The Avenue of Flags provides a colorful greeting to visitors at the Walnut Valley Festival. Image courtesy Walnut Valley Festival.

Winfield, Kansas — What do Australia, Jamaica and Ethiopia all have in common? Their national flags are being flown at this year’s 38th annual Walnut Valley Festival. This year 91 flags will be blowing in the Kansas breeze as music fans from around the world descend upon the Winfield Fairgrounds to enjoy the music and camaraderie. Thirty six different foreign flags join with the flags from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and the US territory Virgin Islands along with 2 United States and Walnut Valley Festival flags to make up the colorful welcome lining the main entrances into the fairgrounds.

It wasn’t however as large an exhibit as it is today. The Avenue of Flags, as it has become known, began as an idea of Bob Flottman’s in 1996. Bob thought it would be an interesting way to show folks just how wide ranging the Walnut Valley Festival reaches. The first rule for getting a flag displayed is there has to have been a resident from the location’s flag actually attend the festival. The 26th festival in 1997 was the first year for the flags, with a humble beginning of only seven flags. The second year the number of flags had increased to thirty and by the 30th festival in 2001 the flags from all 50 states had been acquired.

The Kansas winds take a toll on the flags so each year some of the flags are upgraded to keep them looking good. Some of the flags have been donated by festival fans that wanted to make sure their home state was represented. The Missouri state flag was even flown over the Missouri state capital building in Jefferson City. Students attending Southwestern College and foreign exchange students have been responsible for a number of the flags that have been added to the collection. The internet has helped the notoriety of the Walnut Valley Festival grow, particularly the instrument contests. Two of the championships are international contests in finger style guitar and autoharp. The contest entries have also accounted for a large number of the flags that represent foreign nations.

Each year since 1997 Bob Flottman and his wife have gone out to the fairgrounds just prior to the festival and prepared the location for the flag poles to be lined up to greet travelers as they arrive to the festival. In recent years their granddaughters, Sheridon and Sierra Flottman of Winfield and Delbert Peters from Arkansas City has helped clean and locate the holes for the flag poles. Flottman takes a great deal of pride in his colorful contribution to the Walnut Valley Festival and enjoys visiting with anyone that wants to add a flag to the impressive collection.

All 91 flags will be displayed to welcome the music fans when the festival kicks off on September 16th with workshops and a 2008 contest winner’s concert that evening. The 38th annual festival runs through September 20 at the Winfield Fairgrounds. Advance tickets are on sale now and may be purchased through 5:00 pm. September 15th from the ticket trailer at the fairgrounds or by going to the festival office at 918 Main Street in Winfield. For additional information fans can call the office at 620-221-3250 or on line at www.wvfest.com