To the best of my knowledge, we were one of the first, if not the first, organized camping groups to rent and bring a "Big Top" to Winfield. We did this in 1986 after the "Winfield Flood of '85" which Mike Cross wrote a song about. We were new to the West campground, and hosting a jam area which featured hot coffee, shade and protection from the wind and rain seemed like a good way to make new friends and attract some of the monster pickers we wanted to get to know. I still have the group picture from the original crew. There were nine of us. One has passed away, four no longer camp with us. The still-active members of that original group are me, my wife and my brother and his wife. Again, the evolving thing.

As a group, we've always tried to conduct ourselves in a manner which is in the best interests of the festival. Who remembers when the deafening roar of the Power Plant precluded any jams from happening AT ALL during the day? One of the things we accomplished of which I'm most proud is the part we played in negotiating the deal which has kept the power plant from being fired up during the festival for the last several years. We formed a committee and arranged a meeting with the Winfield City Manager which, coupled with the ongoing efforts of festival staff, resulted in removing that nuisance from our Festival experience, hopefully forever.

Some of you may remember an open letter I wrote which was printed in the Walnut Valley Occasional a few years ago about Stage 6 and what we hoped to accomplish as a group. I probably have a copy of that letter someplace, but the salient points are the same: Our aim is to provide the most hospitable jam area we can so as to attract players and anyone else who wants to participate. At any given time, there are 50-60 people in our group who contribute to the cost of renting the big tent, buying the coffee and the various other beverages which are shared between us and our guests. We also purchase a camping permit and electrical permit for our big top; largely a ceremonial gesture, because our 20' X 30' tent certainly takes up more than one spot. Every year, we add a few people and lose a few. This year, we had about 20 of our number in Land Rush, and we still got invaded. Stage 6 was literally divided in half by some poor souls who were displaced from their traditional campground across the road from us. They meant no harm, and we worked around it, but if you visited Stage 6 this year you will have noticed that we were jammed in there like sardines. Frankly, it was probably an unsafe situation which may well have contributed to the injury suffered by one of our members. I guess we were trying to squeeze too many people into too small a space, but that's nobody's fault but ours.

I have offered to move Stage Six on more than one occasion. We don't care where we camp, although I'll admit to having grown fond of our little piece of real estate in spite of the fact that, until recently, there were no trees. (Our old spot was under the giant Cottonwood trees to our south and west.) We try to take care of each other. We just want to be together so that we can continue to age as gracefully as possible and to watch each other's kids grow up. The Walnut Valley Festival has taken the position that an effort should be made to keep us where we are, so they tape a small area for us, like Stage 5 and a few other areas, so that we have a fighting chance of keeping our group together in the same approximate spot.

I love the Walnut Valley Festival so much that I'm trying to re-create that experience here in the Kansas City area. But it's important to remember that the Walnut Valley Festival is still growing, still changing, still evolving. That's what's so great about it. I'm just a Pecan Grove Hippie who has spent the last twenty-odd years growing up with the Festival. I joke about the fact that I've gotten larger. Everything about my life has gotten larger including the camper I sleep in. Bigger bodies, bigger campers, bigger and more potties, new stages, fire lanes, big tops. All of this bigger and better stuff takes up more room and something is going to have to give way to accommodate it.