The Quilcene Lantern is celebrating its first full year in operation by staging its second-annual “Tarboo” Olympic Peninsula music festival over the Fourth of July weekend.

Brothers Willem and Bergen De Koch touted the three-day event’s 16 acts, drawn from across the Pacific Northwest. The are set to perform in the Lantern’s central venue, its 90-year-old barn which is surrounded by 53 acres of property to also host campers, food vendors and a beer garden.

The De Koch brothers recruited “indie folk legends” Blind Pilot, and Seattle DJ and producer Chong the Nomad, along with what they deemed “a veritable who’s who of indie music.” That includes “grunge pop darlings” Great Grandpa, singer-songwriter Uwade, Portland rocker MAITA, “art-synth-pop outfit” Mt Fog, Devin Champlin, Desolation Horse and more.

Willem and Bergen agreed that it helps to have much more time to organize this year’s Tarboo, since last year’s music festival occurred concurrently with their family establishing the Quilcene Lantern at the historic venue.

“We were still relatively new to the area,” Bergen said. “I’d had experience in the Port Angeles and Sequim areas, and a number of musician friends of mine had performed in this neck of the woods. But over the past year, we’ve developed closer ties with the surrounding community, and our name-brand recognition has grown as a result.”

In addition to investing heavily in renovating the physical infrastructure of the venue, Willem emphasized that a lot of effort has gone into cultivating the Quilcene Lantern’s lineups of musical performers, to meet the tastes of its nightly audiences.

“We want our programming to reflect who people want to see, and what they want to hear,” Willem said. “We’ve also sought to tap into the music community that already exists out here on the Olympic Peninsula. The more shows we’ve booked, the more of a mystical alchemy we’ve created to entice audiences.”

Bergen noted that the De Koch family as a whole is artistically inclined, so as they discovered “some incredible music that was already happening out here,” they wanted to foster it in a platform that was itself “already a beautiful space.”

In addition to bringing in well-known acts from outside the area, Willem said he is also motivated to promote local musicians.

“I’d love for folks to come out here and get won over by some band they’d never heard of before, only to realize, ‘Hey, they’re right in my backyard!’” Willem said. “When you can help make those connections between local talents and new fans, that builds up the local music community into a convergence point.”

This year’s Tarboo spans the same three-day length as last year, with Thursday, July 3, offering a shorter lineup of NYBY, N3gativ3 Numb3rs and Nate the Junco, before the next two days’ extended lineups.

Friday, July 4, sees Chong the Nomad, Great Grandpa, Mt Fog, Desolation Horse, Bad Luck and The Hackles. Saturday, July 5, wraps up Tarboo with Blind Pilot, Uwade, MAITA, Devin Champlin, Jonas Myers, Ellie Baird and The Sky is a Suitcase.

The De Koch brothers said Tarboo offers “extracurricular activities” in addition to each day’s musical lineups, with local food vendors including Flutter By Pizza Pie and Finnriver Cidery, as well as the beer garden, plus a sampling of on-site artists and crafters.

“Our intention has been, if an alien being were to drop down from outer space onto the Olympic Peninsula for a single weekend, this event would give them a 360-degree taste of this area’s music scene, natural environment, food, arts, fashion and even architectural history, from the barn itself,” Willem said.

“Running the Lantern is a labor of love, rather than something we’re doing for the financial benefits,” Bergen said. “In this world, it can be all too easy to fall into a funk of despair, so rather than doom-scrolling on the internet, we want to offer people an experience that’s transcendent, rather than transactional.”

What to know:

Tickets are available online for single-day or weekend-long passes, and both camping and parking are available onsite for fees.

The Quilcene Lantern is located at 7360 Center Road.