Festival wins world honor
By CORY TEUBNERIt is official.
Winfield's Walnut Valley Festival was recognized Thursday as the top bluegrass event of 1999 - in the world.
The International Bluegrass Music Association handed festival originator/owner Bob Redford the first Best Bluegrass Event of the Year award Thursday afternoon at an IBMA special awards luncheon.
"It's a very prestigous award," Redford's wife, Kendra, said this morning.
WVF spokesperson Paulette Rush said WVF staffers did not know in advance the Winfield festival would bring home the honor. "It was sort of a surprise," she said.
Kendra Redford agreed. She said contacts at the trade show told her Bob was struck speechless when he received the award.
According to Redford, this year's award was special because it had never been given before. "For us to be the first recipient really means something," she said.
The announcement came during the 10th annual IBMA Trade Show that brought bluegrass promoters, performers and fans together in Louisville, Ky. This week-long event is set up to recognize various aspects of the bluegrass industry, from recording to radio broadcasting, IBMA Special Projects Chairperson Nancy Cardwell said.
Cardwell said festivals like Winfield's are deserving of special recognition and have been for a long time. She extolled promoters like Redford. The new award was conceived "to recognize the efforts of promoters and the folks who put festivals together," she said. "Mr. Redford is certainly a good example."
Earlier this week a statement from the Walnut Valley Association revealed that the Winfield festival was one of three left in a pool of nominees drawn from more than 500 bluegrass gatherings worldwide. The other two finalists up for the award were the Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival in Grass Valley, Calif., and the Bill Monroe Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival in Bean Blossom, Ind.
"We feel it's a real privilege just to be nominated for this award," Rush said earlier this week.
To be eligible, a bluegrass event had to be recommended early in the year by way of a written nomination. A four-person IBMA committee reviewed the nominations and eventually selected the Walnut Valley Festival.
© 1999, Winfield Courier
