2012 BLUEGRASS EVENTS

May 26, 2012 - Brat Fry at Nelson's Ag Center in Viroqua. 

May 18-20, 2012 - SEMBA  Spring Festival at

Cushion's Peak Campground, Houston, MN.  507-864-8109

July 13-15, 2012 - 10th Anual Traditional Bluegrass & Gospel Music Festival, Viroqua County Fairgrounds, Viroqua, WI

August 17-18, 2012 - Larry Fest

La Farge, WI  608-386-1448

August 16-19, 2012 - SEMBA Summer Festival at

Cushion's Peak Campground, Houston, MN.  507-864-8109

October 12-14, 2012  5th Annual Fall Music Festival, Sugarcreek, Ferryville, WI

Front Porch Pickins January 2012

Dear Fellow Bluegrass/Gospel fans,, 

We will be holding our tenth annual Festival this year on July 13, 14, and 15th 2012.  It is our intent to continue to bring a high quality festival to our community as a wonderful family event.

This years Festival Association Board is made up of the following people: Wayne Sherry-President, David Peterson-Vice President, Judy Anderson-Secretary, Marilyn Kile-Treasurer, Bob Bezin-Director, Eldon Gardner-Director, Peter Beckstrand-Director, Donna Simonson-Director, Sandy Joseph-Director.  A big thank you goes out to all of these dedicated people for their time commitment and hard work.  Our meetings are held at the Good Shepard Church Annex in Viroqua on the second Monday of each month at 5:00 P.M.  We would love to have you come to our meetings.  Our good friends Judy Gardner and Fran Matson retired from our board this year, but assure us they will be around to help.  We greatly miss them on our board.  Judy was our Treasurer and Fran Vice-President.

We hope you will join or continue your Association membership this year.  The Annual Association Membership dues are $14.oo per person.  We also encourage you to ask your friends to join as well.  We are also looking for businesses and individuals to be partial sponsors of bands again this year, so if you or you know of someone who would be willing to co-sponsor a band, please have them call Marilyn at (608) 625-6780.  Any amount, ten, twenty, thirty, fifty....dollars will be appreciated.  Individuals and businesses will be recognized each time the band sponsored is introduced. Sponsors will also be listed in our Festival program under the name of the band being sponsored.  Please note that the dollar amount given by each sponsor will not be listed in the program.  We are hoping this process will help us to meet budget again this year.  Remember, we are a 501.3c organization, so your membership or other contributions are tax deductible.

As many of you know, Lynn Raske from Wonder Lake, Illinois was our Web master for our Viroqua Website.  Sadly, she passed away at the young age of 45, just before our festival last year.  It has taken some time, but we have secured Marilyn Kile, our Association Treasurer, to manage our website.  She has started to update it and will continue to add to our site until everything is accurate.  We thank her for her commitment to this worthy cause. As you check out our site, offer any suggestions you may have to improve it.  

On November 5th, 2011, we held the first of several fundraisers to help meet budget for 2012.  It was a chili dinner with entertainment from three bluegrass bands: Cedar Valley, Highway 52 Bluegrass and The Ocooch Mountain Grass.  All three bands did a great job and were well liked by those in attendance.  Our next fundraiser will be on Saturday, March 31, 2012 at the United Methodist Church in Viroqua, from 3:00 to 6:00 P.M. There will be great food, a showcase of bands, and lots of fun.  A free will offering is encouraged.

Our 2012 Festival will be hosting the following bands:  The very popular Sawtooth from Minnesota; Cedar Valley from Iowa;  Bluegrass Blondies from Iowa; String Ties from La Crosse(A very popular local band); Burie Family from Wisconsin; Ocooch Mountain Grass from the Vernon/Crawford County area; and the home town band, The DisChords. As always, we ask these bands to provide 30 minutes of Bluegrass/Gospel music and not more than 15 minutes of traditional bluegrass music per set.  These groups will provide us with a wonderful show for 2012. 

We will have workshops for the different instruments used in bluegrass and will also have open stage on Saturday morning at 11:00 A.M. following the worshops.  So bring your instruments and voices and participate.  The jamming that goes on at our festival is wonderful, and the more jammers, the merrier.

Do you have any suggestions to make our Festival better?  Any ideas for fund raisers, program presentation, procedures to follow, etc?  Please call me at (608) 606-4105 and visit.  We are looking forward to this year and to your participation.

Gods Blessings,

Wayne Sherry-President

January, 2012