About
Rendezvous was started in 1983 by the City of Moscow and the Moscow Arts Commission in response to citizens’ requests for a summer music festival. After several years, the event became so successful that the Moscow City Council recommended that it be separately organized and operated. In 1990, Rendezvous in Moscow, Inc. was formed as a private, non-profit corporation focused upon providing “Moscow and Latah County with a quality summer art and music festival that is accessible, enjoyable and educational for all ages and socioeconomic groups.” Rendezvous has always strived to provide artists diverse in gender, culture, and music style at our festival while continually seeking to upgrade artistic quality. We have sought to support and encourage local arts and healthy lifestyles, while providing an event welcoming to persons who are physically or mentally challenged. Our festival has sought to encourage economic growth in our community by encouraging tourism and visitors to our city, while seeking to embrace and encourage participation by residents of rural communities, families, and diverse age groups. Finally, we have sought to expand the festival in financially prudent and responsible ways while keeping Rendezvous in the Park a true grass roots festival. As we close out forty years, we believe Rendezvous has been extremely successful in living up to our goals.
A big part of the success of Rendezvous, apart from its dedicated volunteer board, has been the active and generous support of our local business community. Over the years, the festival has worked closely with the City of Moscow, and later with businesses throughout the Palouse region, to keep the event affordable to everyone in our community. In an era where many musical festivals in other parts of the country have struggled to survive (even before Covid), the special relationship between Rendezvous and our local businesses has kept the festival strong. And it is a relationship that has grown stronger over the years. Bringing in national music acts to Rendezvous is a costly endeavor and the price of acts has increased greatly over the years! Thanks to our local businesses, we have been able to keep our ticket prices accessible to everyone, bringing concerts to our community that would cost 3-4 times more to audiences seeing the same acts at bigger festivals in Sandpoint or elsewhere. In fact, the entire gate for the three-day festival only covers the cost of stage, lights, sound, and security (or about one-quarter of our expenses). Programming costs account for all of the rest, and are entirely covered by donations from our business community and local, individual Booster Club members. This is an important part of our story of how we have been able to bring to you this amazing festival over the years.
With an all-volunteer board, planning each year’s Rendezvous is a year-round task. The programming committee, which selects the musical acts that play at the summer festival, begin meeting in November. The committee identifies ‘up-and-coming’ bands, contacts agents, negotiates contracts, and tries to bring in a wide-variety of musical genres for the festival. Moreover, since our mission is also to support the local music community as well, we established the Showcase Battle of the Bands, which has long been sponsored by Gritman Medical Center, to highlight area musicians. It gives local acts priceless opportunities to open each night of Rendezvous ahead of national acts who are performing at the festival and begin their own musical journeys. And sometimes we get lucky finding home-grown talent at Rendezvous. In 2002, a budding Moscow musician named Josh Ritter won our Showcase event and opened our Saturday night show, featuring Loudon Wainwright. Fast forward eight years to 2010, and Josh Ritter returned to Rendezvous as the main headliner for our Saturday night show after establishing himself as a nationally-known recording artist! With so many talented musicians in our community, Rendezvous is always on the lookout for the next Josh Ritter! Maybe you’ll spot him or her on our Thursday night local showcase or as the showcase opener on Friday or Saturday night?
And as for those amazing national acts we have brought to our festival, since its inception, Rendezvous has showcased some of the country’s best musicians, many of whom have gone on to win honors such as The Grammy, the Country Music Award, the Handy Award, as well as enshrinement in the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame. Past performers have included Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and gospel legend Mavis Staples, Josh Ritter, Los Lobos, Riders in the Sky, Arlo Guthrie, Will Hoge, Anna Popovic, Sonny Landreth, Carrie Rodriguez, J.J. Grey and MoFro, Dishwalla, Carbon Leaf, The Gourds, Dilana, Ivan Neville, Ruthie Foster, Paul Thorn, Samantha Fish, and the five-time 2007 Grammy Award-winning Dixie Chicks. And we continue that tradition this year with our special fortieth anniversary lineup featuring Ripe, Katie Pruitt, Little Hurricane, Massy Ferguson, and more!
Another part of the Rendezvous story has been the critical impact that our morning children’s program, Rendezvous for Kids (or R4Kids), has made over the past thirty years for thousands of local kids! The two-day R4Kids program, running annually in conjunction with the music festival, has given children an incredible experience with arts and music, enriching their lives and hopefully creating lifelong passions for the arts. Each year more than 120 children participate each morning in a variety of art activities led by local area artists and musicians. R4Kids offers an opportunity to experience a myriad of artistic disciplines, including music, drama, tie-dye, dance, painting, sculpting, and more. All arts workshops are designed to be age appropriate and represent culturally diverse artistic media and genre. It is also another example of business support, with major sponsors like Palouse Pediatrics, Palouse Pediatric Dentistry, Pickard Orthodontic, and Gold Mountain Community School providing us with the ability to keep prices for the morning programs affordable to all.
