Why Do You Go To Bluegrass Festivals?

[Eric Platt]

If I go, it's to catch up with friends and play tunes. Will sometimes watch a few acts. But, and this is the main thing, I don't play bluegrass. Luckily our local festivals have a lot of old time music.

Once again, though, won't be attending our main festival next month as I have a gig with a Finnish music band. And depending on how things go, may even play mandolin on a tune or 2.

[Mike Snyder]

Should not be much of a surprise that cafe folk go to pick. The folks who park nice lawn chairs in the shady parts of the audience area and don't miss an act are usually not pickers. The pickers drop by the stage to catch a specific act and sit on the edges so they can get out easy and get back to camp to pick.

[UsuallyPickin]

When I hear music I want to play music. So more playing than listening. But I will stop and listen to my favorites a bit in hopes of hearing some new material. R/

[mandopaul]

I used to enjoy going to Grey Fox festival in NY, but it got way out of hand ticket price wise. Come on $200+ for camping tickets AND they charge a $25 parking fee on top of that? Prices have been out there for the last 10 yrs. but is getting worse every yr.
I haven't been going for the past 8 yrs. & look for smaller venues that are more reasonable. I go to pick at campsites - and agree that if you just camp & pick, should be a choice.

[Mike Snyder]

Major festivals will link performance-area tickets to camping fees because of the large percentage of campers who would not buy festival tickets if they did not have to. Many of us would be perfectly happy not attending any performance or vendor. I like festival food and the vendors at Winfield are top drawer (really good Pho and Greek food). I work for the WVA for my festival ticket every year for nearly $100 saved to pay jacked up camping fees. If a festival looses money it won't be back next year, sponsors or no. What gets me in a twist is when a festival makes huge profits year after year and cries poverty when anyone suggests that they put some bucks into the infrastructure of the festival grounds. Corporate mindset should not be a surprise these days, I guess.

[Bernie Daniel]

So it seems like it might be possible to have a successful bluegrass festival without any bands at all then....just plenty of parking lots and campsites....

[Bernie Daniel]

...Last year at Joe Val, for example, I saw Foghorn Stringband for the first time. I had never even heard of them, and now they are one of my favorites....

FSB has as ton of great videos on YouTube - -I think I've watched all of them...

[Ivan Kelsall]

From Charlieshafer - "...and just had a huge picking party." I mentioned a similar thing regarding our UK ''Sore Fingers Summer School''. I have my own way of learning,which is perfect for me,so i don't need 'lessons'' as such - but - i'd love a 'class' of jammers who can watch & learn from each other while playing & enjoying themselves. I've learned a lot from other banjo players in the past & i'm sure that i could learn as much from other mandolion players,
Ivan

[Beanzy]

We have afew picking weekends in the UK, centred around Old Time.
Windemere, Scarewell are regulars. This year we have one this weekend in Cornwall Called AlsiaFest, near Penzance. There seem to be more popping up all the time.

[Charlieshafer]

So the new model for the net generation of bluegrass festivals is this:

1: Lots of camping and picking spaces, reasonably priced.
2: Excellent vendors, food, instruments, and miscellaneous stuff
3: Minimal performances, maybe just a star or two a day
4: Have said stars hold a lot of workshops during the day so most pickers have a chance to get some direct feedback/instruction
5: Have the other stars not giving a workshop at that time wander around and join in the informal picking.

Forget "Dancing With The Stars" make it "Picking With The Stars."

It's sort-of being down already with lot of the fiddle camps in the Northeast, from Jay Ungar's Ashokan series, to the Maine Fiddle Camp and the two-day Fiddle Hell run by Dave Reiner

[Bernie Daniel]

So the new model for the net generation of bluegrass festivals is this:

1: Lots of camping and picking spaces, reasonably priced.
2: Excellent vendors, food, instruments, and miscellaneous stuff
3: Minimal performances, maybe just a star or two a day
4: Have said stars hold a lot of workshops during the day so most pickers have a chance to get some direct feedback/instruction
5: Have the other stars not giving a workshop at that time wander around and join in the informal picking.

Forget "Dancing With The Stars" make it "Picking With The Stars."

