This weekend, Ellensburg celebrates its 19^th annual Jazz in the Valley event downtown.

Jazz in the Valley, which first debuted in 1998, is a Friday night through Sunday afternoon event that works to bring people together in the downtown area who are never out that late at night, according to Larry Sharpe, a coordinator for the program.

“It’s a promotion for downtown primarily,” Sharpe said with a smile.

Jazz in the Valley offers Blues, Jazz, Reggae, Gypsy, Funk and Swing music and is featured at multiple places around the downtown area.

The event sells about 2,500-3,000 tickets every year.

“Usually we tend to more than break even,” Sharpe said.

According to Sharpe, this year’s Jazz in the Valley will have about 175 volunteers.

“People really support this, it’s great for downtown,” Sharpe said.

Sharpe said that the event was held at 10 different venues in 2005 and that they still use some of those locations to this day. About 12 of the people who helped start up the event are still on board.

Joy Solberg, who was one of the people who originally helped organize the event along with her husband, was the first person Sharpe asked to help him begin the event.

“It’s a great community party,” Solberg said. “It really brings a lot of the community together. There’s something [there] for everybody.”

According to both Sharpe and Solberg, those who organized Jazz in the Valley offer two scholarships to Jazz students at Central each year.

A scholarship of $1,000 is given to a new Central student wanting to major in Jazz. A scholarship of $500 is given to a returning student majoring in Jazz.

Those hosting Jazz in the Valley also help to bring in artists who hold workshops for Ellensburg High School students.

One of the biggest changes for this year’s Jazz in the Valley is the closing act which will be featured Sunday afternoon. Every year, the All-Star Big Band plays, which consists of Central graduates. Jazz in the Valley has had this band play every year except for this year.

According to Sharpe, All-Star Big Band will not be playing this year and will be hosting an artist named Duffie Bishop instead as a way to try something new for this year.

“Because you need to do that,” Sharpe said. “We’ll see how much it shakes [the event] up.”

According to Sharpe, those going to Jazz in the Valley should expect a huge variety of music and a lot of it.

Sharpe also wants Jazz in the Valley attendees to leave the event with a smile and to leave having had a great time and that they met some new people.

According to Sharpe, although Jazz in the Valley is a great event to put on, it’s relieving when they are finally able to take it down.

“It’s a great feeling of accomplishment and relief that we can finally take a breath,” Sharpe said.