before becoming thoughtful and citing her studies of cultural practices. “So many social rituals, whether birthdays or weddings, involve food. This can be especially important in rural communities.”
Love wants to spotlight a wide range of talent, regardless of race or sexual orientation, whose artists are too often underrepresented in the media. But she also wants to create connections between those artists and the surrounding community through an event for families, “where you know your kids are safe and they’re being taken care of.”
Love said it was important to her not only to survive but also to strengthen people’s bodies and minds, especially after the pandemic when she worked with the YMCA to provide meals for families in need.
She said attendees should bring their appetites because there will be a Memphis-style barbecue buffet on Friday, followed by a Louisiana-style seafood roast on Saturday.
Artists will perform on both the outdoor “A” stage and the Horticultural Stage. Outdoor artists scheduled for Friday include Tara Craig at 4pm and Miche Mora at 5pm, followed by Rub at 7pm and Swooth Kiwi at 8pm on the Horticultural Stage.
On Saturday, True Reckoning will perform at 5pm and Sportstar at 6pm outdoors, followed by Marco Marco at 7pm, Altar SHEgo at 8pm and singer and performer Grace Love herself headlining the evening at 8:30pm in the Horticultural Building.
Tickets are limited and available to purchase online at jubileelovefestival.com, however certain tickets are available at discounted prices or on a pay-what-you-can basis, or even free for qualified attendees with Equity Passes.
