I thought it curious that The Oregonian ran an article announcing that James DePreist would take over the Cascade Festival of Music, a popular 7-day music festival that occurs every August. But the article didn't have a byline. I looked at the Cascade Festival web site and at James DePreist's web site to find some kind of confirmation of this announcement, but I found nothing at all. A quick conversation with Kathleen Cody, executive director of the Cascade Festival of Music, revealed that The Oregonian account was a reprint of an article that first ran in the Bend Bulletin on November 10th. Cody said that the festival and DePreist's agent are engaged in discussions. I asked what happened to Murry Sidlin. She replied that he has run the festival for 13 years and has really built it up. Since she is new to the festival, she said she didn't know why Sidlin wanted to retire from it. In any case, everyone is excited to have DePreist in the wings.
Since DePreist uses a special wheelchair to conduct, I wondered how he would get to the stage. Cody replied that DePreist has a special podium that they may use, and if it isn't available, they will build a special one for him. She also noted that this would get the festival to be ADA compliant for the stage and they will upgrade the restrooms as well.
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