Forty years is a long time for a memory to be trusted for much. When I first asked Brent about the festivals at Southwestern he said, "Yeah, we did two, one in '67 and one in '68".
There are four articles in the "Courier" and two in the "Collegian" about the '67 festival, but I found no reference to a festival in '68. He and I both assumed he was just remembering the later festival, in '71, as the "second" festival.
Then I found this in the November 11th, 1967 issue of the Collegian. Brent was right, or close to right, a '68 festival was at least planned . I'd love to know what happened. It was a very volatile time, perhaps anti-war politics reared it's ugly head in a basically conservative town. Or maybe key people graduated and moved on. Whatever the reasons, it would take Southwestern College four years to hold another folk festival in Winfield, but that festival would be seminal to all that came after.
I covered that festival briefly in posts from 8/30 through 9/2. I'm going back to it one more time later today, and may still jump around some as I learn more about each one.
Landrush is in five hours. I got my T-shirt, I think I'll sleep in.
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