Jul 24
Bean Blossom foundation gains seed money, sees dream taking shape
Col. Jim Peva, author and historian, addresses the crowd during a June festival at the Bill Monroe Memorial Bluegrass Park and Campgrounds. Peva is active in a group that wants to purchase and preserve the park property.
Leadership roles have been formed and filled for the Bean Blossom Jamboree Foundation, the group that has formed to purchase and preserve the Bill Monroae Memorial Music Park and Campgrounds at Bean Blossom, Ind.They include:
THE BOARD: Steven L. Johnson, president; Cary A. Fields, vice president and treasurer; Richard Hersberger, secretary; and board members Thomas A. Adler, Neil V. Rosenberg, Saburo Wantanabe Inoue, Sarah Wasson, Penni McDaniel, Ken Perlman, Dixie Hall, Ralph Stanley II, Andrea Roberts and Sam Jackson.
The ADVISORY COMMITEE: Col. James R. Peva, Roger Brock, Don Meadows, George V. Garrett, Lanny Harmon, Karl Shiflett, Jim Denny and Pastor Paul Baggett
A non-profit group, formed to purchase and preserve the Bill Monroe Music Park and Campground in Bean Blossom, Ind., emerged from the annual June bluegrass festival at the park with a generous pot of seed money. Still in its infancy, The Bean Blossom Jamboree Foundation received gift pledges worth $20,000 and has since received additional pledges.
“We are on a good path to accomplish our goal of purchasing the music park,” foundation president Lloyd Johnson said. “We are confident we can meet our mission.
“Response to our efforts has been so overwhelming that we are in the process of recruiting a part time employee,” Johnson said in a statement on the foundation’s Web site, http://bbjfoundation.org.
“We plan to support the help through our ‘give an hour’ campaign that will be launched on our Web site. Please consider supporting us through the ‘give an hour’ campaign.”
Johnson expressed appreciation to donors”for the countless hours of assistance, services, feedback, donations, and promotion they have offered to the foundation. We would not be where we are without you.”
The foundation’s president singled out Jim Peva, Bean Blossom’s noted historian; Dwight Dillman, current owner of the property; Cary Fields, the foundation’s vice president and treasurer; and foundation secretary Rich Hersberger “for all their efforts in moving the foundation to where we are today.”
Fields, a bluegrass disc jockey in the Indianapolis area who shared emcee duties during the June Bean Blossom festival, said being backstage to talk to the artists and mingling with the crowd at the foundation’s booth gave him a new-found appreciation of the music park.
“It was very gratifying to hear first-hand how much that music park means to the campers, pickers, festival goers, vendors, and musicians alike,” he said. “Many of the people I talked to … had a long history with the park and were anxious to share how much those happy memories meant to their respective families. And how they couldn’t bear the thought of that coming to an end.
“Having the opportunity to be backstage to hear giants of the genre such as Bobby Osborne, Dave Evans, Larry Sparks, J.D. Crowe, Ralph Stanley, and Michael Cleveland reflect on what that park has meant to their own musical journey over the years reinforced the sense of history one gets when you walk out onto the stage during a festival that’s now in it’s 42nd year. And you’d better know that they associate that place with Bill Monroe and his legacy. That was a reoccurring theme in conversation.”
Dillman, who would be the one signing the property deed over to the foundation if a sale takes place, said he shares the new organization’s goals in preserving the park. Speaking during the June festival, Dillman said he is especially interested in one idea to utilize the park as a bluegrass education center.
Through the years, veteran festival goers and returning bands have lauded Dillman for the many improvements he’s made to the park and campground over his decade of ownership. But Dillman said in June those improvements might only be a scratch in the surface if the foundation realizes its goals.
“I want to see this preserved as a music park, and the idea of having this as a place for bluegrass education is a wonderful idea,” he said. “It could really turn into something even more special than it is today.”
Fields conceded that many folks are keeping a tight hold on their purse strings with $4 gas and a general, gloomy downturn in the national economy.
“It’s important to remember at a time like this that the park is still here after 42 years in which wars and worries have come and gone,” he said. “This music is as popular as it’s ever been, and the health and vitality of one of it’s most historically significant institutions is a direct reflection of what bluegrass music means to it’s fans.”
Despite the widespread jitters about the national economy, Fields said the foundation’s next phase will definitely be a focus on fundraising.
“Corporate donations and endorsements given by companies that see the value of having Bean Blossom alive and well and living in Brown County, Ind., will be an important part of the picture,” he said.
But Fields predicted the fans — the true financial supporters of the bluegrass industry — will be the ones to rescue the park.
“Make no mistake, it’s the yearly individual and family memberships that are donated by hard-working men and women that will be the backbone of the effort. It will be that support, from those that value what Bean Blossom represents, that will insure there will still be festivals held in the same place Bill Monroe set all this in motion when the festival is in it’s 142nd year.”
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