News
DEREK DUNN
derek.dunn@metroland.com
When I slowed on Castleford Road and turned toward the farm, the first thing I heard was the music. Sounds trickling to the grass parking lot, then luring me in. A lonesome standing bass, a perky banjo, along with other instruments dancing behind lyrics about “treatin’ a lady right” and seeking salvation. Topics familiar to rural folk. A huge cedar barn blocks much of Bob Johnston’s farm. But it was easy to figure out I was at the right place. Blazoned across all three storeys was the inscription: Valley Bluegrass Festival July 9-11. It didn’t take all my investigative-reporter skills to figure that one out. “It’s on a farm because that’s where a bluegrass festival should be,” Mike O’Reilly later declared backstage. Some 50 to 60 cheerful volunteers bustled about, ready to point people in the right direction. Down the small gully, over the pond where a momma duck warned me to keep to the lane, I climbed up a hill to the concert area. It was at the centre of a wall of white campers. Smoke and the smell of hamburgers frying; open-walled tents inviting retreat from the oppressive sun; booths selling everything from CDs to western apparel; people of all ages mingling about and backslapping old friends or in folding chairs clapping along to performers on the wooden stage: a bluegrass fan’s Mecca. Not that I am one. Bluegrass is a genre I’ve pretty much managed to avoid. I suppose I didn’t give it much of a chance, along with classical, opera and others. I wasn’t raised on it, so instead have stuck to folk music and others. My knowledge of bluegrass didn’t extend beyond the 2000 blockbuster O Brother, Where Art Thou, a film bluegrass fans say went a long way to shedding a positive light on their music (and movie critics say on George Clooney’s image as more than just another pretty face in Hollywood). I’ve been to my share of outdoor music festivals. (Bluesfest comes to mind, though how they can debate lawn chairs versus no lawn chairs year in and year out is beyond me. I can’t imagine it happening here even once.) Still, none compared to the warmth and genuine affection circling the concert area last Saturday in Horton. Children dancing, grandparents catching up with old friends. More musicians backstage, on stage and in the crowd than I’ve noticed at other concerts.
The much anticipated Spinney Brothers of Nova Scotia didn’t disappoint at this year’s bluegrass festival. They wowed the crowd with adept fingerpicking and seamless harmonies. Mercury photos by Derek Dunn
One day left to vote Renfrew’s Caroline Holley is in Toronto this week, competing in the Miss Teen Canada World Pageant. One part of the competition is the Peoples Choice Award. The contestant who wins this automatically advances to the Top 20. Voting continues until Friday, July 15. People are encouraged to vote. Go to http:// www.missteencanadaworld.com/ vip-signup, and follow the links. You can still vote today and tomorrow, but only once per day.
AUCTION SATURDAY July 16th. 9:30AM for Ellis and Beulah Hawkins at their home 29 Meadow St, Cobden, On. NEW CONCEPT Yard Sale 8:00am-Auction 9:30am All contents of house, garage and greenhouse are for sale. The smaller and lesser value items will be made available in a Yard Sale beginning at 8:00am, the auction will start at 9:30am sharp. Riding lawnmower, appliances, tools, approx. 70 collector plates, lot of old collectibles. Call for sales brochure or visit our website. Mastercard, Visa and Debit accepted
www.topvalueauctions.ca Auctioneer: Don Faught 613-646-2555
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Volunteers, business donations help festival contributions to RVH
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HOUSE AUCTION SALE FRIDAY EVENING JULY 22, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. for the Estate of
MR. & MRS. CLARENCE GRENIER 40 Bank St. South, Renfrew, Ont. In the Town of Renfrew off Highway 132 (Lisgar St.) onto Bank St. South, signs posted.
APPLIANCES, HOUSEHOLD FURNISHINGS, TOOLS HOUSE AUCTION at 6:30 p.m. 2 Storey block house with double lot, 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, full kitchen, dining room, large living room, ensuite on main floor, gas heat, cement basement. To be auctioned at 6:30 p.m. Subject to reserve bid. Down payment of $10,000.00 on sale day, balance due in 60 days. Viewing by appointment only please, call Jane at 613-4327350. Auctioneer: Preston Cull, R.R. #1, Douglas, Ont. 613-649-2378 prestoncullauctions.com
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The Renfrew Mercury - July 14, 2011
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Five couples have managed to keep the Valley Bluegrass Festival growing to the point of it welcoming some 2,500 fans every year. Some of those organizers include Shelley White, left, Arnold Dickson, Mike O’Reilly, Bob Johnston and Barb Dickson. “That’s the difference,” O’Reilly said, after playing a set in the house band The Dick Smith/Mike O’Reilly Band. “They come for the music. Not the rowdy stuff.” Organizer Bob Johnston agreed, saying many in the crowd play bluegrass and came early for the jam sessions. “They come to hear good music,” Johnston said. “Three or four generations will reunite here every year for the festival.” Jacob Topping is a prime example. He played Mountain Dew on a mandolin made by his grandfather two nights before. Johnston tells the story of how it all began some 16 years ago. After attending yet another country music festival in the early 1990s that digressed into fist fighting among drunken 20somethings, Johnston was pretty frustrated. Desperate, he agreed to meet with a stranger named O’Reilly, along with three others in a motor home. The Valley Bluegrass Festival was created. It was held on the Renfrew Fairgrounds the first two years. But then it got bumped inadver-
tently by an Orangemen event, leaving organizers to scramble for a new location. “That’s when we moved it here,” Johnston said, smiling broadly. “When Mike got here he said ‘It’s 500 per cent better and we haven’t started yet.’” It would seem a generous act, turning over a farm to musicians and their fans for a weekend. But Johnston maintains it has been a community effort, with businesses giving generously. He cites Marshall’s owner Dave Bennett as one of many who give without asking for anything in return. Hydro workers donating their talents after hours are another. “We got people in this community that just donate, donate, donate,” Johnston said. “Some of them don’t even like bluegrass.” From a motor home to the 17th annual show, welcoming some 2,500 fans to the Johnston Farm – adding more to the $65,000 already donated to Renfrew’s hospital, and $8,000 to the hospice – the Valley Bluegrass Festival is in full swing. Let’s hope the music goes on for many more years to come.
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