Crowds from all across California enjoyed the plunkin’ and
strummin’ of banjos, guitars and mandolins at the first Gilroy
Bluegrass Festival held last weekend at the Casa de Fruta.
The three-day event attracted many of the best bluegrass music
performers in the nation, including Dale Ann Bradley of Kentucky,
one of the art form’s top stars.
Crowds from all across California enjoyed the plunkin’ and strummin’ of banjos, guitars and mandolins at the first Gilroy Bluegrass Festival held last weekend at the Casa de Fruta.
The three-day event attracted many of the best bluegrass music performers in the nation, including Dale Ann Bradley of Kentucky, one of the art form’s top stars.
“Everyone, including the artists, said this was the best festival they’ve ever been to, and they said, ‘I’m not kidding,'” said Lora
Hicks, a San Benito County resident who co-organized the festival with Gilroy resident Mike McKinley. Hicks also serves as the president of the Northern California Bluegrass Society.
She estimated just under 1,000 people attended the event on Saturday, which was the peak day of the festival.
“There was a lot of people in there Saturday night,” she said. “I did pretty good off the gate, but I haven’t looked at the registrars (yet).”
The tranquil location along Pacheco Pass north of Hollister – combined with the top-notch caliber of musicians – helped create a fun and relaxing atmosphere for visitors, she said.
“It’s a really beautiful site, and I think we had a really great line up,” Hicks said.
Bluegrass music has its origins with the Scot-Irish settlers of the Appalachian Mountains region on the East Coast. The folksy songs – many with a humorous twist – evolved over the years, and grew popular when radio became wide-spread in the 1930s. Performer Bill Monroe really helped to establish it as a popular form of American music during this period.
Among the many bluegrass music lovers who attended the event were Fresno residents Mary Ellen and Gerald Johnston. The Johnstons put on their own King River Bluegrass Festival every September. Gerald said that considering this was its very first year, he felt impressed by the high quality of music performed at Gilroy’s festival.
“I grew up around it,” Gerald said of his childhood in the West Virginia-Ohio region. “It’s all blue grass, but we didn’t call it ‘bluegrass.’ To us, it was just pickin’ and singin’.”
Mary Ellen explained how many bluegrass lovers enjoy traveling from festival to festival in their recreational vehicles and campers. Retired people especially, flock together as “snow birds” as they camp at the festival grounds, creating a gypsy-like community of friends.
“It’s good clean family fun,” she said. “All of them old-timers follow these festivals. Everybody watches out for everyone. There’s no funny stuff – it’s not allowed.”
The Gilroy Bluegrass Festival got its start about a year ago when Kirsten Carr, the executive director of the Gilroy Visitors Bureau, approached Hicks and McKinley with a proposal to establish the music event.
“I thought it would be a great thing to have a bluegrass festival,” Carr said. “We helped them with their press (exposure) and kind of hooked them up with the representatives of Casa de Fruta.”
Carr did not attend this year’s event because she said she was out of town. But she believes the South Valley offers bluegrass festival goers an opportunity to enjoy their music in a beautiful region of California.
“We are in the perfect location to have more events like that,” she said. “We have a great climate, we have a wonderful community. And it gives people a good reason to come to town and camp here.”
She hopes the festival will take place again next year. “I think it’s going to be a very successful festival in the future,” she said.
Besides the Gilroy Visitors Bureau, other festival sponsors were the Northern California Bluegrass Society, Casa de Fruta, and Santa Cruz-based radio station KPIG (107.5 FM). Gavilan Community College’s CMAP videotaped performances and plans to broadcast the shows over the local cable channels in the near future.
Based on this year’s success and responses from performers and visitors, Hicks expects the festival will become an annual event. “We’d like to do it next year. I think it’s a beautiful venue out at Casa de Fruta and I can see it growing in years to come,” she said.
“That whole camping scene – being with your friends, getting out and jamming and all – that’s really what the festival experience is all about it,” she said. It’s like a big slumber party… I’m going to do this again because I think we have something very magical.”
Hicks spent much of her own funds to put on this year’s festival. To help pay for her expenses, she plans to hold several events at Christmas Hill Park where bluegrass bands might perform. “I’m not too proud to say I’m planning some fundraisers to pay for the expensive party I threw last weekend,” she said with a laugh.
Co-organizer Mike McKinley played the mandolin with his local band Harmony Grits at the festival. The event drew in families by having special music and attractions designed to appeal to children, he said.
The Sempervirons Outdoor School based in Boulder Creek provided a special children’s area where youngsters could learn about animals and the natural sciences. A small petting zoo allowed children personal contact with animals.
“They got baby goats and chickens and such,” he said.
Face painting, art, magic acts and puppet shows also entertained children, he said.
Banjo player Jami Lampkins of Las Vegas said she really enjoyed the family atmosphere of the Gilroy Bluegrass Festival. Lampkins performed for festival crowds in a band called Brothers Barton with Overdrive.
She said she enjoyed the sunny climate and the friendly faces of bluegrass music lovers at Casa de Fruta.
“They’ve got all the elements they need here,” she said. “It’s a beautiful area.”
