The 2024 Klamath Music Festival is Saturday, August 24 from 2-9pm at the Ross Ragland Theater complex in downtown Klamath Falls. Featuring both an outdoor street stage and indoor main stage, the event will be headlined by platinum selling, alternative rock/pop act The Verve Pipe and feature performances by a combination of another 11 multi-genre local, regional, and touring artists, food and beverage vendors, and kids’ activities. The festival is a benefit event for local nonprofit music efforts in the Klamath Basin. Formerly known as the Klamath Music Festival, the event is hosted by Klamath Falls music nonprofit, Klamath Folk Alliance (aka Klamath Music). Klamath Music is an organization dedicated to building bridges in the community, fostering its artistic growth, and enhancing educational opportunities through efforts to provide and support area music endeavors and highlight the diverse musical offerings of local and regional performers. The organization believes, and has growing data to support, that Klamath Falls has the potential to become a viable regional hub for live music and artistic development. In addition to the festival, Klamath Music hosts a seasonal Showcase Series of local and regional talent, Under Klamath Skies (a program highlighting local art, music, and history) in conjunction with the Klamath County Museum, musician workshops, and offers a scholarship program to local graduates. Officially formed in 2016 by a collective of musicians, music-lovers, and educators, Klamath Folk Alliance was created to provide logistical assistance to a local jamboree program and work as a liaison with venues to encourage more performance opportunities for area acts. The first four Klamath Folk Festivals were held, beginning in 2016, on a lawn property adjacent to Mia & Pia’s Pizzeria & Brewhouse. Postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic, the festival relaunched in 2021, moving to the Ross Ragland Theater in a partnership effort to help revitalize live music efforts by both entities. Hosted at the Ragland since, the festival has witnessed subsequent annual audience growth ranging from 50-60%. As a means of both better serving and being more reflective of the broader local music community, Klamath Folk Alliance rebranded itself and the festival under the “Klamath Music” banner in December of 2023. According to Klamath Music’s Executive Director, Nick Depew, “We believe music and the arts can play a prominent role in the future of the Klamath Basin. From economic development and tourism to improving local quality of life, we have long-time residents and newcomers alike working hard, fostering musical and artistic efforts in the Basin. This is a relatively untapped resource in our community whose time, we believe, has come to fly out from underneath the radar.” Attendees of this year’s Klamath Music Festival should expect: performances ranging from folk and bluegrass to rock and soul in style, a fun day out with family, friends, and neighbors, and a snapshot of a  much larger local effort to highlight music in the community and the artists who give it life. Tickets are available through KlamathMusic.com and the Ragland box office.