Building a bluegrass festival is harder and more complex than most people imagine. For most promoters, a festival is a year round job that they must fit in between their real job and all their other obligations. Booking, organizing volunteers,developing a site, ordering materials, contracting with vendors, arranging printing of programs, doing publicity, and many more tasks take place throughout the year's runup to a three or four day festival. Our job as volunteers began on Monday, when we drove up to Tunbridge, VT to discover that the grounds where the newly re-located Jenny Brook Family Bluegrass Festival would be held on the ironically named Tunbridge World's Fair Grounds were still in use by a horse show sponsored by 4-H.
The Tunbridge World's Fair takes place in the tiny village of
Tunbridge, VT, but is a major event for the community, which takes huge and justified pride it. The fair grounds have a full-time staff of five who have gone out of their way to make Jenny Brook welcome and help it be a success in its new location. From the moment we arrived, it was obvious that the staff and board of directors were fully behind the effort.
Grounds Manager Cliff Goewey and Board Member Bill Danforth
The Jenny Brook stage had been dismantled and moved from it's former home in Weston, VT and reassembled on the grounds. It sat in a large barn, ready to be moved on its site for the festival.
Promoter Candi Sawyer and her husband Seth arrived and were happy to see that a couple of golf carts had been provided to help them move easily around the spacious grounds.
Candi & Seth Sawyer
The Stage Continues its Move
Kenny Whiton - Volunteer
Lonnie Mathews - Candi's Dad
The Tents Arrive
...and Rise
Vendors Begin Set-up
George Collins - Volunteer
Volunteers Need Breaks Too
While the Site is Shaping Up
Sign Construction at 10:00 P.M.
What a beautiful setting for a bluegrass festival, Ted. You're killin' me. I sure wish I were there.
ReplyDeleteDitto for Sam's comment. It's also good to be reminded that these things which we all enjoy so much don't drop full blown out of the sky! Folks like you and the other volunteers really make it happen. Now the music can begin!
ReplyDeleteYou've gotten really good at this! I always enjoy your accounts. I will check out Follett too.
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