Adam Zacks is the man behind the curtain at Sasquatch!, the annual music festival hosted at Washington’s ultimate picturesque outdoor venue, The Gorge. Founded in 2002 by Zacks, word of the event spread like wildfire through festival enthusiast subcultures around the country. This year, names like My Morning Jacket, Miike Snow, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Mumford & Sons, LCD Soundsystem, Public Enemy, The xx, Ween, MGMT, Band of Horses, The Temper Trap, and Neon Indian helped sell out 3-day passes for this Memorial Day weekend, when Zacks is expecting 75,000 festival visitors. More on what differentiates Sasquatch! from the rest of 'em after the jump.

First show Zacks saw at The Gorge: I think it was Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell triple bill.

On what makes Sasquatch! so special, as compared to other festivals: What differentiates it is the location. It’s not something you can replicate easily. The programming is really representative of the spirit of the Pacific Northwest and I don’t think that’s easily recreated either. It has as much to do with the bands we book and the mix of bands as it does with the people that come out for it. There’s a real, legitimate subculture of people that exist really just in the Pacific Northwest, and this is a kind of beacon event for the whole scene. It’s a spirit and an attitude that exists unique to this area. It’s friendly, creative, laid-back, and enthusiastic about music – new music in particular. There’s this ecology of things that exist up here that really encourages listening to new music and there are a number of strong, independent labels. It’s a great live music market year around.

On the second year of the festival: I went in with a lot more confidence the second year knowing that there was an audience for this type of event. I had more support to get creative and have a stronger vision, and I was thinking forward about what I wanted this to grow into. The second year of the festival is really more representative than the very first. Coldplay headlined. The Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse, Neko Case and Death Cab. Damien Rice ended up playing at what was essentially the parking lot stage. It was just a stage that entertained people on the line as they were coming in. Damien Rice, Brandi Carlile, all these artists that have gone on to do bigger and better things were playing in the parking lot stage that year.

On the best compliment he’s received: A lot of people say that they look forward to it year around. If it’s raining for three months straight in Seattle or if they’re at their jobs and stressed out, they’re thinking about and planning for Sasquatch! year-round. Now that the festival’s been around for nine years, the brand’s taken on a meaning outside of the festival. So, as terms like “indie rock” become stale and not really descriptive – I’ve heard “Sasquatch! type band” used as a descriptor. Maybe it doesn’t do anymore to clarify what type of music a band plays, but it means that there’s a place in culture for Sasquatch!.

On green initiatives: We’ve been building on and improving the green focus each year. It’s taking an incremental leap this year. One of the stages is solar powered and the rest of the festival is wind-powered. We work with an agency that comes out with a calculation for all the people and artists who drive out there and that’s how we come up with the carbon calculation. We buy offsets for carbon being emitted in the atmosphere. So, not only is it not having a negative affect on the environment, it’s actually making a positive impact. This year, Honda is covering the costs of the carbon credits and they will go towards funding projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions on dairy farms in the Pacific Northwest.

On keeping the neighbors happy: It’s remote farmland area out here. There aren’t many residential areas, but there are people who live out there. For the most part, 99.9% of the people are super psyched because it makes up for most their revenue during the year. There are also some people who have been out there forever and ever and The Gorge is a nuisance for them, but they’re few and far between. Maybe, it’s two people that are upset by it every year.

Tips for first-timers: The majority of people will stay at the festival campground. It’s a big, grassy field with some amenities. There are bathrooms and some no-frills showers. Basically, it’s car camping on a grassy field. You need to bring everything that you think you might need. Even if it’s 90 degrees during the day, it still cools down a lot at night. It’s rained a little bit in years past. One year, there was actually a power-lock hail storm out of the blue. Right afterward, the clouds parted and it was 90 degrees. During the storm, we just opened the gates and allowed people to come and go freely and do whatever they needed to do to be safe and get warm clothing. People hid under picnic benches.

On the 10-year anniversary in 2011: There’s been a stockpile of good and bad ideas. We talked about doing a fireworks show, but that’s a bad idea. There’s no way that I’m aware of to do an environmentally-friendly fireworks show. Also, it’s really dry out there and the last thing I want to do is set a fire to someone’s farm. For the most part, we’ve said, let’s hold off on things for the 10-year anniversary. Next year’s our year to go off and I won’t go into detail about what that is yet.

On feeling starstruck: The Cure and REM were the soundtrack of my adolescence. If you’d told me back then that I’d be doing a festival with them one day, there’s no way that I would have believed that. They both played in 2008. Every year, there are a couple celebrities that come out…nothing like they have at Coachella where it’s just like a celebrity fest. So, when they do come out, it’s just weird. It feels out of place and people generally just leave them alone and don’t know what to do. People aren’t really star struck. They’re just kind of like, “Oh that’s weird.”

First album ever purchased: If I’m being honest, I think it was Sesame Street Fever. The one I remember clearly buying was a cassette of David Bowie Let’s Dance. I have a pretty clear memory of saving up and going to the store and getting that from Warehouse Records and Tapes.

Go-to places: There’s this amazing, super authentic Mexican restaurant in Seattle called Señor Moose Café. I drove by and avoided it for years, based on the name and the snoopy cartoon frog they had on their sandwich board sign. Then, I finally went there and it’s by far the most badass Mexican in the city. Sonic Boom Records is my go-to record store. There’s Caffe Fiore and Stumptown, my two favorite coffee joints. The Crocodile is probably my favorite small club.

Patiently waiting to see: I really get excited for people to discover new bands. Local Natives aren’t exactly a secret anymore, but they were at the time I booked them. Mumford and Sons, The Lonely Forest, The Middle East. In a couple years, I think these bands will be on the main stage.

Photo: Chase Jarvis