This page updated 11/13/05
Prior update 10/20/05

2005 Festival XIX Information
November 18-20, 2005

First A Little Fanfare The Society produces the world's premiere annual ragtime festival in Sacramento, California, the ragtime capital of the world! The Festival is the best and biggest ragtime festival in the world.  There's lots and lots of great music from the finest musicians and groups available spread over three days in convenient multiple venues, including dancing, at a very reasonable price.  It's well managed and financially sound. No other festival offers such a terrific program!

Expect A Great Time At The Festival Don't expect to wait around to hear ragtime! It begins Friday at noon and goes until 11 PM and continues Saturday from 8 AM to 11 PM and Sunday from 9 AM until 5 PM. And you can expect after-hours Ragtime Friday and Saturday nights from 11 PM to, well, let's say late.

You do have to make choices.  We have six venues all on the ground level with five of the venues in the same building. The fifth venue is less than a minute's walk from the main building. We run the venues at the same time. We rotate the closing of the venues for short periods to rest and tune the pianos. 

And open during the Festival is our Ragtime Store where you can purchase music and recordings of our performers.

Last Year's Festival For an idea of a West Coast Ragtime Festival, be sure to check information (e.g., performers, schedule, etc) on last year's Festival. Also check back and take a look at pictures from the Festival.

Pre Festival Warm-up We again plan to  have a free no-host pre-festival warm-up beginning at 7:00 PM on Thursday evening November 17, 2005 in the Sierra Room. There will be no charge or badges required.   Pianos will be provided.  It is open to all:  ragtime fans, the merely curious, musicians (of course),  and passers by.

This Year's Festival The 19th annual West Coast Ragtime Festival will be  held November 18-20, 2005 at the Red Lion Hotel Sacramento (formerly the Red Lion's Sacramento Inn) in Sacramento, California. The Festival begins at noon Friday November 18 and ends at 5 PM on Sunday November 20.  

Details On The Festival Click on the links below to obtain specific information.

General
Volunteers
Admission
Lodging
RV Parking
Travel

Driving Directions
Venues
Dining
Ticket Information

Performers
Annual Meeting
Schedule of Events
Dance Instruction
Open Piano

After Hours
Seminars
Special Presentations
Ragtime Store
Ragtime Collectors' Exchange

Questions? Contact us, we respond!

General The Festival is held at the Red Lion Hotel Sacramento. The Festival has become one of the premiere ragtime festivals in the world. It began in the mid 1980's in Fresno, California and enjoyed 10 successful years there before moving to Sacramento in 1997 where it has been a  great success.

The 2005 Festival will feature six comfortable venues, all inside and on the ground level, for listening and dancing to ragtime music on all three days, as well as seminars on all facets of ragtime. Five of the venues are in the same building and the sixth venue is less than a minute's walk from the main building.

The music begins at noon on Friday and continues until 11 PM, followed by after-hours.  Saturday is a full day from 9 AM to 11 PM, then after-hours,  and Sunday is 9 AM to 5 PM.  After-hours jam sessions Friday and Saturday are always the norm at the Festival.

Volunteers are the backbone of the Society. We welcome volunteers to assist with the Festival. Volunteer services are needed prior to, during, and after the Festival. Volunteers who serve a minimum of 12 hours during the festival (or immediately before or after the Festival) will receive an All-Events pass to the festival. Those who cannot serve 12 hours may serve one 4 hour shift on any day of the Festival and receive free admission for that day.

To sign up to assist with the Festival, please e-mail us at: VolunteerCoordinator@WestCoastRagtime.com or drop us a note at P.O. Box 13346, Sacramento, California 95813. Include your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. You will be contacted to determine your preference for the type of volunteer service you can do for the festival and to work out your schedule.

Admission & Badges Admission to the performance venues is by use of Festival Badges (your badge is your ticket). A badge entitles the bearer to attend any function. Badges are not required for the Ragtime Store. Festival badges may be purchased for individual days or for the entire three days.

Lodging The Red Lion Hotel Sacramento (formerly the Sacramento Inn) is the official festival hotel for the 2005 Festival. They are offering a block of rooms at special rates if reserved prior to October 18, 2005: 
 

Remember to ensure the special rates you need to make your reservations before October 18, 2005 and mention that you are making them for the "West Coast Ragtime Festival".

It's best to make your reservations directly with the hotel at: (916) 922-8041. If you use the Red Lion central reservation number (800)-RED LION, make sure you identify your reservations as being for the "West Coast Ragtime Festival" in order to get the special festival rate.

Food Service

• Garden Coffee Cafe 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM
• Bar service from 3:00 PM to 2:00 AM
• A buffet will be located next to the restaurant. Open for breakfast 7-10, lunch 11- 3, and dinner 5-9.
• A "Ragtime Cafe" will be located near the festival venues and will feature ready-made hot and cold items for cash sale.
• A variety of restaurants is nearby, including several in the shopping mall adjacent to the hotel.

RV Parking Parking for recreational vehicles are available within the vicinity of the Red Lion Hotel Sacramento. Below are some of the available options which were available for the 2003 Festival. 

Red Lion Hotel Sacramento: On site dry parking only  for RV's is available at the east end of the parking lot. The fee is $25 for the Festival. You must register with the hotel (916) 922-8041.

