Summer noon concert season begins Wednesday

Local band Snug Harbor will kick off the 2014 Summer Noon Concert Series with a 12 p.m. gig Wednesday, July 2, on the PAC Plaza at Western Washington University.

And in addition to the music, the folks in Summer Programs are handing out free ice cream and prizes to attendees.

Typically playing about 50 shows annually throughout the Pacific Northwest, Snug Harbor has become a mainstay of the local scene. This nine-piece funk-soul revival group brings raw energy and a little improvisation to their high-impact set of original and cover tunes.

The free Summer Noon Concerts take place throughout July at noon Wednesdays on the PAC Plaza, or in the Viking Union if it's raining.

Upcoming concerts:

July 9: Br'er Rabbit.

Voted best band in Bellingham in 2013 (Cascadia Weekly), Br’er Rabbit revamps classic stringband instrumentation with homespun percussion and a unique integration of six-string ukulele and cello. With widely varying influences, three distinct vocal styles and copious amounts of foot-stomping, they demonstrate a sound that's at once original and familiar, appealing to audiences of all generations and genres.

July 16: Willow Vane.

Led by Russ Fish (of Ruby Parasols and Fairhaven Recording Studio), Willow Vane promises to take the Folk-Americana sound to new ambient and electronic places – a place you haven’t visited yet, but need to. Come let yourself be transported.

July 23: Happy Valley Sluggers.

Bellingham’s own Louisiana-style Cajun band will be kicking up the fiddle and accordion to help Western feel a bit more like “The Big Easy.” All that will be missing will be the craw-dads and the étouffée. Get ready to tap your toes and feel the impulse to book a flight to Cajun-country.

July 30: City Hall.

Called a Bellingham “super group” by What’s Up! Magazine, City Hall is a 21st century band through and through, taking disparate influences from abroad (Grandaddy, Whitest Boy Alive, Dirty Projectors), combining them with contrasting styles from their own past and present projects, (The Palisades, Vervex, SoccerMom) and creating a sound steeped in Northwest tradition, yet boiling over its own borders.