User:Mlarmon2/Telluride Bluegrass Festival notes

The Telluride Bluegrass Festival is a four day long music festival that is held annually in Telluride, Colorado hosted by Planet Bluegrass. Although traditionally the festival focuses on bluegrass music, it also includes several different genres. In 1974, its first year, it attracted 1000 participants. That year it was organized by a local band named Fall Creek who used this festival to successfully recruit the innovative bluegrass band New Grass Revival and subsequent band member,Sam Bush. The festival evolved and the festival's attendance has capped at 10,000 people. Ten thousand is a relatively small number for a music festival, but when considering the intimate venue and town it takes place in, it is plenty and provides a unique, intimate atmosphere of camaraderie, proven in the organized pot luck dinner and multiple family events. The festival takes place in the Town Park and has several different stages with constant music going for the four day duration. There is camping available right next to the festival as well as in neighboring towns, along with other accommodations.

2009 main stage

History

Telluride, CO is a small mountain town in the middle of the San Juan Mountains which used to be mainly known for its winters and ski slopes. The summer was desolate except for a Fourth of July celebration that started in 1899 and continued to grow until 1973, when the residents wanted to scale it down to just one day and have it be more family orientated. This was indeed the case for the 1973 Fourth of July celebration, and it included one more new element, a bluegrass band called Fall Creek. The original band members at the time were Fred Shellman, Kooster McAllister, John “Picker” Herndon and J.B. Matteoti. Afterwards, that Fall, the members of the band attended the 2nd Annual Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. This is where they saw the band New Grass Revival play and became inspired to have a music festival of their own. New Grass Revival played on their traditional instruments but in an electrified way. The members of Fall Creek claim that having a festival that may one day attract bands like this was the inspiration and goal. According to an article by Charlotte Bell, one of the band members, Kooster, said that they put on the festival without much planning. This ended up working to their advantage because they did not know they had to have enough money to pay the bands beforehand, which they couldn't do. Since they didn't think the details through and just hosted the festival, they didn't realize all the reasons they shouldn't, so the festival went on and was a success.

This first festival occurred on July 6, 1974 as part of the July 4th celebration. There were about 1,000 people in attendance and the one small stage was made of scrap wood. The most monumental thing that happened for the Fall Creek organizers is that a man named Steve Dahl, who was working for Stone County Booking Company, spoke to Kooster and helped him get into contact with the manager of the beloved New Grass Revival. This national act asked for $1,200 as their price to play at the next year's festival. Kooster accepted, even though at the time did not have that kind of money to offer, and this is when Fall Creek became High Country Concerts, the producers of Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

The next year was 1975 and the festival got its very own weekend, the week before the 4th of July celebration. Local groups played on Friday and the out-of-town bands played on Saturday. There were now 3,000 people in attendance. The main member at the time of New Grass Revival, Sam Bush is noted remembering the simplicity of the town,festival, and the people in charge.

By 1977, the festival had expanded to three days and there were even more nationally known artists performing. The significance of this year would be the origination of the tradition that still holds today of the "all-star jams." This included more than a dozen artists on stage at once from varying bands playing together.

The next year was 1978 and the attendance was up to 7,500 people. They recorded the first live performance tracks dubbed Tellulive. It was also a start of another tradition of having the popular band Hot Rize play. This tradition persisted until 1990, but the band still makes appearances for reunion shows from time to time.

In 1988 the final expansion was made and the festival became four days packed with music. The Telluride Festival Company was formed in Boulder and they continue to steward the Festival.

Bell notes the patrons' opinions of the festival that overall the festival has remained unconventional with the relaxed feel of it and the inclusion of non-bluegrass bands that have attended throughout the years. The music is often undefinable, which some criticize the festival for but most praise.

Details for Attendees of the Festival

Tickets

There is an option of four day passes which for the 2011 festival are priced at $155. This is labeled as the holiday price and tends to go up as the festival gets closer. Day passes are also made available, but will not be available to purchase until the spring time.

Camping

The main option for festival accommodations is Camping. There are several sites offered in order to get the full festival camaraderie experience. The sites range from 0-7 miles from the festival grounds.For all campsites four day passes are required. The closest are The Town Park and Warner Fields Campgrounds which are right next to the festival grounds and sell out the quickest. Then there is the High School Campgrounds which are on the edge of the little town and provide a more quiet atmosphere. The other two are are just west of town and made accessible by free shuttle buses. The names of these are Lawson Hill Campground and RV camping and Mary E. Ilium campground.

According to interviews done by Charlotte Bell, a true example of the festival camaraderie and community is the appointed mayor of Town Park called "Telluride Tom". He is an unofficial volunteer for Planet Bluegrass and helps around the campsites in whatever people need. He is a humble guy who organizes a pot luck dinner in the campsite area the night before the festival begins, He was officially made mayor or Town Park in 2000 where the festival heads gave him free passes for the campgrounds and festival for life.

Green Action

Planet Bluegrass is making sure to try and do their part to make their festival as environmentally friendly as possible. It takes a lot of resources and energy to put on a music festival of any kind. They have hundreds of volunteers to help out with reducing this festival's carbon footprint. The simple solutions that are done during the festival is that they provide free filtered water and also waste reduction incentives along with certain mandates that cut down on plastic bottles and other trash. The more complex solutions that Planet Bluegrass spends significant funds on are purchasing carbon credits to balance the greenhouses gases produced from traveling to and from Telluride. They also buy renewable energy credits to support wind farms and offset their electricity consumption.

The 2011 festival they are offsetting 100% of the emissions created by the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

Initial 2011 Festival Line-up

This is the list of the Bands that will be in attendance of the 2011 Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Many of these bands are returning from past years and others will be performing at the festival for the first time.

Telluride House Band featuring Sam, Béla, Jerry, Edgar, Bryan & Stuart and...

Robert Plant & Band of Joy

Sam Bush Band

Béla Fleck & the Original Flecktones

Emmylou Harris

Yonder Mountain String Band

The Decemberists

Railroad Earth

Tim O'Brien Band

Edgar Meyer

Punch Brothers

Peter Rowan

Emmitt-Nershi Band

Tim O'Brien & Kevin Burke

The Infamous Stringdusters

Cornmeal

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper

Trampled by Turtles

Nora Jane Struthers & the Bootleggers

And many, many more still to be announced throughout the Spring of 2011...