New
Book Tells the History and Lore of Walnut Valley Festival
Winfield,
KS
Thanks
to Seth Bate, fans of the Walnut Valley Festival (WVF) in Winfield, KS, can now
discover for themselves much of the untold history and hidden lore of this
annual event. Bate, who moved to Winfield for college, attended the festival
and has been a devoted fan ever since. Aside from his examination of the
festival’s early years and what distinguishes it from other music festivals, Winfield’s
Walnut Valley Festival includes reflections from entertainers, staff and
crew, as well as campers and fans. Published by the History Press, it also has
over 100 images, most drawn from WVF archives, and one appendix providing
significant festival milestones and a second providing a listing of all the
artists who have played at Winfield over its 50-year history.
Seth
Bate: “I moved to Kansas in 1989 to attend Southwestern College in Winfield. I
fell in love with a Kansas farm girl, Jenny, and have made Winfield my home. I
started working as a WVF emcee and stage manager in the late 1990s, and a few
years later Jenny and I took over managing the Wednesday Workshops—hands-on
workshops that give participants the opportunity to learn directly from
festival artists. In addition to my own love for the festival, I married into a
family connection. Jenny’s dad, Joe Muret, was one of the three founding
members of the Walnut Valley Festival. Joe ended his association with the
festival in the early 1980s, but he and his wife, Christie, are still a great
source of stories about the early days.”
Bate
enjoyed the festival so much that he picked it as a topic for his master’s
thesis, which focused on the challenges faced by the organizers of a ‘raucous’
music festival in in a fairly conservative Kansas town. When WVF Executive
Director Bart Redford read the thesis, he promptly dubbed Bate the ‘official
Walnut Valley Festival Historian.’
The
book includes reflections by festival staff, emcees, performers, campers and
fans. The list of contributors, aside from Bate’s substantive portions on the
early history and feel of the festival, includes Dan Crary, Beppe Gambetta,
John McCutcheon, Leo Eilts, Linda Tilton, Orin Friesen, Sam Ontjes, Wayne
Steadham, Janine & Edward Foster, Karen Deal, Russell and Sherry Brace, Tim
Sidebottom, Larry Junker, Greg Smyer, Kendra Redford and Bart Redford.
Seth
Bate: “When we started talking about turning my thesis into a book, the easy
thing would have been to just condense what I had written and add some of the
festival’s amazing collection of photos. Bart and his team wisely suggested
something more collaborative, reflecting the Winfield spirit. We collected
contributions from a wide variety of artists, festival staff, crew members and
campers. I think the result benefits from the variety of viewpoints, the
different ways that people see the festival, based on their own experiences.”
The
book is available for purchase at the Walnut Valley Festival office, 918 Main
Street, Winfield, KS, or on the festival website, wvfest.com (under Tix and
Merchandise). It will also be available for purchase at the 50th Walnut
Valley Festival, September 14-18, at the Mercantile.
