Col. Jim and Ailene Peva at Uncle Pen Days 2007 - photo by Rickey Lamb

Col. Jim Peva considers The Bill Monroe Memorial Music Park and Campground in Bean Blossom, Ind., to be hallowed ground in the great realm of bluegrass music.

And he wants it to remain that way.

Peva, considered one of the great historians of the tiny spot on the Indiana road map, has issued a plea to “save Bean Blossom for bluegrass.”

Dwight Dillman, a former Bluegrass Boy with Bill Monroe, purchased the park in 1998 from James Monroe, son of the father of bluegrass music. Having made vast improvements to the park and campground, Dillman now has the park and campgrounds for sale.

Like Peva, Dillman said he has every desire for the next owner to maintain the campgrounds for its current usage.

Not only is the annual Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival staged on the grounds every June, but Dillman also promotes several other festivals at the park each year, including Uncle Pen Days in September, when the Hall of Fame museum on the grounds inducts a new member. This year’s inductee was the original Carter Family.

Peva has watched with great enthusiasm as new park improvements were made and more festivals added under Dillman’s ownership. But he was an avid and astute Bean Blossom watcher long before that.

Peva, a retired Indiana State Police officer and teacher, first heard Bill Monroe perform at the Brown County Jamboree (site of the current festival grounds) in 1961. He hasn’t missed a June festival at Bean Blossom since Monroe started having them in 1967. He came to be one of Monroe’s closest friends in the hilly, southern Indiana region around Bean Blossom.

He’s the author of a book, “Bean Blossom: Its People and Its Music,” which is described as “a photographic history of the Bean Blossom area with an emphasis on bluegrass music and friendship of Bill Monroe and the author’s family.”

“Bluegrass fans have a greater rapport with their musical idols than in any other form of music,” Peva once said.

Now, he’s counting on those loyal fans to join his appeal to save Bean Blossom as the genre’s premiere music park.

Here’s a letter Peva is circulating in the bluegrass media:

“Save Bean Blossom for Bluegrass”

In 1951 Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass Music, purchased the Brown County Jamboree in the hill country of south central Indiana, a site where musical performances had taken place since 1940. In June of 1967 he started a bluegrass festival there which has continued uninterrupted since that time and which is now the oldest continuous bluegrass festival in the world. Many stars of the Grand Ole Opry who were contemporaries of Bill Monroe and just about all of the greats of bluegrass music have performed on the Bean Blossom stage. The place is rich in musical tradition and history. Many major bluegrass stars of today cut their teeth as youngsters on the jams sessions at Bean Blossom and performed there early in their careers. Some may in fact owe their careers to the influence of this place.

In 1998, after the death of Bill Monroe, former Blue Grass Boy Dwight Dillman purchased the festival grounds and museum from James Monroe. Dillman stated his purpose was to bring the festival back to the national prominence it enjoyed under Monroe, and to do it as a memorial to his former boss. He set about immediately to improve the festival grounds while at the same time preserving the natural beauty of the hilly and wooded property. Shortly after Bill Monroe’s death, State highway 135 which runs through Bean Blossom was designated the “Bill Monroe Memorial Highway” by the Indiana General Assembly, and the annual June festival was designated a Local Legacy by the Library of Congress.

Now, having accomplished his purpose, Dwight Dillman has put the Bean Blossom festival grounds and museum up for sale, with the understanding that he wants the bluegrass music and tradition to continue there.

This is a call for friends and fans of Bill Monroe and his music to unite in the cause to save Bean Blossom for bluegrass. It is important that the Bean Blossom festival grounds and museum remain in the hands of people who have part of their souls in bluegrass music. Get the word out. Duplicate this page. Send it to your bluegrass friends. Post it on bluegrass web sites. It may help to generate ideas and action that will preserve the place called the Mecca of bluegrass music. For now unless otherwise stated, you may send any ideas, thoughts, suggestions and contacts to me and I will make sure that the appropriate people receive them.

Contact Jim Peva

Share This

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

You might also like to read these related news items:

• The Pevas are Bean Blossom’s dear hearts, gentle people -- March 12, 2008
• Bean Blossom around the corner -- May 16, 2008
• Bean Blossom releases official lineup -- March 25, 2008
• Bean Blossom schedule runneth over -- January 11, 2008
• “Camp Crisis” Carol riled at Bean Blossom -- November 12, 2007