It's sort-of being down already with lot of the fiddle camps in the Northeast, from Jay Ungar's Ashokan series, to the Maine Fiddle Camp and the two-day Fiddle Hell run by Dave Reiner

I kind of agree. But this must be disappointing to the professional bluegrass musicians who look to the summer festivals as a chance to make a little money and meet their fans? The more things stay the same the more they change....

It is true for nearly everything hobby and entertainment oriented. For some years I have been president of the North American Bluebird Society, a venerable, all-volunteer, 40 year old 501.c.3 non-profit dedicated to saving the Continent's three species of bluebirds. We have a great international reputation and have been very successful over the decades in restoring the populations of bluebirds. Still we are finding it harder and harder to interest our members in attending our Annual Conference, and workshops. Our membership is growing grayer by the year and out headcount is like Alice in wonderland - - we are running as fast as we can to stay in one place. It is a totally different crowd of people out there now...........they may want to know how to set up nestboxes for bluebirds and come to us on our "Help Line" or request copies of our fact sheets and DVDs but they want no part of a formal organization. Since we have a website and Facebook page everything we supply should be free!

[DavidKOS]

I like festival food and the vendors at Winfield are top drawer (really good Pho and Greek food)..

Now that sounds like a festival I'd like.

[DataNick]

This is pretty interesting. Seems like the festivals could be a lot more profitable if they ditched the performers and just had a huge picking party. Hmmm.. maybe there's an opportunity there somewhere.

Charlie,

It's called The Great 48...absolutely nirvana of 72-96 hours of picking jamming at a hotel in Bakersfield, CA every Jan; all levels with some of the hottest pickers in the state showing up; you ought to come out!

[DataNick]

Interesting replies folks!....Appreciate the responses....

[Timbofood]

Bernie, you society's predicament is very much like what has happened in various " traditional " endeavours, churches, and other historically member driven groups. The world has turned to this style of information exchange in preference to face to face, first hand exchange of ideas and information. We are in such a rush to gain more free time through so many "labor or time saving devices" we no longer take the time to smell the coffee, we simply slam down an espresso and get going.
That got a little convoluted but, I think the point is there.

[Charlieshafer]

Bernie, you society's predicament is very much like what has happened in various " traditional " endeavours, churches, and other historically member driven groups. The world has turned to this style of information exchange in preference to face to face, first hand exchange of ideas and information. We are in such a rush to gain more free time through so many "labor or time saving devices" we no longer take the time to smell the coffee, we simply slam down an espresso and get going.
That got a little convoluted but, I think the point is there.

First, thanks to Nick for the Great 48 link. Might have to try to start one out east! Anyway, Tim is right, many organizations are suffering. Everyone is trying to figure out the reasons: lack of focus if millennia's? Nah, they're getting a lot done. Lack of dedication? Nope, same thing, there are a lot of pop-up things happening. The energy is there, the smarts, the skills. I'm guessing, here, but I do think it's tied to the same ethos that's keeping collectible instrument prices suppressed, the younger generation is into experiences, not stuff, and a variety of experiences at that, which means wanting to get tied down to a committee for a couple of years is not of interest. We'll get plenty of young volunteers for a one-day event, but none want to take on a long-term commitment. We've started breaking up our "committees" into 2-3 week long projects, and have no problem finding people, young and old.

Does this mean that festivals will also start to decline? There will always be the big ones, but maybe the second-tier ones suffer due to lack of volunteers willing to take on the year-long commitment to organize it. I have found that organizing one-day "festivals" which are really 2-3 band events designed to raise funds for a local cause, which also feature local businesses in the mix, generate a lot of enthusiasm for help. It's a weird world, but someone has to live in it.

[Don Grieser]

I think there's a pick/no performances camp out in Colorado. I hear there's a motel picking weekend in Amarillo in January like the Great 48. Hope to get to that one of these years.

[Mike Snyder]

Now that sounds like a festival I'd like.

The vendors at Winfield are awesome. Real homemade ice cream, great Reuben's, gourmet coffe, biscuits and gravy, and all the usual burgers and turkey legs and catfish. Even better, Steve Mason runs a repair-refret-setup booth with two hired guns cranking jobs out, Mass Street Music brings in a load of instruments, Deering, Ome, a big fiddle outfit out of KC and Hatman Jack can cover your bald spot. Plus crafts, more luthiers (Ellis and Pava in person last year) and tees and hoodies out the wazoo. Best of all, Blue Chip picks let you try out all the goodies on your instrument or theirs. Best festival ever and bluegrass can be found, but the campground has camps that feature jazz, ITM/contradance, jamgrass, psychobilly, RedClay, rock, country, and old-time. Look us up at Shoe Goo and we'll do some old- time tunes.

