RagFest 2012, the 12th annual Orange County ragtime music festival, was a huge success in Fullerton over the weekend of April 14th and 15th. We drew a near-capacity crowd to Steamers for about half of the Saturday afternoon, while more than 500 people visited the Muckenthaler Cultural Center the next day and enjoyed several dozen sets performed by more than 40 pianists, vocalists, instrumentalists and band members.

Continue to watch this space and check back with our home page. In the coming weeks, we’ll have photos of the event, a description of the Steamers performances and a review, by ragtime pianist-composer Fred Hoeptner, of the Muckenthaler portion of the festival. We’ll also have upcoming announcements regarding RagFest 2013, including dates, times and performers, so stay tuned!

Here is the windup for RagFest 2012, the Grand Finale!

We had a lot of performers this year, many of them came up on stage at the end to salute the audience. To see more pictures of RagFest 2012, go to the 2012 Photo Page. We have plenty of pictures there!

RagFest 2012 Grand Finale

The Orange County Ragtime Society

Continuing in 2012, the OCRS will meet eight times at Steamers:

February 25 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.
March 17 from 12 noon to 3 p.m.
May 19 from 12 noon to 3 p.m.
June 16 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.
July 21 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.
September 15 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.
October 20 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.
November 10 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.

There is no cover charge or admission price. Reservations are not required, but seating is first-come, first-serve. The format is 'open piano,' meaning that those with demonstrated ability performing ragtime (or ragtime-related music) are welcome to perform. See the OCRS page for further information!

The RagFest Model T

The 1923 Ford Model T Runabout that has been parked in front of Steamers Jazz Club for many of the past RagFest festivals missed 2009 for mechanical reasons. After 87 years, the water jackets in the motor rusted through, leaking water into the crankcase to mix with the lubricating oil. Fixing this is going to take both time and money!

We have located another block that looks to be in better condition and hope to start building a new motor from it this summer as time and budget allow. More news here as it develops!