SHELBY C. BERRY
The Inspiring Career of Wintergrass’
Wendy Tyner Bluegrass Love Sparked by the Magic of Disney & Powerful Women who Paved the Way You may have heard of the annual Wintergrass Music Festival in Bellevue, Washington, and the excitement it brings to the bluegrass fans who attend it each year. However, you may not know Wendy Tyner, the Director of Philanthropy and Publicity and one of the leading ladies of Wintergrass - but you should.
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grass. While the music of Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs
seeping into every part of her life. At age 17, she began dating her husband, and it was all fueled by their equal commitment to music and attending live shows. “My dad taught me the value of music and how it can wrap around your soul and become part of who you are,” Wendy said.
Wendy oversees all philanthropy and publicity for Wintergrass, spending countless hours working with government officials and private and public organizations throughout partnerships that bring you the festival that we know and love.
engrossed most bluegrass fans in the 1970s, the sound of the banjo in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is what first caught her eyes and ears.
Of course, every music festival has someone like Wendy in their pocket, but what makes her special is far more than the fact that she is a woman in blue-
While Wendy grew up in California and her access to bluegrass music was limited, her love for the simpleness of bluegrass and all that it brings began
Wendy’s husband began working at Disneyland in California at 18 years old, and Wendy later at 25 after completing her Master’s degree. Little did the two of them know that stepping through the front gates of the happiest place on earth would lead to their love for bluegrass music in a way they never thought possible. “There was this section of Frontierland and Adven-