Cal Expo RV Park: RV parking is available on the grounds of the California State Exposition which is located about a five minute drive from the Festival. The nightly cost for a full hookup is $26 for a 30 amp hookup and $28 for a 50 amp hookup. To reach the park from the hotel, go east on Arden way to Ethan Way. (domed cinemas). Turn right to end of Ethan Way. Entrance is on the right. To contact the park, write to Cal Expo RV Park, PO Box 15649, 1600 Exposition Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95852. Or call (916) 263-3187 or toll free (877) 225-3976. Reservations are recommended. You may also visit their website at: http://www.calexpo.com/html/RVPark.html

Elks Lodge - Carmichael: RV facilities are available for  Elks members at the Carmichael Elks Lodge located about 20 minutes from the hotel. Contact Elks Lodge, 5631 Cypress Ave., Carmichael, CA (916) 428-8296.

TTN/NACO Members: RV facilities are available at  Lake Minden which is about a 30 minute drive from the festival. Contact them at Thousand Trails, 1256 Marcum Rd., Nicolaus, CA; 95659 (530) 656-2700 or (800) 656-5006; or visit their website.

Travel To The Festival

By Air: Several major air carriers serve the Sacramento International Airport and shuttle service (Supershuttle - the blue vans) to and from the hotel is available.

By Car: The festival site (Red Lion Hotel Sacramento) is located on Arden Way adjacent to the "Capital City Freeway" (business I-80). Use the "Arden Way" exit either from the north or south and go east. The Red Lion Hotel Sacramento is located on the north side of Arden Way next to the Arden Fair Shopping Mall. Click here for driving instructions.

Official Travel Agency: Miyamoto Travel Service. Contact them at: (916) 441-1020 Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM PDT. Ask for Judy or Raymonde.
Email: raymonde@miyamototravel.com.

Venues The five performance venues and a general layout of the hotel are shown in the Venue Map below. The various venues are described below with a color code relating back to the map.

Martinique Ballroom Yes, we have dancing! This venue is equipped with a large dance floor and the music presented here is intended to keep dancers on their feet from "morn' 'til night". Several hours of dance instruction are presented here to help you learn or brush up on the dance steps of the ragtime era. On Friday evening dancers put on their best early 20th century attire to participate in the Cake Walk contest (two cakes awarded) and on Saturday evening, with even fancier attire, dancers join in the special Grand March.

The Yosemite Room is the second largest venue of the Festival.  Headline performances and special concerts are presented in this venue.

The Sierra Room is another fine venue for featured players.

The Comstock 3 Room is not as large as the other venues,  but some of the fine music and entertainment presented there in the past made it feel like a grand concert hall and often made it SRO. Sets are 30 minutes in this venue compared to the 45 minute to one  hour sets in the other venues. The room is also used for Open Piano Sessions.

The Camellia Room is another large concert venue for music and special events.  Seminars will be presented Saturday and Sunday in this venue.

The Savanna's Lounge is a cafe-bar setting with a dance floor. It's a relaxed, intimate setting. After-hours jam sessions happen here. There is also an excellent dance floor.

In addition during the Festival, the Ragtime Store is open in the Comstock 1 & 2 Rooms where you can purchase the recordings and music folios of the Festival performers.

Dining The hotel has a very nice Coffee Garden Cafe open from 6 AM to 10 PM daily, offering a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner items plus a convenient buffet during all three mealtimes. Additionally, a "Ragtime Cafe" will be located near the festival venues and will feature ready made hot and cold items for cash sale.  Also, there are many restaurants from "Fast Food" to "Fine Dining" within walking distance of the hotel.

Performers Check the 2005 Festival XIX Performer Pictures Page, which has small pictures of the performers.  The page also provides links to biographies for the performers.  New performers will be announced throughout the year. The current list of performers that will appear at the Festival are below.  indicates that the entry has been added with this update.

Schedule Of Events  Click here for the Schedule of Events.  Remember that we have a pre-festival warm-up on Thursday evening.

Special Presentations and Seminars Click here for a summary of the special presentations and seminars.

Special Theme Sets Throughout the festival there are special theme sets and show performed by individual performers.

Annual Meeting  The Annual Meeting of the Society will be held on Sunday, November 20, 2005 at 8:30 AM in the Yosemite Room.

Dance Instruction Dance instruction is held on all three days of the Festival in the Martinique Room.

Open Piano Open piano will be held throughout the Festival. Open Piano is a chance for ANYONE to get up and play--even if you only know one number!  To sign up, see the MC, who will take your name, tell you when it's your turn to play, and introduce you. The schedule will be announced later.

 After Hours  After hour sessions, another festival tradition,  are held Friday and Saturday from 11 PM till the wee hours in the Savanna's Lounge. All are welcome to play and socialize, with the only "rule" being to yield the stage after a reasonable time if someone else is waiting for a chance to play.

Ragtime Store Visit the Ragtime Store in Comstock 1 & 2 for all your ragtime music needs.  Performers’ recordings, folios and more are available will be available. The tentative Store schedule is: Click here for list of vendors.

More Information If you haven't found the festival information you were looking for, click here to email a request for festival information. You contact us by phone; the Sacramento area number is (916) 457-3324 or you may call toll-free at 1-866-724-9273. To contact us by mail, click here for the address on the Contact Us page.