History of Icicle Creek

Icicle Creek Music Center, a home for music performance and education in Central Washington, opened programming in the summer of 1995. The Icicle Creek story began two summers before as the founders shaped their vision for music in the Cascade Mountains.

Inspired by their experiences at other chamber music centers including the Banff Centre in Canada and Garth Newel in Virginia, Icicle Creek founders Scott Hosfeld and Marcia Kaufmann imagined a similar facility in Hosfeld's home state of Washington.

Old friends and arts supporters Wilfred and Kathy Woods of Wenatchee joined enthusiastic planning for a retreat-style music center. The initial idea was for a small chamber music festival to be held at the Camp Field property in Leavenworth.

Camp Field, initially a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in the 1930s, was a Catholic Youth and Family Camp from 1957 to 1982. In 1993 Harriet Bullitt had just purchased the property for a third conversion to an elegant rustic retreat and conference center with a focus on dialogue, conservation and the arts. Offering preliminary concerts proved an exciting compatibility between the two endeavors, and Icicle Creek Music Center found its home venue at the retreat center. A Board of Directors was enlisted, nonprofit status was acquired, and fund-raising began.

Icicle Creek's first chamber music festival in 1995 debuted at the newly named Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat, still under construction.

In 1996, Icicle Creek assumed administration of two successful summer programs, the Flute Festival and String Festival, founded and organized by Beth Jensen and Kara Hunnicutt, respectively. The 1997 summer program expanded the original Flute and String Festivals into a full orchestral program, Icicle Creek Summer Symphony. The 1997 Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival expanded Icicle Creek's chamber music horizons into jazz and bluegrass formats.

In 2001 construction began on a new campus adjoining the Sleeping Lady campus to support expansion of music programming throughout the year and to enable Icicle Creek to offer greater educational and performing resources to the region.

The Icicle Creek Music Center campus was completed in 2003. The relationship between the music campus and conference facility is patterned after joint efforts between arts programming and conference facilities at locations such as the acclaimed Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. The music campus includes:

• Canyon Wren Recital Hall, 3,000 square foot, with seating for 100 and a sweeping view up Icicle Canyon, perfect for performances, recordings and rehearsals
• Lodging facilities for 35 to 40 guests including two cabins with kitchenette facilities
• 340-square-foot ensemble-size and 90-square-foot individual-size practice and rehearsal rooms each with its own picturesque view
• Office and administrative facilities
• The Gathering Yurt, an informal space for relaxing
• Meadow Outdoor Stage, the perfect facility for public concerts from June to September. An ensemble practice room is strategically located nearby to serve as a Green Room

The new facilities support a spectrum of programming, from artist residencies to retreats for area universities, as well as performances by the resident ensemble and visiting guest artists.

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