New CBA Board member Maria Nadauld jumped onto the Board by sending out 1400 letters to “old” CBA members asking them to consider re-joining the CBA. We know that some of those hundreds are no longer with us, some have combined their memberships with new spouses (!) and some have moved out of the area. Membership is VERY important to the CBA. Many people simply do not realize that $25 individual/$30 couple dues are an essential part of our income and allow us to produce our Bluegrass Breakdown and produce events. Our membership numbers are important to our sponsors and advertisers. We are an ALL volunteer, ALL membership based Association and a healthy and large membership is essential to our survival as an organization. We have saved your old membership number for you. Please act as an ambassador to Bluegrass and Old Time Music and ask your friends to join (or renew). Your membership gives you discounts to events and sends the message that you are a fan of California bluegrass. We are a community and every membership counts.
The CBA Youth Academy is 70% filled as of the date I am writing this article. We are so proud of this event and wanted to add an instructional component for kids to our long list of children’s activities at the Father’s Day Festival. Bluegrass Camps for Kids produces the actual four day camp and Director Kate Hamre has years of experience with camps for kids. This is year number three and we know that we will continue to produce instructional camps in the future. If you are interested in enrolling a child please see the ad in this Breakdown and do it soon.
We will cap enrollment at 49 this year. We are serious about producing the next generation of pickers, fans and CBA members. The children who participate in this event learn how to pick and also develop friends for life. I am filled with gratitude to those of you who donate to the Youth Program in order that we may expand our offerings and issue scholarships to families. Thank you.
March 14th is the day scheduled for another (15th Annual) Sonoma County Bluegrass & Folk Festival produced by Mark Hogan for the CBA and the Sonoma County Folk Society in Sebastopol. Mark has another great event planned for attendees. Tickets may be purchased in advance on line with discounts for CBA members. The CBA Board meeting will be held on Sunday at Lagunitas Brewery in Petaluma. We make a weekend of it, the kickoff to festival season, and we hope to see many of you there.
The CBA website will finally be reprogrammed. We have been operating with 15 year old programming and this update has been a long time in coming. Not only does our website and e-Commerce live on our site, much of our Administrative records also are stored on the site: membership, volunteer data bases, etc. This is a huge upgrade and one which the Board has been considering for a long time. We are so grateful to Rick Cornish who envisioned our web presence 15 years ago and who has spent hours each day updating our visible site, our website www.cbaontheweb.org. We will have a new look and Rick has asked for input.
Advance ticket sales for the 40th Annual Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival are brisk. The week we take over the Nevada County Fairgrounds is jam packed with events: the CBA Music Camp which starts Sunday, the CBA Youth Academy which starts Wednesday and the festival which begins on Thursday. Many come up and camp for the entire week and immerse themselves in the music and the community. The Fairgrounds are beautiful, stores are close by in Grass Valley, the Nevada County area is perfect for day trips and recreation. We encourage you to consider making a week of it, we do. Father’s Day occurs later in June this year and most schools will be closed for the summer. We are already looking forward to a magical week under the pines.
