Southwestern Folk Festival, 1967

Now we have to move back in time five years, to the last three days of April, 1967. The event was called "Southwestern Folk Festival" and the festival poster listed these performers:

Jimmy Driftwood
Doc Watson
Glenda Bickell
Pat & Victoria
Johnny Vandiver
Art Eskridge
Merle Watson
Mance Lipscomb
Eunice Shedden
and more ...

The Winfield Courier from Monday, May 1, and Saturday, April 29, confirms the appearance of all of the above except Eunice Shedden. She might have played, I just don't know for sure. The same articles also report the appearance of five performers not listed on the flyer, Vern and Ray, the The Revelators, Jo Wright, "Poor Bill" Williams and The Shannon Sisters.

In an advance article from the Southwestern Collegian on Friday, February 10th, Stu Mossman mentions two other entertainers as scheduled to play, the Kider Family and the Hays Hammer Dulcimer Players. He also writes: "Possibly, Byron Berline, 1965 National Fiddle Champion, and his Blue Grass group will perform."

Also mentioned in an article from the Collegian on the first day of the festival, April 28, are: The Country Boys, Dorothy May, The Buchanan Trio, Jim "Sugar Bear" Kudlacek and "many more". It's not clear if any of these folks actually played. And who the rest of the "many more" might be I've yet to find out.

The festival began with a lecture by William Koch entitled "The Folk Music Break Through", delivered in Richardson Auditorium on Thursday afternoon. Mr. Koch, an associate professor of English and Folklore at Kansas State University, is president of the Kansas Folklore Society and has published numerous articles on central plains life and folklore.