Chris Orlowski plays at Doe Bay Fest, August 2011
Joe Brotherton, owner of Doe Bay Resort, has been named by Seattle magazine as one of the “Most Influential People of 2011.” Brotherton, along with Adam Zacks, Chad Clibborn, and Kevin Su, were called out as “the masterminds behind the Sasquatch music festival and Doe Bay Fest.
“[They]know what Northwest music lovers want. The proof is in their wildly successful, frequently sold-out annual music fests.
“Doe Bay Fest, known for its cozy atmosphere and local emphasis, sold out this year in just three minutes—without an announced lineup. “I think that the success of Doe Bay Fest proves that people are looking for something different, that they can connect with more personally,” says Clibborn. Clibborn and Doe Bay co-organizers Kevin Sur and Joe Brotherton receive more than 500 submissions from bands looking to play the annually sold-out festival, but there are no plans for expansion on the horizon. “We love our 8-to-1 attendee-to-artist ratio, extremely light security requirements and that deer still walk around on stage in the morning before the sound guys wake up.”
When contacted recently on his annual service trip to Africa, Joe Brotherton told Orcas Issues, “It is amazing how important Doe Bay Fest has become to the guests, to me and my family, to Doe Bay, to the musicians and artists and to Orcas. I estimate that it created at least $100k of commercial activity.
“We strongly encouraged our guests to use the services of neighboring businesses and I heard that Olga Café, for example had a record weekend.
“Once again, thanks to careful (exhaustive) planning and effort, we had over 1000 guests and no incidents. Doe Bay Fest has made Orcas Island a center for the new music scene in the Northwest and we have top musicians playing almost every weekend year round now at the Doe Bay Café.”
