Photo courtesy of Chris Baugh.
UPDATE: After this article was first published, the Wonderbad show at the Hoedown Center was canceled. The band announced July 9 that the city of Richland updated the building’s maximum capacity to 40. Since they expect a higher attendance, tickets have been refunded and a neighborhood backup show with Wonderbad and Flightless is planned at 1503 Sunset St, Richland. The $10 backyard show will open at 6:30 with pay at the door only.
If you were part of the music scene in Tri-Cities back in the ’80s and ’90s, you most likely visited the Tri-City Hoedown Center on Columbia Park Trail. The white building with its iconic black lettering was a beacon for music lovers, outcasts, punks, and anyone looking for a space to enjoy a live show.
Able to fit a couple hundred people inside, the venue hosted now well-known names like Modest Mouse and Loudermilk.
But the space hasn’t been a full-time venue in decades.
Now, a series of recent announcements about the location (including an upcoming show) has left the music scene wondering: Is the Hoedown Center back?
Tri-City Hoedown Center
In its prime, the former venue situated across from Ben Franklin Transit Center was the spot for live rock music in the region. Just ask any musician who was in the area in the ’80s and ’90s.
In the documentary by Tony Moser about that era of Tri-Cities music, All Ages Show, numerous locals discuss the memories they have of shows within the Hoedown Center walls, doing interviews for the documentary in the empty building.
The venue was even mentioned by Nate Mendel, the Richland-born bassist for the Foo Fighters, when the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Over time, the building emptied out, the shows stopped, and the scene changed. In the past 20-plus years, there have only been a handful of smaller shows in the Columbia Park Trail building.
Chad Markel, son of Hoedown owners Greg and Carla Markel, said the Markel family was inspired by Moser’s documentary. After allowing for some onsite interviews, a doc release celebration with live music by Old Friendly was held at the Hoedown Center. And more recently, when Wonderbad — a Nashville-based band that originated in Tri-Cities — wanted to plan a show at the Hoedown Center, the circumstances seemed perfect.
Wonderbad at Tri-City Hoedown Center
Wonderbad was started by Milo Stanfield, whose father was an active participant in the scene during the Hoedown’s heyday. He started off releasing a few songs on his own, inspired by Nirvana and Weezer, then grew the band over the years.
Stanfield is a lead songwriter and front man for the band, and said he often draws inspiration from Elliott Smith and Built to Spill. They last played in the Tri-Cities around three years ago at the Uptown Shopping Center. Since then, the band has relocated to Nashville. They started throwing around the idea of performing in Tri-Cities again, but weren’t sure how to go about it at first.
They wanted something DIY, where they could have control… something akin to the way the scene used to be. Stanfield said they were just joking around about playing at the Hoedown at first, “like the old days.” But before long, they started to wonder if they could really pull it off.
Wonderbad got in contact with the Markel family, who signed off on the idea, so long as the city approved. During the planning process, Stanfield’s dad, Elijah, reached out to his friend, Chris Baugh, who runs the Tri-City Hoedown Center Facebook page, to help restore the old building, but Baugh immediately saw it as more than that.
“It’s not just a paint job,’” Baugh said. “There’s an opportunity here to tell the story again, and to open that door.”
“It’s always kind of been a Richland, Washington thing,” Stanfield said. “We wouldn’t be around if it weren’t for the people that were really passionate about music in the Hoedown days.”
TICKETS
The Wonderbad concert at the Tri-City Hoedown Center is scheduled for August 22, with local support from EVA and Flightless. Tickets are $15 the day of the show. They can also be purchased for $10 each in advance; send your payment to @Wonderbad on Venmo, with a note indicating how many tickets you’re purchasing. Stanfield will respond with the ticket numbers you’ll use to get in.
Wonderbad is set to release two new songs before the show, and they’ll be recording a live set while at the Hoedown Center.
Tri-City Hoedown Center’s future
So, is the Hoedown Center coming back?
Not in any official capacity. The building is not currently equipped for consistent events. But a one-off event and a paint job are still something, and Baugh says he’s hopeful more opportunities will arise.
More importantly, Baugh hopes that the current Tri-Cities music scene is inspired. While he’s glad we have local venues like Ray’s Golden Lion and The Emerald of Siam, he also wants more of the grassroots events the scene used to have.
Back then, even if it was just a group of teenagers, people came together to create the events they wanted to have here.
“I wouldn’t say it was anarchy, but it was probably the closest thing to peaceful anarchy that we had,” Baugh said. “We were just making decisions, and we were thinking about ‘What can we do that other people in the community that are like us can benefit from?’ And it was a good time.”
For Wonderbad’s Stanfield, the ideal show in August would inspire current Tri-Citians to make music, the same way he was inspired here. “Music should definitely keep going there,” Stanfield said. “[A]ll these bands, actually, are going to be a great part of inspiring some new people to pick up a guitar.”
“It was a place that provided — and made — a lot of meaning,” Baugh said. “To try and do something to keep that alive, whether that’s repainting a facade, or somehow encouraging youth to do more and explore their musical talents, then I think that’s worthy of [our] time.”
Karlee Van De Venter is a full-time reporter at the Tri-City Herald who contributes Arts and Entertainment coverage for Tumbleweird. Through a co-publication agreement, this content may also appear in the Herald. For more local music coverage, follow @KarleeVNews on Instagram.
