homeowners

PETER BASOA MAIN STAGE
Saturday May 4th
10:00 Welcome Ceremony with King and Queen
10:15 Delta G - Marty Ytreberg - Bringing delta blues to the Palouse; Moscow, ID
11:10 The Thalweg - Folky blues and americana; Moscow, ID
12:00 Joanne Rand - Psychedelic, folk, & revival singer/songwriter; Arcata, CA
1:30 Maypole Dance (Kids Maypole Following) - With Sam and Friends
2:00 Allison Preisinger - Folk ,rock singer/songwri ter; based out of the Pacific Northwest
2:50 Border Highlanders Pipes & Drums - Scottish music old & new; Moscow, ID
3:10 Merry Missives of Moscow - Children's dance troupe; Moscow, ID
3:30 Renaissance Fair Parade - A joyous trip of whimsy through space, time, and the park
4:15 Riley's Range Benders - Americana, blues, folk originals with attitude; Bend, OR
5:30 Ethan Tucker - Blues, soul, folk, and reggae singer/songwri ter; Olympia, WA
7:30 Voodoo Horseshoes - Original psychedelic rock with a twist of grass; Missoula, MT
Sunday May 5th
10:00 Carper and Peterson - Original roots-rock americana; Enterprise, OR & Moscow, ID
11:00 Dan Maher - Master of Inland folk; Pullman, WA
12:00 Heidi Muller & Bob Webb - NW & Appalachian, dulcimers, and more; Enterprise, OR
1:00 Galactic Tofu Farmers - Socially conscious all-original reggae rock; Moscow, ID
2:00 Maypole Dance - With Sam and Friends, by the Volleyball Court
2:30 Smokin' Mojo - Local favorite, seven-piece "jump-blues" band; Moscow, ID
3:45 Henry C. and the Willards - Blues-infused, danceable, with ierce f vocals; Moscow, ID
5:00 The Bhajans - Future-Ancient bass heavy dance music meets Mantras; Orcas Island, WA
Meet our King and Queen
Bill and Dianne French
Bill and Dianne French rolled into Moscow for the first time on a cool summer day in 1986. They were searching for a new
home west of the Mississippi - somewhere with a drier climate than Bloomington, Indiana where Bill was studying optometry
at one of those other UI’s. Their road trip had taken them through Boise and the temps they’d experienced there made
Moscow feel real good, but what impressed them most was the friendliness of the people. Another plus - the community
was just the size they were looking for and they felt a potential to “make a difference” here. Two years later, with a toddler
in hand and a new baby on the way, they made the move, bought the graceful old Craftsman house on the corner of 7th and
Washington and started remodeling. They opened Palouse Ocularium in November that year and this fall will celebrate 25
years of providing professional eye care services to residents of the Palouse. Recently they purchased Ex-Sightment Optical
upon the retirement of Doug Davidson. Both businesses are members of Buy Local Moscow.
Dianne and Bill both grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska and met when Dianne started working at a Pearle Vision store where Bill
was manager. During their early years together living in Midwestern cities, they were members of the Humane Society and
the Sierra Club. Choosing a smaller community for their permanent home was a deliberate decision to enable them to
become more actively involved in issues they cared about.
In the early 90’s, Dianne met Moscow City Councilwoman Mardi Baron who convinced her to volunteer for the City Council’s
Health and Environment Commission. She served a total of nine years and addressed many local environmental and
sustainability issues. Bill served on the Moscow School Board and is active in the Palouse Prairie Foundation. Bill and
Dianne also support Friends of the Clearwater and Wild Idaho Rising Tide, local grassroots organizations working to protect
public wildlands and addressing issues related to climate change and energy policies.
The legacy of Dianne and Bill’s activism, however, is nothing less than the preservation of our most precious resource here
on the Palouse, our fresh water aquifer. In 1996, they moved from the upstairs apartment at the Ocularium to a lovely
Moscow neighborhood and became alarmed by the amount of water running off down the gutters when nearby homeowners
watered their lawns. Bill started attending meetings of PBAC (the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee, a group formed to
encourage the local political entities to implement their Ground Water Management Plans), but felt more could be done to
promote awareness of local water issues and conservation. They organized the Palouse Water Conservation Network
(PWCN) in 2002 and leaned in hard for eight solid years. In response to their lobbying, the city set up tiered water rates and
a watering season. PWCN’s annual event has become its own entity, the Palouse Basin Water Summit.
We are pleased and proud to have Bill and Dianne French representing our community as the King and Queen of the 40th
annual Moscow Renaissance Fair!