(Above: Timothy Gomez of Florida is one of many Native American flute musicians who have traveled to Flutestock, held this year at Island Park in Springfield after several years at the Elkton Community Center in Elkton; photo by Paul Carter)
By Randi Bjornstad
It’s amazing how long you can live in a community and still be surprised — and delighted — to hear about aspects of the arts that you never knew about before.
One for me is Flutestock, a concert of of Native American-style flute music that will be performed at Island Park in Springfield the last weekend in July.
One reason many people in the Eugene-Springfield area may not be familiar with Flutestock is that although it has been an organized festival since 2017, for its first five years the festival was held at the Elkton Community Center in the small town of Elkton on Highway 38, nearly an hour southwest of Eugene in Douglas County.
That location was important because the site is on traditional, ancestral territory of the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe.
Gradually, though, aficionados of the Native American flute music — and fans of the festival — began to talk about searching for a new place to hold the event, closer to Interstate 5 so more people could reach it more easily and also have more lodging options for the three-day musical celebration.
After searching for a new location, the board of directors of the nonprofit organization voted to relocate it to Island Park in Springfield, where the area also has strong physical, cultural and ancestral ties, to the Kalapuya tribes.
In announcing the new location and the 2024 festival, Flutestock reminds people of this history:
Wherever we gather, we always express gratitude to those Indigenous people who have lived on and cherished this land in the past and present. Those of us in the United States are encouraged to be mindful and respectful of the Indigenous people whose land we stand on, wherever we live, work, or visit.
Tom Loftin of Reeds Spring, Missouri, traveled halfway across the country with his own versions of the Native American flute, the “drone flute.” One half plays traditional pitches, while the other plays an underlying unifiying tone; photo by Paul Carter.
The three-ay Flutestock festival continues through mid-afternoon on Sunday, July 28, at Island Park, featuring Native-Ameridan flute music played onstage by anyone who wishes to perform it via an open mic and culminating in a flute concert ending at 3 p.m.
In addition to the music, the festival features West Coast and other makers of Native-American flutes who will display and sell their creations, and volunteers will be on hand to teach people new to the instrument how to play it. There also will be a craft show with handiwork by local and regional artisans, and a Native-led cultural exhibit that will include tipis.
Some of the professional flute players who will perform at the Friday and Saturday evening concerts include Rona Yellow Robe, Timothy J.P. Gomez, Tommy Graven, Joseph L. Young, and Pamela Mortensen (on didgeridoo).
Flutestock 2024 wraps up on Sunday, July 28
When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 28
Where: Island Park, 200 West B St., on the Willamette River near downtown Springfield
Admission: Free
Information: flutestock.org
Flutestock 2024 Event Schedule
Sunday, July 28
9:30 a.m. to noon — Workshops, 2 locations
9:30 a.m. to noon — Open mic, Stage
Noon — Raffle drawing, Info Booth pavilion (Ticket winner or their proxy must be present)
12:30 p.m. — Silent Auction closes
1 p.m. to 3 p.m. — Closing concert (Huehca Omeyocan Columbia River Ensemble), Stage
3 p.m. — Goodbye to Flutestock 2024
Next Year’s Flutestock: July 25-27, 2025
