The Siletz Bay Music Festival has named Sue Parks-Hilden as their 2024 Dick Hyman For Love of Music Award honoree and will present the award at the festival’s August 23 benefit event at the Chinook Winds Casino Resort.
The Dick Hyman Award is presented annually to a festival supporter who personifies the love, enthusiasm and exuberance that Dick Hyman brings to his playing. Hyman is a national endowment of the arts jazz master fellow, an Emmy and ASCAP Award winning pianist, composer and arranger, and was a mainstay of the Siletz Bay Music Festival from its inception until his retirement in 2018.
Sue Parks-Hilden helped found and shape the Siletz Bay Music Festival with the late Artistic Director, Yaki Bergman. She served as the organization’s first Executive Director, and has participated as a board member, board chair and currently, as advisor to the board. She has also been active in many Lincoln County initiatives and organizations and has lent her support and advocacy to Family Promise and to the children of Lincoln County’s public schools.
Portland-based dance party band, ironically named “Mr. Vale’s Math Class” will help animate the dance floor at the event. With notes of funk, Latin beats, saxophones, trumpets, bells, and catchy cheers, the band’s music adds up to a fun musical experience for both toe-tapping at the table or dancing on the floor. The band’s exuberant performances have earned accolades from Portland press, which hailed them as “Most fun band in Portland right now.”
The August 23 event is billed as a “low-key fundraiser.” Although donations will be gratefully accepted, there’ll be no auction, no paddle raise, no pressure.
Tickets for this year’s benefit dinner are $85 and are available, along with all other festival events, at siletzbaymusic.org.
