Walnut Valley Festival Missing Former Grounds Director
Winfield, Kansas—When Walnut
Valley Festival begins this year, organizers, vendors, and patrons will be
missing a special guy--long-time Grounds Director Rick Meyer. Meyer, who had
directed setup, operations, and teardown of the event, passed away September
30, 2023, just after last year’s festival.
Executive Director Bart Redford:
“Rick Meyer was involved in so many organizations in town that he was often
called Mr. Winfield, and his leadership helped to make this a better community
for all. He had a way of coming up with practical solutions to complex
problems, often in the midst of a crisis, and his dry wit lifted spirts in good
times and bad.”
The City of Winfield, Cowley
County Fair Board, and Walnut Valley Festival are working together to create a
permanent stage at the Winfield Fairgrounds, with a plaque recognizing Meyer’s
contributions to Winfield. Cost of the project will be shared between the three
organizations, and an accompanying public fund drive will supplement their
contributions.
Walnut Valley Festival will be
collecting contributions on grounds during festival, and will be raffling off
an autographed copy of last year’s poster in order to raise funds for the
project. All contributions will be tax-deductible and can be made through an
online payment portal found at https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/a53b43092b42402fa0a8a9c80ea9c632/page/Page/?views=Renderings or by check to the City of Winfield at PO BOX 646,
Winfield, KS 67156. The project is planned to be completed and in place July
2025. Agora Architecture of Winfield provided stage concept rendering images.
