As Executive Director of the Northwest Folklife Festival for 18 years, he made Northwest Folklife one of the most acclaimed traditional arts organizations in North America. Scott has worked with festivals and events throughout North America including Mexico and Canada as well as Australia, Ireland, Northern Ireland, China, and Eastern Europe. 

He spent twenty years on the performing stage as a dancer specializing in Eastern European and American traditional dance, was a founder of the internationally acclaimed Radost Folk Ensemble and produced tours, concerts, and live theatre.

He is a recipient of Nordstrom’s Cultural Diversity Award, has served on many boards of directors and local committees.

John Thorburn, Marketing Director, Bold Hat Productions

John is a 12-year veteran in event marketing, and has led the marketing strategy for Hop Scotch Spring Beer and Scotch Festival, Fremont Fair, Kirkland Uncorked and Fremont Oktoberfest since joining the Bold Hat team in June 2014. He is skilled in social and digital marketing, traditional advertising, and brand management, and he's passionate about emerging technologies, community building and overall marketing trends.

Prior to joining Bold Hat Productions, John was the Vice President, Communications and Marketing at the Northwest Marine Trade Association, which produces the Seattle Boat Show - the third largest boat show in the U.S., and largest on the West Coast. John received his degree from the University of Washington in Communications, and holds a certificate in Advanced Digital Analytics from the University of San Francisco.

Marc Abshire, Executive Director, Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce

Marc Abshire is the Executive Director of the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Marc grew up in Port Townsend and attended the U.S. Air Force Academy on a nomination from Senator “Scoop” Jackson. After graduation from the Academy, he later received a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Colorado - Boulder.

His U.S. Air Force career included serving four years in Italy with NATO and, prior to that, was the Operations Officer at the Air Force Western Launch Range in California. His last assignment was in the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. as the Speechwriter to Secretary of the Air Force Whit Peters, under the Clinton Administration, and Secretary of the Air Force James Roche, under the Bush Administration.

Marc retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the Air Force in 2002, and then spent several years as a corporate marketing and communications executive with a variety of large corporations in Washington, DC. His last position in DC, prior to moving back to the Olympic Peninsula in 2014, was Vice President of Communications for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Bruce Skinner, Executive Director, Washington Festivals & Events Association

Bruce Skinner was one of a handful of people who started selling festival and event sponsorship in the mid-80’s, and is a highly regarded consultant to business and the special events industry with vast experience. He currently is the Executive Director of the Washington Festivals and Events Association, after serving as the Chief Revenue Officer for the College Football National Championship Game held in Phoenix in January of 2016.

He is the author of the book, The Complete Guide to Selling Event Sponsorship, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., of New York, and is the founder or co-founder of five Rock n Roll marathons in Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, San Antonio and Nice, France.

He served as the executive director of the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona, (1980-1990) and President of the International Festivals and Events Association (1990-2001). He also has served as the Executive Director of the Olympic Medical Center Foundation in Port Angeles – Sequim.

How eggs-actly did I get involved with the Winlock Egg Day Festival? It started in the 90s, I was living in Texas.  Out shopping one day I came across a display of small whisks with a handle that looked like an egg…at that moment I became an egg-streme “egg lover”.  Fast forward to 2005, I’m driving through Winlock for the first time and I see the “Big Egg” …well, I knew right then and there that I was meant to live here.  My family and I became residents of Winlock in 2006 and participated in that year’s Egg Day parade.  The following year we won a trophy for our parade entry and I met Dean Hendrickson, the Chairman of the planning committee (he’s volunteered with Egg Day since 1954).  He told me that the committee needed help…Egg-cellent!  I could volunteer to help plan Egg Days.

I egg-splored every volunteer opportunity the festival offers and finally settled into secretary- event program graphics design & layout-Advertising & Merchandise Sales-Entertainment Coordinator Volunteer.  Nope, I’m not the only hen in this coop, but titles do have a way of eggs-panding when there are just a handful of volunteers.

In 2013, we moved to Tenino (45 minutes north of Winlock), I continue to volunteer with Egg Days, because there’s still that love of eggs thing of mine.  However, in 2016 I also began volunteering with Tenino’s Oregon Trail Days, primarily with their advertising.

On a side note, history was never a favorite subject of mine in school. But there is something about the history of a small town festival that just fascinates me.  Winlock’s Egg Day, once known as Poultry & Egg Days, has been celebrating an industry that Winlock was once famous for, since 1921 (It was postponed over a period of four years in the 1940s due to WWII).  Tenino started their Oregon Trail Days festival in 1968, as a way to celebrate their pioneer past as designated by the Oregon Trail Marker placed by Ezra Meeker in 1906... This is America’s history and we get to be a part of it when we volunteer with small town festivals.