The 34th annual nonprofit, multicultural, international Cotati Accordion Festival was a record breaking success this past August 16 & 17, as the La Plaza Park was full and the joy was felt throughout. We had about 5000 paid attendees to go along with the 200 volunteers, 80 vendors, and over 100 musicians of 35 different acts.
However, that doesn’t explain why people came to the festival in record numbers and it doesn’t explain how accordions can unite such a disparate group of people. One has to dig a little deeper to find the answers to an event that routinely makes people want to return to our beloved event.
In the 40’ x 60’ polka tent polka dancing was happening on all of the 100 wooden tiles that make up the dance floor. By 1:00pm aspiring dancers, some who were not even sure how to dance the polka, were skipping about the dance floor like they had been raised in Bavaria. It’s like being in a time warp and in the present at the same time.
Another clue to discovering the answer as to how the festival created joy, was to watch the audience’s reaction to the cumbia music of Discos Reaca. The band was led by a special guest accordionist, Yeison Landeros. Yeison, in his colorful cumbia style hat, was visiting from his home country, Columbia, which is the home of cumbia. It would be safe to say most of the people in the audience were not aware that in Colombia the name Landeros is legendary , as Yeison’s grandfather, Andres Landeros was the first to use the accordion in cumbia music. Yet, the crowd did understand the moving force of the sounds of cumbia, as there were hundreds of baby boomers rhythmically moving to the beat of Discos Resca.
Part of the magic of the Cotati Accordion Festival is how it can have so many types of music going at the same time in one small park. That is where Spanky’s, both inside and out, became a zydeco dance party. The whole indoor and outdoor scene became a corner of a street in New Orleans, as couples were enthusiastically dancing to the sounds of their adored zydeco music. Then, at 5:00pm, the dance party moved to the big tent where wall-to-wall two-steppers danced like there is no tomorrow. It’s an all day zydeco event in itself, sharing the afternoon with all the other genres performed about the park.
Still another phalanx of dancers found the pop music of the United States Airforce Band. Talk about something for everyone, Galaxy is fronted by an accordionist who blends with a nine piece band. The band’s excellent pop music singers had the crowd moving and cheering at the same time. We are so fortunate to be one of the select locales on the west coast to host the USAF Band.
At another stage, at the south end of the park, we find people dancing to Klezmer music bringing still another set of cultures to our attention through accordion based combos. The variations of dance throughout La Plaza Park seemed to be endless.
However, it is too simple to declare that the answer to the overall success of the festival is to be found in dance. In between the dancing arenas were acts from across the USA and from around the world. Traveling in from Glascow, Scotland, we had the world class play of Gary Blair who played a riveting style of Scottish music. From Lithuania, Egle Bartkeviciute won over the crowd with her accordion mastery. From Fort Worth, Texas, Ginny Mac wooed the crowd with her southern charm and Texas based accordion music. Moving back to Europe we had Sonomusette which took us to the streets of Paris with their Edith Palif songs. And, lest we forget the big crowd pleaser, and late addition, Tamas Kemendi of Hungary. What a treat to have an introduction to Hungarian accordion music.
There were so many other great acts throughout the weekend. We owe a special thanks to the internationally renowned jazz accordionist, Cory Pesaturo who sat in and played with many of the traveling performers.
How can you resist elite music from around the world combined with a weekend of dancing to such a variety of genres? The meshing of all the festival experiences together made for a unique weekend experience leaving everyone with a smile and a lot of anticipation for the 2026 show.
