Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival - Winfield, KS

So I didn't head West from Cheney Lake. The  day that the exhaust manifold gasket was repaired, I left for the big bluegrass festival in Winfield. I had been playing music from a book I'd picked up years ago called, "Winfield Winners". I knew that the book came from the National Bluegrass Championships held in Winfield, but I came to know that I was now only 50 miles from that city, and that this year's championships were the following weekend from a poster I spotted in a window in Wichita. The pull to the South was too great. The festival itself advertised "The Greencards", and "Kenny and Amanda Smith Band".  Both are favorites of mine whom I've seen a couple of times in Florida. And here they were. The Greencards put on a couple of moving shows, playing pieces from their new album, "Sweetheart of the Sun", as well as their old hits I've listened to for years. Kenny Smith also played with a new band, the Rambling Rooks, and with his wife Amanda expecting, I can see him doing some great new tours with this new band. Don Rigsby plays mandolin with him and his reputation and experience is very strong. Several other acts were noteworthy. I hope to post the pictures and identify the other acts as time permits.

Of interest was the crowd that camped in a more remote area of the park. I kept referring to this area as the, "Netherworld", but that could be a little harsh. In reality, this was a place where predominantly young people could camp and perform and express themselves with impunity. It was patrolled and monitored well, but the people there were happy in that area of the park, seeming to ignore the rest of the music being performed.

There were several  interesting people that I met at the campgrounds. Two different ham radio operators had great stories to tell. Gary, who helped get me a nice corner RV site right near him introduced me to SOTA, Summits on the Air. This group of ham operators carry mobile radios to mountain tops and make contacts with hams listening for them in the towns nearby. Points are accumulated by either making the hike and the contact, (the initiator), or by listening for the hiker, (the receiver). A website handles all of the accumulated contacts. Gary said that he and his wife were ranked number 2 and 10 in the world respectively. I witnessed him making a contact as a reciever on the mobile unit in his car, (the same FT857D rig I left at home). I learned a couple of tricks that the radio has up its sleeve.

Another ham, (Call Sign         ), told me his emergency management experience with a local television station in Kansas City. His initiative to bring ham radio and Skywarn into the local television broadcast community brought a great deal of recognition. The development of relations between the National Weather Service, Amatuer Radio, and local TV was the beginning of a nationwide effort to establish life-saving communications accross the country.

Event pictures to follow...