Sounds Like Winfield article by Bill Stephens, Published in the Kansas Magazine Spring 2019
Collection: Winfield Notable Artists
Title
Sounds Like Winfield article by Bill Stephens, Published in the Kansas Magazine Spring 2019
Subject
Walnut Valley Festival
Winfield Kansas
Magazine article
Stuart Mossman
Southwestern College
Description
This article by Bill Stephens, a former Southwestern College student describes a brief history of the Walnut Valley Festival and how Stuart Mossman met with financial backers to sponsor the Walnut Valley Festival in 1972.
Creator
Stephens, Bill
Source
Winfield Public Library
Publisher
Winfield Public Library, Winfield, Kansas USA
Date
2019
Rights
Format
text/plain
Language
English
Type
Clippings
Citation
Stephens, Bill, “Sounds Like Winfield article by Bill Stephens, Published in the Kansas Magazine Spring 2019,” Winfield Digital Collections, accessed June 24, 2026, https://winfield.digitalsckls.info/item/196.
Text
IN THE LATE 1960S folk music was one of the biggest trends both across the nation and at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, where I was a student. At that time, I would take my acoustic guitar down to a local coffee house to play with others of a like mind and run into people like Stuart Mossman, a fellow guitarist who practiced a style of playing I was not familiar with, but would later learn as “flatpicking.” Looking back, I realize that this moment was my introduction to bluegrass music, a hobby I have pursued for the past 50 years, and it was also my introduction to one of the nations best bluegrass and folk music events—the Walnut Valley Festival, also known as “Winfield.”
I wasn’t the only one who was introduced to bluegrass by Mossman. In 1967, he came to the Cultural Arts Board of Southwestern College and suggested a music festival be held on the campus with big-name bluegrass and folk performers. They went for it. That first festival was so successful that Mossman struck an alliance
Walnut Valley Festival
PHOTOGRAPHS BriJoRae Pusch-Zumga
with financial backers in Winfield to sponsor a more ambitious festival at the local fairgrounds in 1972. This became the first Winfield festival. Now an annual fixture for the past 47 years and always the third weekend in September (although it is a five-day festival now), the festival’s attendance has grown from a few hundred to nearly 15,000.
Over those years, Winfield has built a reputation as a musician’s music festival. People who don’t play a guitar, banjo or any other instrument are welcome, but Winfield isn’t the type of event where people come primarily to listen and drink. The thousands that arrive come for the stage music, but equally as much for the pick-up jam sessions that go on at every campground, the camping and the family-friendly atmosphere. In fact, the festival’s policy clearly states no drugs, beer, alcohol or firearms are permitted.
When I attend the festival, I arrive at the Winfield fairgrounds early and meander through the three or four stages. In the past, I’ve been able to hear legends such as Lester Flatt of Flatt and Scruggs fame, Doc Watson and his son Merle, who championed the art of flatpicking, fiddler Byron Berline, the New Grass Revival, and guitarists Dan Crary and Norman Blake to mention a few. Those names may not be familiar to those under 40, but they were the Eric Claptons of the ’70s acoustic music scene.
Other stages are reserved for the flatpicking, mandolin, fiddle and banjo competitions. Big money and bragging rights are there for the winners. Some of the most talented musicians have come up through the ranks of national contests like these and now are regular fixtures on tours with the big name groups out of Nashville.
Beyond the stages are the commercial vendor booths. In the early years, these had a hippie-vibe to them, and you could stock up on beads and thread and leather and all manner of hats and vests.
Luthiers and instrument vendors have always been a major portion of the festival. I’ve stopped and played Vega Deering banjos, Martin and Taylor and Gibson guitars as well as mandolins and fiddles of almost every type and price range. Strings, straps, cases, and all sorts of instrumental accouterments are available for purchase.
After leaving the vending areas, I usually spend most of my time wandering among the campsites, parked vans, tents and campfires that are scattered throughout the periphery and into the pecan and walnut groves. In my opinion, this is
“Life's circumstances cause some folks to miss the festival for a time and then return. It is always special to reconnect with your Winfield family. We have had births and deaths, weddings and funerals.”
