Case Study

Whidbey.now

Every live show on Whidbey Island, in one place. A free community calendar used every week by fans, musicians, venues, and festivals from Clinton to Oak Harbor.

Web Platform · Live since September 2026 · Built & run by Ryan Adkins

166

Shows listed

109

Artists

Venues

111

Fan accounts

The Problem

Whidbey has a real live music scene, but finding a show meant checking a dozen Facebook pages, venue websites, email lists, and bulletin boards. Musicians played to small rooms because word didn't get out, and fans missed shows they would have loved.

Whidbey.now puts all of it in one place. It isn't a ticket seller. It's a free, always-current calendar that points you to the show, the artist, and the venue.

For Fans

Browse by date, area, or genre, or see everything on a map that slides between North and South Whidbey. A free account, with just an email, lets fans save shows, follow artists and venues, and get a reminder the morning of a show. A weekly email lists everything coming up. Anyone can subscribe to an artist's or venue's calendar right from their phone.

For Artists & Venues

Musicians, venues, promoters, and festivals get a free backstage account to post shows and run their own public page, with photos, links, and an always-current list of dates. Shows can be co-billed, set up as recurring series, or listed as online events. Any page can be embedded on the artist's or venue's own website.

Keeping It Accurate

A calendar is only useful if you can trust it. Behind the scenes, an admin console reviews new pages, merges duplicate posts, handles correction requests, and keeps listings clean. New promoter pages wait for approval, past-dated posts are refused, and anyone can flag a problem.

Paying Its Own Way

Posting is free forever, so the site is funded in other ways: local sponsors on the home page and in the weekly email, paid featured spots for shows, ads with their own pages, yearly festival listings, and voluntary tips from fans. All of it runs through Stripe, with receipts, refunds, and admin approval built in.

Built With Its Users

Local musicians and fans tested it in group sessions before launch, and their feedback shaped everything from how shows are posted to what belongs on the calendar. A full security review came before any money changed hands. Since launch, improvements ship weekly, based on what people actually use.

Under the Hood

Next.js and Supabase on Vercel, Stripe for payments, Resend for email, and calendar feeds that work with Apple, Google, and Outlook. It's fast on a phone at a bar and on a laptop on a Sunday morning.

The work

The Result

In its first two months: 166 shows listed across 53 venues, 109 artists, 111 fans with accounts, and nearly 1,700 show views. Whidbey.now is live and in use every day. Fans check it for this weekend's shows, artists and venues post their own dates, and local sponsors help keep it free for everyone.

It's also proof of what I can build for a business: accounts, payments, email, maps, admin tools, and a public site, all in one product, made and maintained by one person on the island.

Visit whidbey.now →

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