WVF 2002:

In keeping with our tradition, we made our annual pilgrimmage to the Walnut Valley Festival, a mecca of acoustic music on the banks of the mighty (tame) Walnut River in Winfield Kansas. I beleive I have attended every festival since moving to Saint Louis except one, that was when Katie was born in 1995. All told I think I have attended 25+ years of the WVF. Going home to Winfield this weekend each year is always a good time, a mixture of great live music and a chance to visit with family.

We drove to Winfield KS after the girls got out of school on Thursday. We left about 3:20pm and arrived in Winfield about 10:40pm after just 2 stops. We even made it the whole way on a single tank of gas.

We attended the Walnut Valley Festival on Friday and Saturday. We noticed the Dan Crary wasn't at this years festival - this may be the first festival he has ever missed. We were very happy to see that Tommy Emmanuel was able to make it back this year. He was unable to attend due to the 9-11 events last year. Katie and I walked back to Grandma and Grandpa's house from the fairgrounds in about 50 minutes.

No trip to Winfield would be complete without a trip to the Burger Station - love those double chili cheese burgers. The burger Station just celebrated it's 50 anniversary and had a nice write-up in the Winfield Daily Courier. Click here to read the article. A little trivia: I deleivered papers for the Courier for 5+ years back in my youth. My paper route included all of Seven Street and the Burger Station was a client. I remember that they were always closed on Mondays.

Highlights of this years festival include:

• Marley's Ghost singing of Amazing Grace accompanied by only the Highland Bagpipes
• acappella singing of a song about New Foundland fisherman by John McCutcheon, Tom Chapin and Michael Mark
• Tommy Emmanuel who somehow managed to play two songs on his guitar at the same time (Yankee Doodle and Dixie)
• all of Tommy Emmanuel's performances
• John McCutcheon singing his new song Ashcroft's Army

On Sunday we ate breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa then left for home. We traveled the northern route through Kansas City to Odessa MO where we had lunch and visited our favorite outlet mall. We arrived home about 6:10pm.

Image Gallery:

All Images Copyright © 2002 Robert P. Anderson
- Click on Image to Enlarge it -

Pic #1 (53K)	Tommy Emmanuel performs on the main stage during the day. A big crowd was on hand and Tommy did not disappoint. He's an awesome guitar player.
Kerry checks on the music on Stage 2 where Tom Chapin was performing. She is fashionably dressed in her tie-dye dress.	Pic #2 (46K)
Pic #3 (66K)	The family relaxes on the hill at Stage 2 between performances. Nice sunny day. - Front Row: Kerry, Mary, Katie - Back Row: Grandpa, Kelly, Beth
John McCutcheon, Tom Chapin and Michael Mark perform during prime time on Stage 1. It is always fun to see them perform together. You never know what's going to happen or who might have writen a new song to share.	Pic #4 (40K)

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