Ron Meier
Big Springs
where the soul of the festival can be found, with music coming from every direction. Each circle of musicians, large or small, has an unspoken invitation for you to stop and listen or, if you brought your instrument, play along. Standard tunes such as “Saint Ann’s Reel,” “The Wreck of the Old ’97,” “Rocky Top” and dozens of others are played and replayed all day and well into the night. In fact, the music never stops. Things are not quite as lively at 5 a.m. as they are at midnight, but the diehards do not fade away easily.
Over the years, as the festival became more well known, participants began coming from all over the United States (and other countries). Getting there early and staking out a prime camping spot became an art. The old-timers refer to this as the “land rush” and get their vehicles in line days before the event begins. Once the gates open, they rush to their favorite spot for camping and stake out their territory.
Ron Meier of Big Springs has attended each Winfield festival since 1984. He has seen some of these camping groups continue at the same spot throughout the decades, while others have come and gone.
“Life’s circumstances cause some folks to miss the festival for a time and then return. It is always special to reconnect with your Winfield family. We have had births and deaths, weddings and funerals,” Meier says.
Topekan Stuart Yoho, another regular attendee, notes how friendships develop over the years of gathering at Winfield.
“I camp adjacent to a bunch of friends that build a 'pickin’ parlor’ under a parachute. We enjoy the camaraderie and celebrate life changes of joy and sorrow together. I’ve learned my best banjo licks and my go-to rhythm technique at the festival. Last year I was asked by a friend, who learned that I’m a reverend, to officiate a 10-year anniversary renewal of vows for a couple I had never met. I’ve attended a couple of weddings at the festival and too many end-of-life ceremonies,” Yoho says with a sigh.
Having attended the festival both as a young man and a not-as-young man, I’ve come to value how the festival welcomes and brings together people of all generations and all backgrounds. I have always found plenty of opportunities to break out the harmonica from my pocket or the guitar or mandolin slung over my shoulder and join in the music in a hundred places at the festival.
And if that isn’t a good festival, then what is?
-Bill Stephens
KANSAS! MAGAZINE
41
SPRING 2019
Original Format
Paper
Title
Sounds Like Winfield article by Bill Stephens, Published in the Kansas Magazine Spring 2019
Subject
Walnut Valley Festival
Winfield Kansas
Magazine article
Stuart Mossman
Southwestern College
Description
This article by Bill Stephens, a former Southwestern College student describes a brief history of the Walnut Valley Festival and how Stuart Mossman met with financial backers to sponsor the Walnut Valley Festival in 1972.
Creator
Stephens, Bill
Source
Winfield Public Library
Publisher
Winfield Public Library, Winfield, Kansas USA
Date
2019
Rights
Format
text/plain
Language
English
Type
Clippings
Citation
Stephens, Bill, “Sounds Like Winfield article by Bill Stephens, Published in the Kansas Magazine Spring 2019,” Winfield Digital Collections, accessed June 24, 2026, https://winfield.digitalsckls.info/item/196.Text
IN THE LATE 1960S folk music was one of the biggest trends both across the nation and at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, where I was a student. At that time, I would take my acoustic guitar down to a local coffee house to play with others of a like mind and run into people like Stuart Mossman, a fellow guitarist who practiced a style of playing I was not familiar with, but would later learn as “flatpicking.” Looking back, I realize that this moment was my introduction to bluegrass music, a hobby I have pursued for the past 50 years, and it was also my introduction to one of the nations best bluegrass and folk music events—the Walnut Valley Festival, also known as “Winfield.”
I wasn’t the only one who was introduced to bluegrass by Mossman. In 1967, he came to the Cultural Arts Board of Southwestern College and suggested a music festival be held on the campus with big-name bluegrass and folk performers. They went for it. That first festival was so successful that Mossman struck an alliance
Walnut Valley Festival
PHOTOGRAPHS BriJoRae Pusch-Zumga
with financial backers in Winfield to sponsor a more ambitious festival at the local fairgrounds in 1972. This became the first Winfield festival. Now an annual fixture for the past 47 years and always the third weekend in September (although it is a five-day festival now), the festival’s attendance has grown from a few hundred to nearly 15,000.
