SPRINGFIELD – With its tranquilizing, therapeutic sounds, the flute is such an amazingly unique instrument.
It has been played for so long … by so many people … in so many places … in so many styles … with so many types of flutes.
And now, a nationally famous flute festival has landed in Springfield.
Flutestock, featuring many of the world’s top flutists, will take place July 25-27 at Island Park. The free, family-friendly festival – the brainchild of Springfield arborist Alby Thoumsin – started in Elkton in 2017 and continued there through 2023, with a break for Covid.
“I always loved to hear that music. It’s very soothing music,” Thoumsin said Saturday at PublicHouse. “It fits very well in nature and I spend a lot of time there, and it helps people in retirement homes. You can play that music for people in their last moments.”
It was sort of by accident that Thoumsin wound up being “the flute guy.”
“Back in ’09, I was at an LCC powwow, and I met a gentleman from the UK named John Eley – he’s a carver who also makes flutes,” Thoumsin said. “I was interested in his wood, and I told him I worked for a tree-care company and I was interested in his wood before it went to the wood-chipper.
“So I picked up one of his cards, and about two weeks later, we had to remove the branch of an English Yew in Junction City, and for me the Yew is extremely sacred and precious. It has a lot of mythology in Cetic lore. So I called John and told him I had some wood for him and he said he was very interested to get it, and he gifted me a flute. And I said, ‘Thanks, but I don’t play,’ but he said, ‘You will.’
“I started to play in my backyard and then I was invited to a flute circle in Eugene, and there were six or seven people there and I made some friends but the flute circle disappeared. I started to think about how I thought it would be nice if there was a festival, so let’s make it happen.
“A friend told me about Elkton and we decided we could make it happen. The first year we had 4-500 people. Part of our success was because there was another festival called Flutequest before that in southern Washington that I had no idea about.”
Moving forward, Thoumsin says the plan is to make Flutestock a biennial event at Island Park, with the next festival in 2027. Some of the performers who play here also play in the World Flute Society festivals in Wisconsin during even-numbered years.
Thoumsin said he feels proud to have Flutestock become part of Springfield’s vibrant culture.
“It’s rewarding in the fact that it seems like if you came to downtown Springfield 20-25 years ago, it was not a good place,” Thoumsin said. “There were strip malls, not much to do, you just avoided downtown. It wasn’t vibrant at all.”
Thoumsin credited the Chamber of Commerce’s Main Street vision with kick-starting the city’s booming growth.
“What triggered it was the Washburne Cafe, and then Plank Town,” he said. “Then it just started growing like wildfire from there.
“If Flutestock can become an institution, it will become a great entity for our community.”
The three-day Native American-style flute festival is free and is family-oriented. There will be several workshops for beginners and intermediate-level players, dealing with sound effects and many other tricks of the trade.
Saturday night is the headline night of the fest, with Randy “Windtalker” Motz,
Timothy JP Gomez, and Rona Yellow-Robe taking the stage.
Mary Youngblood of Sacramento, a two-time Grammy winner, was unable to make the trip this year.
“She really put us on the map,” Thoumsin said. “She said Flutestock is her kind of place.”
Thoumsin is stepping down as Flutestock president next year, but his festival has found a good home in Springfield.