[Jeff Mando]

I love the refrets while you wait concept........

[Andy Alexander]

I used to enjoy going to Grey Fox festival in NY, but it got way out of hand ticket price wise. Come on $200+ for camping tickets AND they charge a $25 parking fee on top of that? Prices have been out there for the last 10 yrs. but is getting worse every yr.
I haven't been going for the past 8 yrs. & look for smaller venues that are more reasonable. I go to pick at campsites - and agree that if you just camp & pick, should be a choice.

Mandopaul, check out Pickin' In The Pasture in Lodi NY. $80 at the gate includes camping, a professional stage show, lots of jamming, plus you are in the beautiful Finger Lakes! Visit www.pickininthepasture.com for more info.

[Andy Alexander]

Pickers are no longer in the majority at most festivals across the country. #1 reason people attend is because their friends are going, #2 for the bluegrass
entertainment, #3 cheap place to bring the RV and camp, #4 to pick

[Jeff Mando]

Mandopaul, check out Pickin' In The Pasture in Lodi NY. $80 at the gate includes camping, a professional stage show, lots of jamming, plus you are in the beautiful Finger Lakes! Visit www.pickininthepasture.com for more info.

Sounds fun, also sounds like an advertisement.......

[Beanzy]

It used to be that festivals were the only time you might get to watch your favourite performers in action.
You'd get along to see how they did it, watch their style & technique knowing that would be your only opportunity until the next show.
That's no longer the case and it's a selling point or motivator that the gigs and festivals no longer can rely on. You probably get a better view and can hit rewind in the comfort of your own home without the cost in time & money.

They used to be one of the best opportunities for ogling the instruments, looking for bargains, stocking up on books and LPs with a very real possibility that you may come home having bought or sold one in the heady excitement of the festival.
Now you get to watch and haggle any time you like & can even target the real-life auctions better too by using various online resources.

Those are still important motivators for many people who have experienced them, but they're no longer going to draw good numbers of people who are not already in that mindset. You'll get the grey/no hair folks that way but not draw in the new ones. Every time one of the original motivators is supplanted by our new way of living the ticket price seems less good value.
Festivals are having to adapt to those and many more new realities. Many have done so, but we've lost a few recently. The new ones popping up now all seem much more picking weekend oriented.
Workshops, picking sessions and chances to catch up with your 'festival friends' seem to become more central all the time & they don't carry the same overheads as bringing in more or bigger acts.
So the festival that moves that direction doesn't need the same numbers buying tickets to be viable and doesn't need so many people to organise them. It seems that unless you're one of the big beasts out there who can draw people on reputation and habit, it's a time for swift adaption to survive.

[sbhikes]

I don't go to bluegrass festivals but I do go to the Old Time Fiddler's Convention every year in Goleta. I spend almost the entire time playing in a big jam that includes the people I play with every Wednesday plus random other people. I might walk around now and then to listen to the other jams (there are usually some bluegrass, old-time jazz, zydeco, Irish and others) or to attend a workshop, but I almost never listen to the contests or to the featured performers. I'd rather jam. I always think it's pretty silly I pay money to jam with the people I always jam with, but it's for a good cause and it's a heck of a lot of fun.

[Mandobart]

I don't go to bluegrass festivals but I do go to the Old Time Fiddler's Convention every year in Goleta. I spend almost the entire time playing in a big jam that includes the people I play with every Wednesday plus random other people. I might walk around now and then to listen to the other jams (there are usually some bluegrass, old-time jazz, zydeco, Irish and others) or to attend a workshop, but I almost never listen to the contests or to the featured performers. I'd rather jam. I always think it's pretty silly I pay money to jam with the people I always jam with, but it's for a good cause and it's a heck of a lot of fun.

One of my friends makes the same comment about Wintergrass - we spend 100's of dollars on gas, meals and hotels and drive 4 hours to play with the same people we play with every week...

I love festivals I can camp at - the campground jams are the best. It is difficult for me with a demanding full time job and non-musical family to attend very many festivals.