If you've been waiting for the valley to wake up, this is the week. The calendar between now and Memorial Day is wall-to-wall live music, and the striking part isn't the volume, it's the price. Most of it's free. You just have to know where to stand.
Friday: pick a winery, any winery
The Wenatchee Valley's not-so-secret weapon is its tasting-room circuit, and this Friday it's running at full tilt. Confluence Jazz Trio plays the lawn at Chateau Faire Le Pont, Norman Baker sets up inside Pybus Public Market, and Benson Vineyards has its regular Friday session going. Down the road, Joel Gibson Jr. brings a louder, rootsier set to Wenatchee Valley Brewing Co. None of these will cost you a cover charge. The wine is your ticket, and even that's optional.
If you'd rather sit down for something with a little production behind it, the Numerica Performing Arts Center hosts Wannabe, a Spice Girls tribute, on Thursday night — the closest thing to an arena show the week offers, and a genuinely fun one if you came up in the late nineties.
Saturday: the one to circle
Here's the event worth rearranging your weekend for. The Leavenworth International Alphorn Festival lands at Front Street Park on Saturday afternoon — alphorn players from across North America, in one of the few American towns where a twelve-foot wooden horn doesn't look out of place. It's free, it's outdoors, and it is unlike anything else on the valley's calendar this year. Bring a blanket.
The same weekend, Leavenworth Village Art in the Park fills Front Street Park with paintings, photography, jewelry, and metalwork from Northwest artists — a good excuse to make a full day of it before the drive home.
Sunday and the wind-down
Sunday keeps the tasting rooms busy: Tsillan Cellars has live music through the afternoon, and Owen Barnhart is playing — depending on which listing you trust — at both Endless Orchard Cider and Union Hill Cider Co. (We're working on tightening that up. If you spot a duplicate on the feed, that's a bug, not a double-booking.)
Looking ahead
Two things worth putting on the calendar now. First Fridays returns to downtown Wenatchee on June 5, with gallery openings at Two Rivers, the MAC Gallery, and Art Alley at Pybus — the closest the valley gets to a coordinated art night. And on May 30, the Chelan Cares Country Jam at Larc Hill Vineyard Ranch is the rare ticketed show on this list ($40), a benefit concert featuring Alexa Gilbert and Aaron Crawford. If you're going to pay for one night out this stretch, that's the one with a cause attached.
That's the week. The full, always-current list, with times, venues, and directions — is on the Wenatchee feed. The Scene tells you what matters; the feed tells you everything.