Mission Statement:
The mission of Rendezvous in Moscow, Inc. is to “provide Moscow and Latah County with a quality summer art and music festival that is accessible, enjoyable, and educational for all ages and socioeconomic groups.”
Goals:
A big part of the success of Rendezvous, apart from its dedicated volunteer board, has been the active and generous support of our local business community. Over the years, the festival has worked closely with the City of Moscow, and later with businesses throughout the Palouse region, to keep the event affordable to everyone in our community. In an era where many musical festivals in other parts of the country have struggled to survive (even before Covid), the special relationship between Rendezvous and our local businesses has kept the festival strong. And it is a relationship that has grown stronger over the years. Bringing in national music acts to Rendezvous is a costly endeavor and the price of acts has increased greatly over the years! Thanks to our local businesses, we have been able to keep our ticket prices accessible to everyone, bringing concerts to our community that would cost 3-4 times more to audiences seeing the same acts at bigger festivals in Sandpoint or elsewhere. In fact, the entire gate for the three-day festival only covers the cost of stage, lights, sound, and security (or about one-quarter of our expenses). Programming costs account for all of the rest, and are entirely covered by donations from our business community and local, individual Booster Club members. This is an important part of our story of how we have been able to bring to you this amazing festival over the years.
With an all-volunteer board, planning each year’s Rendezvous is a year-round task. The programming committee, which selects the musical acts that play at the summer festival, begin meeting in November. The committee identifies ‘up-and-coming’ bands, contacts agents, negotiates contracts, and tries to bring in a wide-variety of musical genres for the festival. Moreover, since our mission is also to support the local music community as well, we established the Showcase Battle of the Bands, which has long been sponsored by Gritman Medical Center, to highlight area musicians. It gives local acts priceless opportunities to open each night of Rendezvous ahead of national acts who are performing at the festival and begin their own musical journeys. And sometimes we get lucky finding home-grown talent at Rendezvous. In 2002, a budding Moscow musician named Josh Ritter won our Showcase event and opened our Saturday night show, featuring Loudon Wainwright. Fast forward eight years to 2010, and Josh Ritter returned to Rendezvous as the main headliner for our Saturday night show after establishing himself as a nationally-known recording artist! With so many talented musicians in our community, Rendezvous is always on the lookout for the next Josh Ritter! Maybe you’ll spot him or her on our Thursday night local showcase or as the showcase opener on Friday or Saturday night?
And as for those amazing national acts we have brought to our festival, since its inception, Rendezvous has showcased some of the country’s best musicians, many of whom have gone on to win honors such as The Grammy, the Country Music Award, the Handy Award, as well as enshrinement in the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame. Past performers have included Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and gospel legend Mavis Staples, Josh Ritter, Los Lobos, Riders in the Sky, Arlo Guthrie, Will Hoge, Anna Popovic, Sonny Landreth, Carrie Rodriguez, J.J. Grey and MoFro, Dishwalla, Carbon Leaf, The Gourds, Dilana, Ivan Neville, Ruthie Foster, Paul Thorn, Samantha Fish, and the five-time 2007 Grammy Award-winning Dixie Chicks. And we continue that tradition this year with our special fortieth anniversary lineup featuring Ripe, Katie Pruitt, Little Hurricane, Massy Ferguson, and more!
Another part of the Rendezvous story has been the critical impact that our morning children’s program, Rendezvous for Kids (or R4Kids), has made over the past thirty years for thousands of local kids! The two-day R4Kids program, running annually in conjunction with the music festival, has given children an incredible experience with arts and music, enriching their lives and hopefully creating lifelong passions for the arts. Each year more than 120 children participate each morning in a variety of art activities led by local area artists and musicians. R4Kids offers an opportunity to experience a myriad of artistic disciplines, including music, drama, tie-dye, dance, painting, sculpting, and more. All arts workshops are designed to be age appropriate and represent culturally diverse artistic media and genre. It is also another example of business support, with major sponsors like Palouse Pediatrics, Palouse Pediatric Dentistry, Pickard Orthodontic, and Gold Mountain Community School providing us with the ability to keep prices for the morning programs affordable to all.
Mission Statement:
The mission of Rendezvous in Moscow, Inc. is to “provide Moscow and Latah County with a quality summer art and music festival that is accessible, enjoyable, and educational for all ages and socioeconomic groups.”
Goals:
- To provide artists diverse in gender, culture, and music style
- To continually upgrade artistic quality
- To support and encourage local arts and healthy lifestyles
- To encourage participation by residents of rural communities
- To encourage participation by tourists and visitors
- To serve persons who are physically and mentally challenged
- To encourage participation of families and diverse age groups
- To expand financially in prudent and responsible ways
- To keep Rendezvous a grass roots festival