“I bought shirts and put them on five of my friends who were musicians, and we walked around town, playing guitars and singing our songs,” Russoul recalled.

Then in 2019, Russoul helped spearhead the effort to have downtown Aberdeen certified by the state as a “creative district” for music. Once it was approved by the Aberdeen City Council, he began to act on creative ideas.

“As a creative district, we’ve got to fulfill it — you just can’t like draw a ring around your city and say here it is,” Russoul said. “There needs to be life, and you’ve got to do something with it.”

He had several allies, notably Lee and Dani Bacon, who had purchased an entire building on the corner of South K and West Wishkah streets (the former Goldberg Furniture store). The tastefully restored building now houses Guitar Galactica, the Unplugged “anti-museum” devoted to grunge music and Aberdeen-native Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, The Green Room, Side One Studios and the offices of the Downtown Aberdeen Association among other creative tenants and projects.
The Bacons had formed the non-profit Music Project to bolster their development, and Russoul’s efforts to grow the local music scene fit right in.

When he began to talk about launching the first event in 2023, Dani Bacon took a plastic water bottle and had a label put on it that said, “World Music Day.” That was all Russoul needed as a catalyst since he had been promoting and inspiring local music and musicians for two decades on the Harbor.

“I think we had about four weeks before it happened and we decided we were going to do it,” Russoul laughed. “I said, ‘Okay I’ll call in some friends."

Balloons went up, many more water bottles were labeled, Guitar Galactic supplied equipment, and 40 performers took to the streets of Aberdeen.
“It was an amazing time,” Russoul said.

We gave some instruments away and we did a group performance of Nirvana’s “Come As You Are, and it was a really fun time.”

Russoul, himself an accomplished singer/ songwriter/guitarist, was out playing on his own that first official World Music Day event when Dani Bacon approached him and told him he needed to go check out the other performers and the crowds that were growing downtown. “She was saying to me, ‘You’ve got to quit playing guitar and walk downtown. You just need to go see what's happening.’ So, I walked downtown and I remember thinking to myself this is much bigger than anything we imagined. You know there's something else going on here.” It was the magic of music and the freedom of creative expression, from performers as well as the growing audience of all ages and persuasions. Russoul recalled one woman who parked her car to hear the music and then asked him to come over to the car and play for another woman who had been living in a nursing home.

“She said she was not supposed to have the woman out of the nursing home, but it was such a beautiful day and she wanted to hear the music,” he said. “So, I lean into the car, and I sing a song I just made up on the spot. I just made the song for her, and, after that, she gets out of the car and wants to walk downtown and dance with all the others on the sidewalk.” World Music Day has galvanized local participation across the city from the crowds to the volunteers who donate their time to do all the planning and coordination. “There’s no one in Grays Harbor who can rally a community quite like Wil Russoul,” said Deb Blecha, of Aberdeen, who helped muster some of the initial crowds and publicize the effort. “I’ve been both blessed and challenged to work alongside him over the years. … World Music Day alone reawakened our region’s spirit, uniting performers from toddlers to grandparents, celebrating local legends, and drawing Pacific Northwest icons like Krist Novoselic back home.” Julie Swor of Aberdeen talks to Nirvana’s co-founder and bassist, Krist Novoselic last year.

Humptulips singer/songwriter Colin Gage, who can be seen performing most Thursday nights at the Porthole Pub in Ocean Shores, has been both performer and volunteer at the World Music Day events. This year he will be doing a one-hour set at the Taproom, 103 E. Wishkah. “Last year, I was able to volunteer as an assistant sound engineer/stage hand on the Pepsi Stage, where several solo acoustic performers appeared between bigger acts that took the main stage next to us.

It was an awesome experience,” Gage said. “I was able to learn a few tricks of the trade working alongside Bill Leach and the venerable Jim Olson all day. I played a short set of my own that led right into the start of Roger Fisher's Fisher Brothers & Human Tribe band.”

Later, he walked down the sidewalk to play bass with some other friends performing, “really getting that busking kind of feeling.” “It was a full day of music and community,” Gage said.

“Collaborating with other musicians all through the day and enjoying the broad spectrum of art on presentation, it was a fine showing for our wonderful music community.”

Unplugged musicians can play wherever or whenever they would like and move to new locations. Most perform on the sidewalks. Bands are advised to bring their own public address systems unless pre-arranged. All performers who check in on the day of the event are eligible for a ticket to have a chance to win a Gibson Les Paul guitar (no purchase or fees necessary). The guitar will be on display at Guitar Galactica, 204 S. K Street. For information and to sign up to participate, visit the website: www. makemusicday.org; or visit the World Music Day 98520 Facebook page

"World Music Day alone reawakened our region’s spirit, uniting performers from toddlers to grandparents, celebrating local legends, and drawing Pacific Northwest icons like Krist Novoselic back home."
— Deb Blecha