WSU Vancouver kicks off fall semester
WSUV will jump-start its new academic year with a free, public concert Friday evening at its open-air amphitheater.
Local group Pepe & the Bottle Blondes will entertain guests who are welcome to bring a picnic, blanket, lawn chairs (just no alcohol, per campus rules) to the concert, set for 6 to 8 p.m.
The Copacabana-style band “combines an eclectic ensemble of saxophones, trumpets, congas and percussion with bold singing by Pepe and his back-up blondes,” a WSUV news release explained.
The “visually arresting” and well-costumed group will deliver a variety of tangos, boleros, rumbas and sambas worthy of a vintage-1950s Latin American nightclub, the school said.
Parking fees will be waived for all non-metered spots, starting at 5:30 p.m.
It will be WSUV’s first outdoor public concert in some time, going back to the popular, summertime Back Yard Concert Series that once had frequented the hillside venue, about a decade ago.
Since then, Vancouver’s downtown Esther Short Park has pretty much cornered the free, outdoor concert circuit. Local sponsors have shifted their focus there, said Jeanette Altman, staff assistant with the WSUV College of Liberal Arts.
“We started talking about how fun those concerts were,” said Altman, who applied for funding from the WSU student activities fund and received a grant.
“We thought it would be a fun way to invite the community up to the campus and give a free show, and welcome the students back,” she said. Future events could hinge on Friday’s turnout and response, she said. WSUV might consider building a permanent stage structure to allow nonsummer shows.
“I think this will really tell us where we want to go,” Altman said.
WSUV is at 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave. That’s east of the junction of Interstates 5 and 205, via the Northeast 134th St. exit.
C-Tran bus service is available. A Route 19 bus departs the Northeast 99th Street Transit Center in Hazel Dell, and returns from WSUV, every 30 minutes through 9 p.m. Friday.
