Happy New Year. It is June again. I have attended the CBA Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival for half of our life and consider June the most important month of my blue grass year. My family missed the first decade of festivals (begun before our children were born) and I thankand envy those pioneers who helped develop the vibrant California Bluegrass scene in our State.
I measure each of the festivals by the age of the children who have rotated through our camp. For many years, we camped across from the Kids on Bluegrass site and met many young musicians. Many of those young musicians now play on our main stage and/or teach at our camps or have children participating in our programs. This year two bands formed because of KOB will be performing as California Showcase Bands on our main stage. The Gooding boys (Josh, Jacob, John) who grew up in our Camp and their camping neighbors Jesse Personeni and Jack Kinney are playing with their band, the Blue Js. AJ Lee and Blue Summit (AJ, Jesse Fichman, Sullivan Tuttle, Isaac Cornelius), also camped across the road from us while growing up. These nine musicians are but a few of the many who developed their skill and talent in our Youth Program.
Dana Frankel, Josh Gooding, AJ Lee and Max Schwartz, who all camped within shouting distance of us, are teaching at the Academy. Helen Foley is volunteering with KOB. Others of those young musicians have children now playing in KOB or attending the Academy or grown up enough to also play on stage or jam the nights away under those same trees.
Our camp, like the CBA and the festival, is family friendly. My own grandchildren have picked up instruments and I look forward to the time when they will be jamming in the red dirt of the Nevada County Fairgrounds with their own peers.
This year we will have a designated Teen Jam Space (across the ditch from KOB) available during the daylight hours. Official hours will be posted during the Festival. CBA Teen Ambassador Ida Winfree (North Country Blue and Academy VolunTeen) plans to host this space on Saturday, April 21 at the CBA Spring Campout in Turlock.
Kathleen Rushing welcomes the Toddler to 10 year old crowd (with an adult) at her KidFest activities space during the festival. Check the program for hours. KidFest is situated close to the main stage. KidFest is a free recreational activity with crafts and some music making thrown in.
Kids on Bluegrass “auditions” are held on Thursday at the KOB space near Gate 4. Meet with Director (and CBA Lifetime Member) Frank Solivan and his longtime assistant, Sharon Elliott and sign your musical child up for this free performance activity. Performances during the dinner hour on the main stage on Friday and Saturday are festival highlights for many of us. Watch our future stars develop before your eyes.
The Youth Academy end-of camp performance is held on the Pioneer Stage on Saturday at 3P. This will be the 6th Year of this musical camp. The CBA now produces the Academy under the Directorship of Justin Hiltner. The Academy enrolls four dozen 8-16 year old beginning to intermediate pickers with registration opening in February each year. We have sold out our available spaces each year for this popular event. Many of our Academy “graduates” now perform with KOB or (as in the case of North Country Blue) perform with their bands on the Vern’s Stage!! Other participants will perhaps spend a lifetime picking under the Pines at this festival. The CBA is very proud of this fairly new activity and sees it as an essential element in meeting our mission.
Adults always outnumber kids at our premier event and I invite those of you who have never attended to put the festival on your Bucket List. We are so grateful we discovered the festival and the bluegrass community back in the last century. Come once and you will return again and again.
