A note from Gary

The warm-up picnic was fantastic! In spite of the rain and the flood and the mud, I have been informed that our "Warm Up Picnic" was one of the high points of the Winfield experience this year! What turned out to be a near disaster for Walnut Valley Music Festival actually worked to our benefit (I am sorry to say). We did have many people come to our Warm Up Picnic because the park was a relatively dry spot in the Winfield area that day.

Once again, sincere thanks must be expressed to all the individuals who jumped in and helped out to make sure our picnic was a success! I only regret that I am not mentioning you all by name for fear that I might accidentally leave out someone. All of you did a wonderful job and you did it with a good attitude and a gracious spirit which was appreciated by everyone! If you helped, you know who you are and thank you! That being said, I do however want to express appreciation to Erin Lewis who jumped in and was able to MC the picnic in my absence!

We have several events coming up in the near future. Please note the Don Pedi concert/workshop coming right up in the next week or so. I know that for all of you who are dulcimer players and even those of you who might want to become a dulcimer player, this is certainly a fantastic opportunity to learn and appreciate one of the true all-time greats in the Mountain Dulcimer community! (He also paints!) The workshops will be held at Northfield school and the concert will be held at New Hope Christian Church on October 15th.

One final note, please bring your Christmas music to our next meeting (Saturday, October 10th) so that we can practice it. Also be advised that we will be voting on the proposed bylaws at this meeting as well.

Thank you, Gary Bell