The 2nd Annual CNYBA Bluegrass Festival at the LaFayette, NY Apple Festival grounds was phenomenal! The 4-day weekend started with an "Open Mic" on Thursday night, which introduced us to several new bluegrass groups, including Leather Stocking who entertained for quite a while.
Friday was another eventful evening with a GREAT line-up of entertainers: Mountain Music (formerly Flint & Russell), Bill and Maggie, Low Profile, Andy Pawlenko and the Smokey Hollow Boys, The Central NY Fiddlers (on stage as well as square dancing), and OneSong. Although one of our scheduled bands was delayed out-of-state with a broken down bus, our other exceptional bands filled in for a full evening of bluegrass music. On Saturday, with perfect temperatures, sun shining and a slight breeze blowing on many, many bluegrass lovers, the festival was fantastic. Pleasure was experienced by all who attended and all the bands that played did a great job. Additional bands, including Friday night's entertainment were--Homestead Bluegrass, Stump Hollow Bluegrass, Haldimand County Line, and the Carolina Rebels (who were delayed on Friday). Our Emcees, Vernon Loucks, Ed kCampbell, John Wilmot, Farmer Brown and Dee Skellington of WSCP did a super job throughout the entire festival.
A certificate of appreciation was presented by Ed Campbell, President of CNYBA, to Robert Sykes from Elbridge, who donated all the lunber for our new stage. With the purchase of additional supplies and the carpenter-craftsmanship of several members, and working for many weeks in all types of weather, our new stage was completed in time for our 2nd Annual CNYBA festival. A GREAT job well done, men!
A plaque was presented to Vernon and Olive Loucks for their monetary donation to CNYBA and their continuous support throughout the years.
John Wilmot introduced Senator John DeFrancisco, 49th district, Syracuse, a celebrity guest who was asked to judge our Youth Talent Contest. This contest, inspired by John Wilmot, is a formula for keeping bluegrass music alive in the future. Senator DeFrancisco was presented with a commemorative 2nd Annual CNYBA bluegrass festival t-shirt. After both contestants--Laura Orshaw from Pennsylvania who played two tunes on her fiddle and Pam Duger from Elbridge, NY clog danced, the Senator declared both contestants winners and each were presented with a CNYBA t-shirt and a monetary prize which had been donated by Maryan VanDusen. Kristen Lieser from Washington DC, who was a first time visiter to our festival, donated additional prize money tothe contestants. Thank you to all who were involved.
Senator DeFrancisco was also thanked for the $700 mini-grant to us, donated through his office. The partial sponsoring of a band was made possible with funds from New York State office of Parks, Recreation and Historical Preservation, Senator John DeFrancisco Arts and Cultural Presenting Program, of the Cultural Resources Council.
Helen Weldon, Vice-President of CNYBA, introduced Frank "Bill" Szabo who had donated a monetary amount to CNYBA in memory of his late friend Irene Thurston the "Clogging Grandmother". From this donation, plaques have been awarded to deserving members of CNYBA. This year, Frank presented plaques to two members---Ed Campbell, present President of CNYBA who, over several years of membership has made many contributions of time, service and money to CNYBA. The second plaque was awarded to Mary Carr who has been an avid supporter of CNYBA since its onset. Thanks and congratulations to you all.
Also, Ed Campbell, President of CNYBA, made a public apology to Helen Weldon for a remark made by him that caused Helen to stop writing her Ramblin' column for our monthly newsletter. His remark was not intended as perceived - apology was accepted - look for Helen's Ramblin' in September's newsletter.
Also, thanks to Ron and Betty Gardner for the queen-sized quilt and two matching pillows that they raffled off at our festival.
Sunday, our Gospel Day, where many expressions of faith were presented by our bands, closed out our festival for another year.
Many, many thanks to John VanDusen for being chairperson of our festival, and many thanks to all who worked so very hard to make it possible. Also, thank you to Jordan Flint, Ed Campbell and Carl Stump for sponsoring a band. Without ALL of you, there would not have been a festival. Special thanks to all who attended and made
our festival a success. What a wonderful event we had!!!Watch our website, www.cnyba.com, and the newspapers and tv/radio and our newsletter for details of our 3rd Annual CNYBA Bluegrass Festival to be held August 2,3,4,&5 in 2001.
Written by Thayle Phair,Secretary/Editor CNYBA
