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Music
fans flock to Winfield for music fest
About 15,000 music lovers, hauling washboards, banjos and other bluegrass
instruments will culminate a weeks-lomg jam session this weekend at
the Walnut Valley Festival.
Each year during the third weekend in September, the festival doubles
the population of Winfield, a town of about 13,000 people in southeast
Kansas. Today through Sunday, 41 performers and bands will take over
four stages at the Cowley County Fairgrounds. But many of the bluegrass
enthusiasts who attend go to jam with other musicians.
“There´s camp jamming all night long every night,” said Nina Williams,
Winfield resident, who works part-time for the Walnut Valley Association.
“Probably the earliest anyone goes to bed is midnight and that is
very early. The campground jamming is what people go for.”
Although the festival officially begins today, Williams said the jam
sessions had been going on for weeks. She said people began lining
up their cars and recreational vehicles Aug. 28 to get their favorite
camp sites.
This tradition of festival-goers staking their claim the week before
the festival beings is called “land rush.” About 1,000 units were
lined up until Sept. 12, when they were allowed on the campgrounds.
“A lot of people will come and put their campers in line and pay their
fines through the city,” Williams said. “Some come and stay the whole
time and live in their vehicles. They are just visiting, playing music
and living.”
As of yesterday, more than 1,500 units had already arrived on the
campgrounds, said Larry Junker, publisher of Walnut Valley Voice,
a newspaper that is distributed during the festival.
“You´re going to see all different kinds of units down here,” Junker
said. “You´re going to see the $250,000 bus and the $50 tent and anything
in between. Some of these people have been lined up for weeks and
maybe a little bit more.”
But for some KU students, classes and tests are delaying their trips
to Winfield.
Both Emily Nelson and Jacob Kellert said they had postponed their
trips until tomorrow because of school obligations.
Nelson, Minneapolis, Minn., senior, is making her second trip to the
festival.
She will meet about 20 friends tomorrow, she said. Most of them will
be using tents throughout the weekend.
“All of my friends play instruments so we just go down and walk around
and jam,” Nelson said.
Kellert, Oklahoma City senior, said although he played the drums,
he would bring a new instrument to the festival.
“I´m thinking about picking up a washboard to learn how to play it,”
he said. “It´s a very open and laid back atmosphere. There will probably
be some old-timers there that´ll be willing to teach me.”
Kellert will be making his first trip, after trying many years.
“My friends and I will have a good time,” he said. “They play kick-ass
bluegrass.”
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