This Week in Accordion: Festival Season!

Memorial Day Weekend marks the unofficial start of summer and, more importantly, the start of festival season: polka festivals, zydeco festivals, plain ol’ accordion festivals… the summer is filled with ’em! On tap this weekend:

• National Button Accordion Festival (Fri-Sun in Yukon, OK)
  Bayans, chromatics, concertinas… oh my! Three days of nonstop jamming and dancing to button accordions. (Piano accordions welcome, too.)
• USPA Festival and Convention (Fri-Sun in Independence, OH)
  The United States Polka Association hosts its annual bash with a huge lineup of polka bands (Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones, Polka Family, Dynabrass, and more) and an awards banquet to recognize outstanding achievements in the polka industry.
• National Polka Festival (Fri-Sun in Ennis, TX)
  This is the largest Czech heritage festival in the United States, with authentic food, costumes, and polka dancing, as well as music by Brave Combo, Vrazel’s Polka Band, and others.
• Simi Valley Cajun Creole Music Festival (Sat-Sun in Simi Valley, CA)
  One of the biggest Cajun festivals on the West Coast, featuring performances by Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys, Pine Leaf Boys, Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble, and more.

And festivals aren’t the only things on our accordion calendar this week. DeVotchKa is playing a unique show at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Murl Allen Sanders performs for both the Chicago and Milwaukee Accordion Clubs, and there’s a big Tejano-Conjunto and Cajun dance party in Austin with Mingo Saldivar and the Gulf Coast Playboys.

So much accordion, so little time!