Page 20 – Lovely County Citizen – October 25, 2012
Hippie at heart Kristal Kuykendall
Enjoying a little time off; and getting to be a Mad Hatter
October sure has been a busy month! I was able to take a few days off week before last and travel for a long weekend to my annual bluegrass music “mecca,” Yonder Mountain String Band’s Harvest Music Festival north of Ozark. It was a lot of fun — despite the weather not really cooperating much — but more importantly, I discovered some new things about myself during my threeday adventure. You might even say I felt some growing pains! Yonder Mount-ain String Band, based in Colorado, is one of my favorite bands in the country, and I’ve seen them more than 30 times now. They took over Harvest Festival a few years ago, becoming the headliners and sponsoring the festival to help it grow. It now boasts attendance of between 5,000 and 7,500 each year — but never more than that because they limit ticket sales to 7,500 to ensure it remains a smaller, more intimate experience for the attendees. For those of you unfamiliar, Harvest Festival began about seven years ago at Mulberry Mountain Ranch just outside Cass on the Pig Trail. It’s a gorgeous setting, a 650-acre mountaintop ranch with a permanent, enormous Main Stage in the corner of the large field area, as well as a smaller permanent stage back in the wooded camping areas on the property. The organizers also erect a gigantic circus tent under which sits a third stage for performances during the festival, typically dubbed the Harvest Tent. There are VIP camping areas without electricity (they’re in the woods closest to all the action); reserved RV camping areas with electricity and permanent shower facilities; and a huge field facing the Main Stage area that houses rows and rows of tents as well as an area for unreserved (non-electric) RV camping spots.
The bands each day begin playing on one of three stages by 11 a.m. and by 2 p.m. all three stages are in full swing. They music continues non-stop — with festival-goers having to choose which bands to go see, since many are playing at the same time — until at least 2 a.m. most nights, sometimes later than that. Because it is a bluegrass-themed festival, most of the acts are bluegrass, folk, folk-rock, or jamband in style, but that is not always the case, particularly with the late-night acts, which may dip more into the dance-music genres. Now, I love to camp, and I love the outdoors, and I LOVE to see music performed live. I especially love genres of music such as those playing at these festivals, where improvisation is key to the performance, and you never know who might end up sitting in with the band on stage for a song or even for a whole set. For example, well-known, awardwinning fiddler Darol Anger sat in for several songs with Yonder Mountain String Band last year and again this year, adding a depth the band that it does not usually enjoy, since it has no fiddle player of its own. So these festivals are my minivacations each year. Wakarusa is the big one, as it lasts four to five days and draws upward of 20,000 attendees to Mulberry Mountain for an unprecedented variety of live music and the arts. But it’s crazy, and it’s hectic, and it’s crowded. It’s a little like going to Disney World, I guess. You are so tired when you get home, you need a vacation to recover from … well, you know. But Harvest Festival is like the smaller, more restful, MUCH-more-laidback cousin to Wakarusa. It’s far more familyfriendly, and many of my friends bring their children, as do thousands of other attendees. (There is actually a noise curfew at Harvest that is generally respected in the campground
Quilt takes prize in state DAR contest By Jennifer Jackson Rosalie Myers’s patchwork quilt reflecting her Kansas roots took first place in the Fiber Arts Contest of the Arkansas State Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Myers is a member of the Abendschone DAR Chapter of Eureka Springs. The sampler quilt, ‘My Kansas Pioneer Family,’ has a sunflower in the center of each square. Myers said she chose fabrics to reflect the color of the leaves of the cottonwood and other trees, the fields of waving wheat and the fruit of the Osage Orange, a tree that pioneers used for fence posts. The border represents sunsets over the prairie. Sashing and borders were quilted in waves like the wind blowing through the tall grass as the pioneer wagons rolled through it. “This quilt is my way of honoring my and my husband’s great-grandparents, Rosalie Myers shows her prize-winning who were all pioneers in Kansas in the quilt, which reflects her and her hus1850s and 1860s,” she said. band’s pioneer heritage Myers said her hope is to pass on to Photo Submitted their children and grandchildren the “I am truly preserving the past through story of the family’s Kansas roots. And she is continuing the quilting history of family traditions,” she said. A pineapple quilt that Myers made her great-grandmother, grandmother and received first place in the 2008 contest. mother.
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Richard Leo Wasta
Richard Leo Wasta, 72, formerly of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, passed away following a stroke on Oct. 16, 2012, in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Dick was born in Cedar Rapids to Erwin J. and B. Louise Wasta on September 24, 1940. Graduating from Cedar Rapids Washington High School in 1959, Dick was a member of the Army Reserve and an employee of his family’s business, Pioneer Office Products, until 1981, when he retired. After moving to Arkansas, Dick enjoyed his motorcycles and antique cars and trucks. Beaver Lake provided him with a loved setting for pleasure boating and relaxing on the deck at his home, overlooking the lake.
He is survived by Joanne Terpkosh Wasta, his wife of 31 years, his brothers, Jim (Jo) of Cedar Rapids , and Wayne (Phyllis) of Decorah, Iowa, many nieces and nephews, and Jody Toms and daughter, Morgan, and Rick Bunney. He was predeceased by his parents and his sister Nan Johnson Heral. Memorial services will be held at a later date. Service arrangements were made with Nelson Funeral Service. Memorial donations for a charitable organization that Dick supported may be sent to P.O. Box 92, Eureka Springs, AR, 72632. Online condolences may be sent to the family at nelsonfuneral.com
Oct. 16, 2012