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Many long-time Winfield-goers would tell you: There
was something unmistakably different about 2001's bluegrass festival.
But it wasn't simply the sobriety of an otherwise carefree nation
recently attacked into reality.
It wasn't just the unusually rampant display of patriotism in the
form of U.S. flags,
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One of the night-long jams at the Carp Camp during the 2001
Walnut Valley Festival. The camp hosts a website dave.firestine.com
where sheet music 'homework'
is posted months before the Festival for Carp Campers to practice.
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all at half-mast nearly a week after the Pentagon and World Trade
Center were assaulted by terrorists.
Nor was it the absence of four headliners due to closed airports.
For many people, what was truly different about this year was the
unavoidable awareness of just what role Winfield and its music fill
-- and have filled for 30 years now -- in the lives of the festival's
attendees.
And it wasn't just the long-time Winfield-goers that picked up on
this difference. First-time attendee Penny Fruth felt it immediately.
"This kind of activity, the national exuberance evident in this type
of event, it's just such a contrast to Tuesday (Sept. 11)," said Fruth,
of Claremore, Okla.
"But at the same time, this complements everything, too. This is a
real affirmation of life, the joy of life, that somehow that force
perseveres in spite of all the negative stuff these days.
Walnut Valley Poll ::
Forgive or Retaliate?
At the Mic ::
Carol Behrhorst, Winfield
For five festivals now Carol has conducted an informal
poll. He said in past polls have included "Impeach or
Not," "Keep or lose penny," and "Fluoridate water or Not."
Click
here for free RealPlayer.
Forgive or Retaliate
:: Selected responses
• "forgive·only because I don't want WWIII"
• "it's hard to be a Christian these days·retaliate"
• "blow 'em up"
• "forgive·this has got to stop somewhere"
• "duh·retaliate·is anyone actually saying 'forgive?'
• "who's said forgive? ·bomb their sorry asses'
• "forgiveness is absolute·retaliation takes many
forms"
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"You know, here you see children dancing. There's always children
out dancing. It's just magical to watch them. You realize how grateful
you are for the children."
Grateful
indeed
Winfield was no doubt a welcome respite from the blanket media coverage
of one of America's darkest days. Having lived through that week before
the blue grass festival, Americans of all ages could suddenly sympathize
to some degree with the horror experienced by those who lived through
the bloodier days of this country's past.
By the week's end, many people needed something other than a declaration
of war and revenge.
One of the festival's organizers, Larry Junker, said the general spirit
of American unity so strong after 9.11.01 had always been right there
in Winfield.
"You can just feel that old American spirit here, and I think this
is a source of healing for a lot of people. Music's healing. You know,
music soothes even the savage beast, so (laughs) I suppose it soothes
us, too.
Still, there were those that wanted war and revenge.
Each year Carol Behrhorst polls festival-goers. This year's poll,
he said, elicited some passionate involvement.
Retaliate or forgive, he'd ask passers-by.
"A lot of people say, 'Both' or 'I'd like another option.' Well grey's
too comfortable and this is a black and white world," Behrhorst said.
He said when forced to decide, the responses were overwhelmingly 'retaliate.'
Strange
days
Try as you might to escape that quandary and loose yourself in the
festival -- and this reporter did try -- not-so-subtle reality had
a tendency to creep in.
While recording some of the festival's more uncommon quirks -- a baby
born, a wedding, a woman who suffered a mild heart attack -- I met
Ivaree Cook.
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Ivaree Cook (left) got engaged at this year's festival. However,
her fiance Courtney was deployed with his National Guard unit
before the couple had a chance to celebrate. With Ivaree is
the Carp Camp's helmsman, Dave Firestine.
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She was introduced to me as a 25-year-old who got engaged at the festival
the day before.
"His name is Courtney (Prewitt)," said Cook, who lives in Garden City.
How did he propose?
"He sent a package with me and said to open it when I got here."
So he's not here?
"No, I don't know where he is. He's a 1st Lieutenant in the National
Guard. They were activated Tuesday and mobilized Thursday. I talked
to him last night, but he couldn't tell me much. He couldn't tell
me where he was or when he'd be back."
She said her fiancè was a policeman in Garden City and had
been in ROTC while in school at Washburn.
"Yeah, it's pretty much well, I don't know. It's strange."
Unheard
music
Festival organizers, too, were dealt a different deck than most years
past.
With airports still closed after Tuesday's plane hijackings, four
headlining acts were kept from making their homage to Winfield.
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An impromptu night jam in the middle of one of the festivals
countless streets.
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Marley's Ghost, of California, was caught on tour in Ireland.
Tommy Immanuel was kept at home in Australia.
Red Wine couldn't leave Italy.
And Crow Johnson had friends involved in New York's disaster.
Needless to say, organizers had their hands full filling in those
and other holes in the four-day schedule.
"Very few people are overly upset about certain entertainers not being
here," Junker said. "While they might be disappointed, everyone's
really taken the whole thing in stride."
All 15,000 to 16,000 of 'em, by organizers' estimates. That's up
from last year's festival, but somewhat fewer people than were expected
to attend before Tuesday's atrocity.
Music,
more music and then some
Despite the missing big-name bluegrass musicians, there was still
plenty of quality music. Around the clock. And at every turn.
If you've never been to the Walnut Valley Festival, you're not just
missing the four days of 14+ hours of music on four stages.
You're also missing 'round-the-clock tunes from Stage 5.
And Stage 6. And 7.
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This breakfast costs $4 near stage III.
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You're missing the countless vendors and their handcrafted wares:
banjos, fiddles and autoharps, salsas and jellies, foods and spices,
dried gourds fashioned into lamps and clocks, tye-dyed everythings,
ceramics, candles.
You're missing impromptu parking lot pickin'. You're missing music
emanating from every campsite on the way back to your own. You're
missing being stopped and sincerely asked 'How you doin'?' You're
missing the camaraderie similar to many a festival but very unique
to Winfield.
"There's just nothing else like this," said John Broholm, a professor
at the University of Kansas on his seventh festival.
"The first year I finally came and saw this, and I was like 'Why haven't
I always
come? I'd always known about it and thought it would be nice to come,
but you know it's a ways down there and maybe next year or whatever
the excuse was.
"Now I wouldn't miss it."
Previews of 2001 acts::
 Thirty
years...and pickin' on
A
Pickers' Paradise...and then some
Fragment
brings a chunk of Czech to Kansas
Nickel
Creek flows with fame
David
Mallett among the pilgrims, players
Pete
Huttlinger :: panstyle from classical to jazz
Don
Edwards :: Western Magic
Sons
of the San Joaquin
Stage
V -- Riding The Acoustic Waves For 15 Years
Second
String Project
Pre-Festival
Workshops
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