Backwoods Accordion Festival 2024, Trego, Montana

A festivalgoer tries playing an accordion for the first time

Accordion to Hoyle made its debut as a vendor at our local music festival, the Backwoods Accordion Festival on July 20th, just up the road from my home town of Fortine at the Trego Pub and General Store. You won't find a prettier venue anywhere in the country, even if it was a blazing-hot 36°C (97°F).

Jetty Swart, a.k.a. Jet Black Pearl, and her big-mouthed sidekick.

A crowd of a couple hundred enjoyed the entertainment, the beer and pizza served by the pub, and the iced tea and fresh watermelon served by one of the other street vendors.

We had our new Mengascinis on display, as well as a full line of sheet music and accessories, and an 'exploded accordion' for people to look inside and poke around at. People of all ages enjoyed stopping by our booth. We particularly enjoyed one young fan who announced that the 26-key 12-bass Noble Atom was "his size" while the 41/120 next to it was "his father's size."

A lovely backdrop for an open-air accordion display

The musical lineup included four local acts, one playing French musette music, and three playing a mixture of folksongs and original material. Three of the four play button accordions rather than piano accordions! (Though they are C-system and diatonic players, leaving me as the one B-system specialist in town.) The headliner was Jet Black Pearl, from the Netherlands via Portland. She sounds as crazy as she looks! Several sample tracks are featured on her website.

More pictures from the 2024 Backwoods Accordion Festival:

The Festival stage, and a view of the Whitefish Range in the distance

The Festival audience

You can rely on Bob Mislevic to play the "John Deere Polka" every year

Our youngest fan

We can always make time to demonstrate a metronome (or an accordion) for a customer.

Inside the bass machine of an old 48-bass Weltmeister