Where to even begin when trying to tell you about the last ever Northwest String Summit? To put into words what this last gathering was, and the effect that this festival has had on the Northwest over the last 20 years is nearly impossible. After three long years of waiting out a pandemic, this gathering was what everyone’s heart needed. It truly was a labor of love, and you could feel it in every corner of the venue.

Northwest String Summit is one of the most well-known festivals of the Pacific Northwest. It has deep roots in family and bluegrass that have extended, intertwined, and grown deep over the last 20 years. We had the opportunity to chat with one of the founders of the festival Skye McDonald about the festival and what the last 20 years have meant to him and the other founders.

After two long years of anxious hibernation, Oregon is beginning to wake up. Friends are hugging friends, smiles are being shared, and Northwest String Summit and Horning’s Hideout have announced that this year, the 20th anniversary of the music festival, will be moving ahead and will be the very last year for the event known as one of Oregon’s largest and most esteemed bluegrass music festivals. The lineup has been finalized and announced and the event sold out this week!

For 20 years now, Northwest String Summit has brought droves of fans to Horning’s Hideout in North Plains, Oregon—a short, thirty-minute drive northwest from Portland—for a long weekend of world-class musicianship and decade-spanning friendships in the most idyllic Pacific Northwest summer setting. Today, festival organizers announced a hefty addition to Sting Summit’s already-stacked lineup for the festival’s 20th-anniversary event over July 21-24.

For the past two decades, Northwest String Summit has continually brought together fans of bluegrass and rock and roll—and every sub-genre and collaborative effort combinations of two—for a perfect summer weekend in the Pacific Northwest. Friendships and relationships formed during the annual festival at North Plains, Oregon’s beautiful Horning’s Hideout have grown and expanded year by year, all under the premise of sharing good music with good people.

For eighteen years and counting, Northwest String Summit has brought fans of contemporary bluegrass, indie, funk, jam rock, and everything in between to the greater Portland area for what has become a highlight of the summer for festivalgoers nationwide.

For eighteen years and counting, Northwest String Summit has brought fans of contemporary bluegrass, indy, funk, jam rock, and everything in between to the greater Portland area for what has become a highlight of the summer for festivalgoers nationwide.

For the droves of fans who block off dates months in advance, repeatedly caravan with friends to North Plains, Oregon, and grow their festival families year after year, Northwest String Summit continues to add world-class entertainment to their already stacked lineup for their 19th annual event.

For eighteen years and counting, Northwest String Summit has brought fans of contemporary bluegrass, indie, funk, jam rock, and everything in between to the greater Portland area for what has become a highlight of the summer for festival-goers nationwide. Taking place in North Plains’ beautiful Horning’s Hideout, String Summit’s 19th annual gathering brings some familiar faces back to the festival and some widely requested artists to their first String Summit the weekend of July 16-19, 2020.