The Northwest loves a good outlaw. We're talking the mysterious, harmless (unless needed) and legendary kind of outlaw. Many of this breed of outlaw are synonymous with the Northwest, including the barely-old-enough-to-shave Barefoot Bandit, who stole boats and airplanes with sass, the "Hollywood" bank robber who had an extravagant tree house and underground buckets of cash in the woods near Evergreen State College and even a mythical marauder (not many are as elusive as the mighty Sasquatch).

But perhaps one of our favorite regional characters is D.B. Cooper, the unidentified man who, in 1971, hijacked a Boeing 747 in the airspace between Portland and Seattle, nabbed $200,000 in ransom, looked dapper in a dark suit and sunglasses and parachuted out of the stolen aircraft, never to be found.

It's this infatuation with the Northwest's reputation that is part of the endearment of the upcoming D.B. Cooper Festival - it's a name that draws intrigue and pumps a little adrenalin in the veins.

Plus, it has all the makings of a stellar festival: it's held at a boutique winery on a farm in the Nisqually Valley on a summer's day, with food and beverages and a lineup that rules, including the recently signed to Capitol Records local Ethan Tucker, whose songwriting skills have caught the attention of big-leaguer Michael Franti. Clay Swafford is another performer, who, at 30 years old, is one of the premier boogie woogie piano players in the world. Bump Kitchen, The Brown Edition, Brittany Kingery, The Oly Mountain Boys, Bevy and Tattered Dress, plus more, are also set to play.

Lifelong friends and business partners Clint Morgan and Rob Hill are the men behind the scenes of the first D.B. Cooper Festival, Sunday, Aug. 4, at Medicine Creek Winery just north of Olympia.

The friends, who own a law office/music studio (yes, they are in the same building and yes, they jam on guitars between clients) also manage Exit 104 Media and Lost Cause Records. Bonafide music lovers, the two attracted hundreds of people to a house party last year, so when the dream to showcase local musicians grew to festival size, they decided to seek a location to formalize the event, ultimately finding the Medicine Creek Winery.

"We'd been on the lookout for a long time," Morgan said. "We went out to the winery, and gosh it looked perfect - the outside location, an indoor stage that's all tricked out ... it was just a natural fit for this."

Morgan and Hill used their networking skills to gain sponsors and secure musicians, and the D.B. Cooper Festival was born. Morgan said the name came to mind after brainstorming a way to represent the Northwest.

"We were sitting around suggesting things like Rain Dance and Slug Fest," laughed Morgan. "We wanted something regional, something Washington, so we started thinking, ‘What personage do we have? What outlaws?' And D.B. Cooper came to mind - he never hurt anybody, he was just a goofy dude."

As enthusiastic as Morgan is about resurrecting the infamous outlaw's name, his passion for music is tenfold.

"We are just so lucky," he said about each of the musicians booked for the festival.

And he couldn't gush enough about how good and diverse the music will be.

"It's like a potpourri," he said.

And the festival's motto? An appropriately rebellious, "Just give me the music and no one gets hurt."

Gates open Sunday at 11 a.m., cost for the daytime festival is $10; evening blues show is $15. All access is $20.

D.B. Cooper Festival, Aug. 4.,  Medicine Creek Winery, 947 Old Pacific Hwy. SE Olympia, 360.701.6284