Summer Meltdown is an annual camping and

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

region of the United States. It was originally based in Darrington, Washington, and relocated to

Monroe, Washington Monroe is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Skykomish, Snohomish, and Snoqualmie rivers near the Cascade foothills, about northeast of Seattle. Monroe's population was 19,699 as of ...

, in 2022. The festival is held each August and features over 50 bands on four stages over four days, the Green Village showcasing environmental and social outreach, food, craft and retail vendors, a Kids' Area, Kids' Parade, and the Little Seahorse Music Academy.

History

The Summer Meltdown was founded by Pacific Northwest band Flowmotion in 2000, as a community-based music festival on San Juan Island, with coordination and execution handled by members of Flowmotion and friends of the band. Flowmotion performed as the headliner of the festival. In 2002, Lewis Anderson and Andrea Wood became key members of the coordination efforts, which included development of an official volunteer program, ticketing system, logistical planning, and county petitioning and permitting attempts. In consecutive years, they each took on more responsibilities, securing insurance, setting up vending program, providing web copy and coordinating media efforts, and handling site logistics. Flowmotion continued to perform as the headliner of the festival until 2011. By 2005, the Summer Meltdown had reached a critical growth stage and it was no longer possible to throw the event as a party, without official county permitting. The event had long since moved off San Juan Island and had occurred in three venues in three counties. Event coordinators agreed to take a hiatus that year and look to a future re-grouping in 2006. In 2006 the festival moved to the Whitehorse Mountain Amphitheater in Darrington, Washington, which it shared with the Darrington Bluegrass Festival. The festival property is also known as the Darrington Bluegrass Park. Because of the diverse musical variety at Summer Meltdown, the festival producers decided to create a venue name that did not include bluegrass in the name, hence the name, Whitehorse Mountain Amphitheater. No concerts were held in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Summer Meltdown returned in 2022 after relocating to

, but the following edition was cancelled.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Summer Meltdown website

Photos by Carlton WardFestival Review: 2015 Summer Meltdown

Northwest Music Scene
'' August 18, 2015 Music festivals in Washington (state) Festivals in Seattle Recurring events established in 2000 Jam band festivals

History

See also

References

External links