Over those years, Winfield has built a reputation as a musician’s music festival. People who don’t play a guitar, banjo or any other instrument are welcome, but Winfield isn’t the type of event where people come primarily to listen and drink. The thousands that arrive come for the stage music, but equally as much for the pick-up jam sessions that go on at every campground, the camping and the family-friendly atmosphere. In fact, the festival’s policy clearly states no drugs, beer, alcohol or firearms are permitted.
When I attend the festival, I arrive at the Winfield fairgrounds early and meander through the three or four stages. In the past, I’ve been able to hear legends such as Lester Flatt of Flatt and Scruggs fame, Doc Watson and his son Merle, who championed the art of flatpicking, fiddler Byron Berline, the New Grass Revival, and guitarists Dan Crary and Norman Blake to mention a few. Those names may not be familiar to those under 40, but they were the Eric Claptons of the ’70s acoustic music scene.
Other stages are reserved for the flatpicking, mandolin, fiddle and banjo competitions. Big money and bragging rights are there for the winners. Some of the most talented musicians have come up through the ranks of national contests like these and now are regular fixtures on tours with the big name groups out of Nashville.
Beyond the stages are the commercial vendor booths. In the early years, these had a hippie-vibe to them, and you could stock up on beads and thread and leather and all manner of hats and vests.
Luthiers and instrument vendors have always been a major portion of the festival. I’ve stopped and played Vega Deering banjos, Martin and Taylor and Gibson guitars as well as mandolins and fiddles of almost every type and price range. Strings, straps, cases, and all sorts of instrumental accouterments are available for purchase.
After leaving the vending areas, I usually spend most of my time wandering among the campsites, parked vans, tents and campfires that are scattered throughout the periphery and into the pecan and walnut groves. In my opinion, this is
“Life's circumstances cause some folks to miss the festival for a time and then return. It is always special to reconnect with your Winfield family. We have had births and deaths, weddings and funerals.”
Ron Meier
Big Springs
where the soul of the festival can be found, with music coming from every direction. Each circle of musicians, large or small, has an unspoken invitation for you to stop and listen or, if you brought your instrument, play along. Standard tunes such as “Saint Ann’s Reel,” “The Wreck of the Old ’97,” “Rocky Top” and dozens of others are played and replayed all day and well into the night. In fact, the music never stops. Things are not quite as lively at 5 a.m. as they are at midnight, but the diehards do not fade away easily.
Over the years, as the festival became more well known, participants began coming from all over the United States (and other countries). Getting there early and staking out a prime camping spot became an art. The old-timers refer to this as the “land rush” and get their vehicles in line days before the event begins. Once the gates open, they rush to their favorite spot for camping and stake out their territory.
Ron Meier of Big Springs has attended each Winfield festival since 1984. He has seen some of these camping groups continue at the same spot throughout the decades, while others have come and gone.
“Life’s circumstances cause some folks to miss the festival for a time and then return. It is always special to reconnect with your Winfield family. We have had births and deaths, weddings and funerals,” Meier says.
Topekan Stuart Yoho, another regular attendee, notes how friendships develop over the years of gathering at Winfield.
“I camp adjacent to a bunch of friends that build a 'pickin’ parlor’ under a parachute. We enjoy the camaraderie and celebrate life changes of joy and sorrow together. I’ve learned my best banjo licks and my go-to rhythm technique at the festival. Last year I was asked by a friend, who learned that I’m a reverend, to officiate a 10-year anniversary renewal of vows for a couple I had never met. I’ve attended a couple of weddings at the festival and too many end-of-life ceremonies,” Yoho says with a sigh.
Having attended the festival both as a young man and a not-as-young man, I’ve come to value how the festival welcomes and brings together people of all generations and all backgrounds. I have always found plenty of opportunities to break out the harmonica from my pocket or the guitar or mandolin slung over my shoulder and join in the music in a hundred places at the festival.
And if that isn’t a good festival, then what is?
-Bill Stephens
KANSAS! MAGAZINE
41
SPRING 2019
Original Format
Paper