Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
The 32nd annual three-day long Rainier Bluegrass Festival was once again a big hit for the community, and in 2026, a packed crowd sat comfortably in their lawn chairs with friends and family at Wilkowski Park to enjoy live music from Friday, Aug. 21, through Sunday, Aug. 23.
George Johnson, the president of local community enrichment group We Love Rainier, told the Nisqually Valley News on Saturday, Aug. 22, that the bluegrass festival has been a hit event in the community for quite some time.
He noted that six or seven bands were scheduled to play at the Rainier Bluegrass Festival on Saturday afternoon, and highlighted the origins of the event.
“Rainier Bluegrass Festival started back in 1992 or 1993,” Johnson said. “It started over on Art Runyan, who was a member of the Rainier Lions at the time, and his wife, Charlotte, they played instruments and he just got a few people together over at the Rainier Sportsman Club one year to have the first Rainier Bluegrass Festival. I was lucky enough to go to that one. There weren’t very many people there, but the Lions have sponsored that since then, up through five years ago.”
He added that We Love Rainier eventually took over some of the Rainier Lions Club events, including hosting the annual bluegrass festival.
“It’s grown every year,” Johnson said. “It’s a nice, fun community event. Everybody in town loves it because it’s so lowkey.”
Johnson also highlighted the decades-long tradition of a corn feed that takes place every year during the Bluegrass Festival.
“It’s a tradition that we’ve had that’s gone on for close to 30 years, where on Friday nights and Saturdays we do a corn feed,” Johnson told the Nisqually Valley News. “It’s a donation corn feed. You can eat all the corn you want. We originally started doing it for the bluegrass event, but we opened it for the community and anybody who wants to come in. It’s a lot of fun. There’s a cost involved, obviously, but mostly we get the donation money back and that helps pay for the corn. We’re just trying to create fun, free things in a world where everything costs.”
In totality, Johnson believes the Rainier Bluegrass Festival is a fun, community event. While the event aims to be low cost for the community, he noted that all of the money raised at the event goes to support the several events and activities hosted throughout the year by We Love Rainier, including the Christmas tree lighting, an Easter egg hunt, purchasing dictionaries for third graders and donating school supplies to Rainier Elementary School teachers.
“It’s hard to get money to do all of these things, but I really think it’s important for communities to kind of stick together and do these things, keep some traditions alive and give kids memories that they can take forward,” Johnson said.”I know that there are some kids that have graduated from high school who have come back and said they still use their dictionaries. It makes you feel real good.”
Johnson also thanked the City of Rainier for their help and collaboration in preparing for the bluegrass festival. He said the city has been amazing throughout the process and noted the park is “immaculately clean.”
“We appreciate everybody who came to bluegrass, and we appreciate the community,” Johnson said. “We’ve also got the market down there and the money they get from the vendors goes to our senior center. I mean, this is all community interwoven. It’s fun. It really is. We get to talk to people we haven’t seen for a year.”
Johnson added that there are a lot of merchants and vendors in Rainier who are dedicated to the community. He hopes to see residents in the town continue to support small and local businesses.
“There’s a lot of people who volunteer for these events,” Johnson said. “They do it because they love this community. Anybody who would like to come and join us for the things we do, if they have some ideas for some events they’d like to sponsor or would like us to sponsor, we’re more than likely to entertain those ideas.”
The We Love Rainier president added that if anyone would like to make a donation or financial contribution toward the community enrichment group’s efforts, you can send a check to P.O. box 67 in Rainier. He said the donated money would be put to good use as every single penny goes directly back to the Rainier community.
Additionally, We Love Rainier meets at 6 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at the Rainier Senior Center. The group’s next meeting is set for Tuesday, Sept. 1.
