8A
HILLTOPICS
WWW.KANSAN.COM/FEATURES
TALK TO US: Contact Amanda Begin at (785) 864-4810 or features@kansan.com
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17,2001
The band Shenanigans performs at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield. Combining celtic music and more modern arrangements, the group performed Friday in Winfield.
Bluegrass Bonanza
People from different walks of life convene in Winfield to meet old friends and enjoy a weekend of music
Story and photos by Leita Schultes
WINFIELD — They come in vans and trucks. They sleep in tents and campers. They eat turkey legs and funnel cakes. And they all come to listen to the music and relax for a few days.
Every year in mid-September, thousands of fans converge here for the Walnut Valley Festival. And most come back to the festival that is going on its 30th year.
Nancy Wilcox, Winfield senior,
has been going to the bluegrass
festival for 18 years and said she
attended with her parents at first.
"Until I was about 15 or 16 and discovered the campgrounds," she said.
Exactly what there was to "discover" in those campgrounds, she didn't say.
"Fun that lasted a lot longer
than the 12 hours allotted by the festival itself," she laughed.
Kaitlin O'Brien, 5, and her mom, Dee, listen to bluegrass in Win field. The two drove from Kansas City, Mo., to enjoy the music.
She knew of several other University of Kansas students at the festival and said it was a way to get away for a weekend, forget classes and leave Lawrence behind.
"It is a subculture that you feel privileged to be a part of," she said.
A celebration for all types
Old and young, men and women,
bearded and clean-shaven — all
had paid up to $70 a piece to be at
the Cowley County Fairgrounds
for the four-day festival.
"We generally have a preference of who we want to hear," Emery Turner said. "We follow our preferences."
Richard White, a middle-aged man from Bethany, Okla., has been coming to the festival since 1984. His friend Joe Perrigo is a Winfield resident who was at the first festival 30 years ago.
But it's not a subculture only open to college students.
Emery and Shirley Turner, an elderly couple from Salina, have been coming to the festival for 12 years — and said they planned to continue as long as they could.
He said he usually listened at one stage until he was "saturated" and then moved around to listen to favorite bands. Each of the four official stages has its own feel, he said.
"And shade," his wife added. "I need shade."
"Hekeptencouragingus that we ought to do this, and we did it," White said.
Stage No. 3 is his favorite because there is a pecan tree to sit under.
"One year there was a squirrel eating acorns and dropping the seeds on my new Winfield shirt," he said. "It still has the stains on it."
Perrigochimed in, remembering
the first Walnut Valley Festival, which was put on by the students of Southwestern College.
"It was a nice performance, but this is so much more expansive," he said. "The first one was local talent."
Now, musicians head here from California, Virginia, Kansas City, Australia — even the Czech Republic.
"This is our family, and every one comes back to meet their fami ly once a year." Perrigo said.
The hidden festival
Spend five minutes at the Walnut Valley Festival information booth, and one question comes up over and over.
"Do you have any guitar picks?"
"Any more free picks?"
"Are there picks again this year?"
It's the best illustration of a festival where not all the performers are on stage.
There are dozens of performances during the day on four official stages. And the music encompasses bluegrass folk, country blues, swing, Celtic tunes and anything else that people playing acoustic instruments such as the guitar, fiddle and banjo can devise.
But most people sitting on the ground and in lawn chairs watching those performances will say the real festival starts after 9 p.m. at jam sessions in the campgrounds.
"That's where the bonding takes place," Perrigo said.
"There's a lot of good music by plain old folks." White added.
White himself plays the harmonica and Indian flute.
And Perrigo — well, he plays a total of 13 instruments including the autoharp, banjo, guitar, dulcimer and harmonica.
"The thing about Richard, he's always wanted to be a musician," Perrigo joked. "He bought a dulcimer. His wife went out and bought him a banjo. And they end up giving them to me."
There's every level of skill, Perligo said. "We're all included."
A different mood
But not the entire festival was fun-filled. At noon on Friday, the music stopped and everyone paused for a moment of silence to remember the victims of last
The two men stay late into the night playing their instruments.
A flag that once flew over the U.S. capitol was one of many at the Walnut Valley Festival. Those attending the festival on Friday said it was more somber than usual as a result of last week's terrorist
"Midnight is too early," White said. "A good night is two or three, and we're tamer than we used to be. A lot of people don't sleep at all."
week's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
The attack took its toll on the festival, just as it did on the rest of the country.
"It doesn't feel as joyous and carefree," White said. "There's kind of a big cloud over it for me. It took some decision on whether to even come."
But American flags hanging from treelets and from poles in truck beds showed the festival was also a way to cope.
Wilcox suggested a more patriotic town couldn't be found.
"It's a little more somber, but I think people are really here for each other," she said.
Perrigo agreed the festival was a healing process.
being together is healing because we're with people that we love and share with," he said.
So despite the tragedy of last week, most people were able to maintain high spirits.
Inga Omdot, a 16-year-old from St. Marys, was at the festival with her family, the members of which comprise a band named HuskerDu Familie.
It was her first time in Winfield, but she has been to other bluegrass festivals and said she came for one reason and one reason only.
"Just like everybody else who comes down here, to play their hearts out," she said.
Her 18-year-old sister, Greta, said she loved the friendliness of the fans and learning from people from all over the world.
"This is truly an amazing place," Greta Omodt said. "And all festivals have the same aurea."
Contact Schuites at 864-4854
---