Introducing Josh Duffee

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Josh Duffee (Drums/Band Leader) Based in Davenport, Iowa, Josh has been living his dream of being a professional musician and band leader for the past 20 years.  He is a featured artist at jazz festivals and concerts world-wide, but his love for the Hackensack area brings him back each year.  He's an accomplished jazz historian, and is currently writing biographies on some of his favorite musicians based off of years of research and study.  Josh will also entertain you each night by relaying stories behind these famous Carnegie Hall performances.

Josh Duffee Tickets Available Online Now

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Get ready to enjoy two nights at Carnegie Hall! (In Hackensack MN!)

World-renowned percussionist Josh Duffee is bringing the excitement of two famous concerts to the Hackensack Community Building on Friday, July 6 and Saturday, July 7, 2018.  His theme is “The Kings of Swing Play Carnegie Hall.” Josh and his 11-piece Big Band will play tribute to the famous Carnegie Hall Jazz Concerts of the Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller orchestras in 1938 and 1939 in New York City.  Featured soloists will include Lynne Hart on Clarinet for the Benny Goodman Concert, and David Budimir on Trombone for the Glenn Miller Concert.

Don’t miss this chance to experience big city entertainment close to home.   

Cash or Check Tickets $15 available June 1, 2018 at Southside and Swanson's in Hackensack, Minnesota.

Online ticket prices $18

Student Art Contest

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Northwoods Arts Council is excited to announce our First Annual Student Art Contest, co-sponsored with the Minnesota Art Truck. School districts around Hackensack are excited for the opportunity their students will have to submit a piece of their art. Entries will be displayed by Matt Swenson on his MnArtTruck at the 23rd Annual Art & Book Festival, August 11, 2018, from 9-3.

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Thank you to our President of Northwoods Arts Council

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'Bringing the Arts to Life' for Hackensack and the surrounding community has been NAC's motto since its inception twenty four years ago. An enormous amount of energy goes into our Jazz Festival and this Art and Book Festival, which is our final event of the year. Thank you, Sue and the staff and friends of the Northwoods Arts Council! 

Sue Ready's highlights both the Authors and the Artists from this year's 22nd Art and Book Festival event on her 'Ever Ready' blog. Click here for the Authors, and click here for the Artists.                                                                                                                                   

NAC'S 22ND ART & BOOK FESTIVAL, Saturday August 12, 9-3

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The Northwoods Arts Council (NAC), a local nonprofit organization, presents their annual Art and Book Festival Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Hackensack.

Artists, crafters, food vendors, musicians and children’s art and face painting will be located on Lake Avenue, which will be closed to traffic.

The NAC is pleased to welcome 15 new artists to this year’s festival, featuring metal sunflowers and yard herons, Ukrainian etched eggs, Raku clay angels, wood arts and jewelry, to highlight a few.

The NAC is also excited to have returning artists displaying their unique mastery of photography, wood bowls and urns, herbal soaps, paper collage and twisted metal garden art, among others. Don’t miss 19 artists and authors’ booths inside the Community Center

Unique to this festival is the popular book arts section, where 36 authors sell signed copies of their books in two locations, the Hackensack Community Center and Union Congregational Church.

A new event has been added this year with a special writing workshop, “Now or Never: Collecting Family Stories.” It will be presented by Faith Sullivan, winner of 2016 Midwest Book Awards. The presentation will be at Union Church, 11 a.m.-noon the day of the festival.

There is something for all at the Northwoods Arts Council “Brings the Arts to Life.” Bring your family and friends. Don’t miss the fun. See you Aug. 12 in Hackensack.

-As seen in 'The Pilot Independent'.

“SINATRA!” Festival a sell-out success!

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Thanks to our supporters!

The Northwoods Arts Council (NAC) would like to express our gratitude to everyone who helped make our recent “SINATRA!” Festival a sell-out success.  Bringing this event to our area took a collaborative effort by many, and support from our community, but we did it!  Josh Duffee and his Big Band with featured vocalist Jason Richards brought Ol’ Blue Eyes and his music to life for a highly appreciative audience.  Thank you all for attending!

Our volunteers all deserve to take a bow for a job well done.  The area newspapers and radio stations TV all graciously publicized our event with articles and public service announcements. Stores allowed us to hang posters in their windows.  A number of businesses and individuals made generous monetary donations which helped offset our expenses.

We want to especially thank our sponsors, whose support was critical in keeping our ticket prices affordable:

Gold Level – Ed Haefner Memorial Fund, Hackensack Lion’s Club

Silver Level –Sue & Jim Holthaus, Itasca Mantrap Co-op Electrical Association, Mann Lake Ltd., Russell & Loralee Torkelson

Bronze Level –Lynn Abraham Memorial Fund, Steve & Erin Adams, First National Bank North, Dick Garbisch, Hackensack American Legion, Steve & Barb Helscher, Bob & Cathy Iversen, Northwoods Dock & Service, Powers Township, Southside Fuel Plus

Plans are already underway for the 2018 Festival.  Watch for our 2018 concert announcement on www.northwoodsartscouncil.org or our Facebook page.

Start Spreading the News!

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What a great looking crew! Northwoods Arts Council is working hard behind the scenes gearing up for our exciting event featuring Josh Duffee and his Big Band playing the music of Frank Sinatra with Jazz Vocalist Jason Richards. Friday, July 8, and Saturday, July 9, 7:30 PM. Tickets are available on the website, Southside, Swanson's and the Chamber of Commerce. 

Sinatra Vocal Competition

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Thank you for your interest in the Northwoods Arts Council's "Singing Sinatra" Vocal Competition. We are very excited to host vocalist Jason Richards with the Josh Duffee Big Band on July 7th and 8th for our "Sinatra!" music festival.  This vocal competition is open to both ladies and gentleman who are in high school, and you do not need to participate in/or be a member of your high school band or choir program to be accepted to audition for this competition.  This event is FREE to all area high school students interested in auditioning.  Click here for more information.

Josh Duffee band members’ credentials are quite impressive!

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The Northwoods Arts Council (NAC) is excited to announce the return of the 'Hackensack Hot Jazz Festival' on July 8-9, 2016. The 2015 festival was a sizzling success, where guests enjoyed the music of Josh Duffee & his Big Band, plus dancing and refreshments.

Josh is regarded as one of the world’s greatest 1920’s style percussionists. He performs at numerous jazz festivals and concerts worldwide, and we’re lucky to get him back! Josh and his band take great pride in authentically representing 1920’s -1940’s jazz and big band era music. 

Josh’s reputation in the live music world enables him to bring us talented, professional musicians who have played with Doc Severinsen, Clark Terry, Mel Torme, Buddy DeFranco, Louie Bellson, Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, Henry Mancini, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, Wayne Newton, Randy Brecker, The Four Tops, and many more!

This year's festival will focus on popular music from the Big Band Era, and is guaranteed to appeal to music fans of all ages. We anticipate that once again, music fans will flock to Hackensack to see this quality entertainment.

We greatly appreciated the financial support we received from our community last year and are looking forward to an equally successful even this year.

To donate to NAC and/or volunteer for the festival, please call Linda at 218-363-3634.

Ticket sales are now available in Hackensack at Loons Unlimited, Southside and Swansons, and here on the website.