Hello my fellow CWU students and Ellensburg community. Allow me to take the time to introduce myself and where I am from before I share with you this story about the heartbeat of the Ellensburg local music scene. It has been an honor to get to know this classy lady.
I am from the west side (Tacoma/Seattle area) and we love promoting local artists throughout the Pacific Northwest. We even have our very own Washington State Independent Music Award to celebrate the hardworking musicians throughout the state. We do our best to promote them by supporting them the best that we can — either by podcasts or a local radio station playing their music live on the radio. We all try to see them perform live at our local venues from Olympia to Everett and Spokane. We are very proud of our support of local music. Now I have moved to Ellensburg back in September 2025 to work towards my B.A. degree, and the first thing I did once I arrived here was to search for Ellensburg’s local music scenes.
Finding Ellensburg music scene
I went to a few places and they all said the same thing: “Go visit Carol at Old Skools. She is the heartbeat of local music here,” and that is what I did. When I finally arrived to visit Old Skools, I wasn’t expecting to see wall-to-wall vinyl records everywhere! Not just any vinyl, but vinyl from all walks of life, such as The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Patty Duke — yes, the famous actress. What is also amazing is she has clothes in the other parts of the store, and way in the back was amazing hidden treasure: the stage that held all the talent of local music for many years.
She was celebrating her 20th anniversary of Old Skools. I really enjoy getting to know this wonderful lady. Her eyes shine bright as she talks about the local music and store. However, there was some sadness to her too. She told me she was getting ready to move; the building was sold to a different landlord and wasn’t able to keep her there. The new landlord is working with her temporarily as she searches for a new place for Old Skools.
Ellensburg community love
Everyone in the community helped her out: Ellensburg Community Radio, local artists and restaurants. With all their hard work, she found a new home for Old Skools. Everyone locally knows this building where she is moving to is the old YMCA building. The Moose and The Sandbox were located there and now she is moving there sometime in February 2026. She wasn’t sure she would be able to afford the move, but the local community and the musicians that loved her went out of their way to help her. A local musician, Jason Clifton from Sixgun, organized a benefit concert at the Ridge on Dec. 13, 2025, and nine local bands jumped onto this bill to help fund the big move. It was a success and now she is able to afford the move to her new location. When I got to catch up with her she was proudly cleaning, painting and getting ready for the move. She is hoping to start the move on Feb. 15, but she said the date keeps changing, but that is normal.
“Everyone has been so amazing. The community supported; they did a fundraiser for me. Multiple bands that were there. Everyone came out and they couldn’t be there. They came by to offer their support. I’ve got so many people offering to help me move. I mean, it’s the best part about this is just realizing how amazing this community is. I knew it was amazing, but just having all this amazing love come back my direction,” Carol Cox, the owner of Old Skools, said.
How she found the new place
When I asked Carol how she found this place, this is what she said, “She has lived in Ellensburg all her life and has always driven by the old YMCA building and always knew it was here. I didn’t know it was available, but Daniel, who owns Brick Road Books that is across from the building, told her that the old Moose had moved out and gave me the address to the landlord, and that’s the only contact I had. I wrote a snail mail letter and I got a call about a week later.”
She stated, “The landlord right now, he is still cleaning some things out from the last tenant. They left stuff behind. Then we’ll have to finish with the painting and cleaning and doing the floors.”
She did give me the grand tour of the new place and I decided not to show off any photos of the new place, because there isn’t much to see at this time — at the moment. It is just an empty building, but she did share with me where she planned on placing the stage, her music collection and everything. Including some future upgrades to the beloved store if she decides to go into that direction.
She also told me about the big lineup to celebrate the old Old Skools location. She mentioned of the bands that will be playing she said, “Now on Feb. 20, we are going to have I believe the lineup, I have to double check with the bands, but I believe it is Black Velvet Band, Manta.”
Last show at the ‘old’ Old Skools location
I wanted more information on the big send-off to say goodbye to the old Old Skools location on Feb. 20, 2026, at 7 p.m.
Carol contacted David Coppin Lanegan, lead singer of Black Velvet Band, one of the bands that is organizing the final concert at the old Old Skools at 308 N. Main St. I got more information from him about it.
This is what David had to say: “Please come to our show on Feb. 20, 2026. It’s going to be Suddenly Tuesday, Parshall Blue, Manta and Black Velvet Band. Manta just put out a new EP a few months ago. It is fantastic they are going to play a few songs from it! The Black Velvet Band, my band, are putting out a new EP this month and we are going to play a few songs from it. It will be fantastic! Suddenly Tuesday, Parshall Blue are great! Suddenly Tuesday is kind of new to the scene, but they are really, really great and nice guys you got to see them play. And this will be the last show at this historical Old Skools location, she has been there over 20 years or something. Me and a lot of people that are going to be playing on Feb. 20, it was a big part of our childhood and our artistic development and Carol is a person worthy of celebrating. So come celebrate her.”
Open mic nights on Sundays is only show going until the move
Now Feb. 20, 2026, is the official last live show until the big move. However, she is still going to hold open mic nights on Sundays from 6 p.m. until the official move. She wants to keep that going until she isn’t able to do it anymore. I would share with you the official moving date, but it keeps changing. I will do a follow-up article after the move and let you know of the grand opening.
So there you have it! Celebrating local music from either side of Washington state. It doesn’t matter if you are from the west side or the east side, the middle of Washington state is no different. We all have our own supporters within the music scenes and as long as we all support YOUR local music the independent musicians will be unstoppable. So when you have the chance, find your local music and support them, because that is the only way to keep the local music together.
As for Carol at Old Skools, her support of local music will continue being the heartbeat of the local music scene in her new location: 301 W. Fourth Ave., Ellensburg, WA
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source cwuobserver.com ’
