As most creative thinkers can attest, the best ideas rarely come through group brainstorming meetings or while actively thinking about things at work. Most come on a whim. Just ask Britnee Christen, a Moscow resident and the founder/director of the Moscow Mountain Music Fest.
"So the Moscow Mountain Music Fest was literally developed as an idea in my kitchen one day," Christen says with a laugh. "I am an event producer by trade, I've been doing it for over 10 years. And I've always wanted to be able to start my own festival from the ground up. I was just kind of in the right place in life to be able to say, 'You know what? I think this is a good time to start this festival and create something that could become a new tradition for Moscow and its community.'"
The initial seed of the festival came to her in early 2021 before it blossomed into a reality with the first edition of the Moscow Mountain Music Fest on Aug. 13, 2022. Now in its second year, the one-day Americana- and folk-leaning event looks to fill a bit of the void in the Moscow scene. While the Inland Northwest gets plenty of great concerts during the summer, the region isn't exactly a music festival hotspot. That's especially true in Northern Idaho, and part of the reason Christen wanted to launch her fest to unite folks.
"It really all just started with the idea of connecting music to the people in our community. The Palouse has a lot of fantastic local musicians. And so I just really wanted to create an opportunity to connect us in the region with this music and bring out some of the best bands that are working in the Pacific Northwest and the West Coast," says Christen. "I really just wanted to create something that was unique to us and could be a tradition and was community-minded and could be a welcoming space for people who want it and need it."
Christen approaches the fest as a bit of a tourist perspective too, considering her background as the former tourism director for the city of Pullman (as well as the former director of the National Lentil Festival in Pullman). And while she strives to bring in outsiders, there's a homegrown core of friendly musical celebration that she wants to curate. Part of the joy of the fest's first year was seeing so many folks meet up with pals for their first big live music event since the start of the COVID pandemic. As she puts it, she wants Moscow Mountain Music Fest to be "an environment where you can be your silly self."
"We want it to grow organically, so it just feels like a warm hug," says Christen. "I know that sounds kind of cheesy, but it's just something that can be familiar and fun and just an opportunity to let everything else go."
Moscow Mountain Music Fest focuses primarily on folk and Americana artists from the Pacific Northwest, but Christen is open to booking most any genre (there's more country on this year's bill). The lineup for the 2023 edition of Moscow Mountain Music Fest — which takes place Saturday, Aug. 12 — includes headline indie folk band Blitzen Trapper, Inlander indie rock favorite Maita, Spokane troubadour Matt Mitchell Music Co., and more. There's also a new secondary stage just for acts from Moscow's growing music scene: Corey Oglesby, Will Fontaine, Owen McGreevy, Blaine Andrew Ross and Ice Cream Band.
While Christen has dreams of the festival becoming a multiday interactive event that activates different parts of the community, the more important thing at this point is just building something that can stick around.
"The ultimate goal is to create something that can be a long-lasting tradition," Christen states. "We have a couple of events in town that have been around for 40-plus years, it would just be a dream if that was something that happened for this festival. So I think just being sustainable in our growth and being responsive to what our community needs." ♦
Moscow Mountain Music Fest • Sat, Aug. 12 at Noon • $25 (Free for children ages 12 and under) • All ages • Latah County Fairgrounds • 1021 Harold Ave., Moscow • moscowmountainmusicfest.com
