Washington’s known for several signature waterfront events such Summer Festival and Smoke on the Water, both veteran festivals.

Among the recent newcomers to waterfront festivals is the BoCO Music Festival, an event with a wide appeal because it offers a variety of music genres. If nothing else, the BoCO Music Festival exposes people to the arts — the musical variety to be precise.

The originators of the festival — Beaufort County Arts Council, Beaufort County Traditional Music Association and others — did the city a favor when they decided Washington needed a weekend in April dedicated to great music, wonderful musicians and a musical air along the city’s waterfront. The festival is proving to be an excellent venue where area musicians and imported musicians display their talents, whether those talents by vocal one, instrumental ones or song-writing ones.

As we noted last year, the BoCO Music Festival does not plan itself. For each hour of the festival, organizers — paid and volunteer — likely spend at least six hours making sure the festival will be better than previous festivals. Often, their hard work goes overlooked and unappreciated. That’s a shame.

Hats off to the festival planners and the festival for bringing quality music to Washington and improving the city’s quality of life.