Renewed Interest
 I believe that
most seasoned bluegrass festival-goers will agree that after
you have attended the same festival for several years, the anticipation
of seeing old friends from far away sooner or later outweighs
just looking forward to the music. In other words, the festival
takes on the character of a family reunion. That happened to
my wife and I at Bean Blossom. Of course, some of these friends
included Bill Monroe, Kenny Baker, Wayne Lewis, Roland White,
and many of the other Blue Grass Boys. Curly Ray Cline was a
"regular" at our campfire late at night after the shows
concluded for the day. But far outnumbering the performers who
would stop by, were the regular fans - friends from all walks
of life and from all over the United States and many parts of
the world. Sadly, father time is taking his toll, and many of
these Bean Blossom friends have passed on to a greater festival,
and our yearly trek to the June festival was becoming in some
ways a painful experience.
Then the phone rang last March and Ailene,
my wife, answered. At first, she didn't recognize the voice -
until it said, "this is Dwight Dillman and I bought Bean
Blossom". Having known Dwight since the days that he played
with the Blue Grass Boys and the Sunny Mountain Boys, we were
delighted to hear the news, in view of his extablished reputation
as a successful businessman and his enthusiasm for bluegrass
music.
So now the trips to Bean Blossom involve
another type of anticipation - that of seeing the festival grow
and prosper and improve each year until it takes its rightful
place as the proud living memorial to Bill Monroe that it should
become - a mecca for bluegrass fans - where the memories of those
now gone, performers and fans alike, will live on in the beautiful
hills of Brown County and where the memories of future generations
will contunue the process.
Jim Peva
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