Building community in the music world: DeMiero Jazz Festival celebrates 50 years

The DeMiero Jazz Festival celebrated its 50th anniversary with student performances at Edmonds College and a professional show at Edmonds Center for the Arts Thursday, March 12. 

This music education event brings in more than 40 jazz choirs for a non-competitive chance to perform and work with professional jazz artists. Daytime performances, clinics and master classes are open to the public for free.

The Meadowdale High School Impressions and the Edmonds-Woodway High School Mello-Aires vocal groups represented the Edmonds School District at the festival, with both performing on Thursday. Following each of their short performances, the students received advice and instruction from festival educators. 

“It’s cool for all the groups in the room because everyone is there listening to the feedback and they can apply that to their own performances afterwards, so I feel like it benefits everyone,” said Kimi Catron, a senior at Meadowdale. 

While the festival celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, it is also honoring the festival’s late founder, Frank DeMiero, who died in February 2025. A celebration of life is scheduled for March 14. Learn more here.

In addition to professional performances and workshops, more than 20 high schools from Washington and Oregon attended for performances and instruction. Meadowdale junior Allen Kim said building community in the music world was the best part of the event. 

“We all see each other and recognize each other for our own different skills.” said Edmonds-Woodway junior Sabina Wilcox. “It’s just so interesting to see all the different skill sets and admire and acknowledge everyone for themselves. 

You can see the complete schedule of Friday performances at this program link. A map of all performance locations can be found here.