Music Festivals
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The first festival we attended this season is the Fire on the Strings Festival held in Montgomery, Texas put on by the Bay Area Bluegrass Association
**See our photos of the contestants in the 2006 Texas State Flatpicking Championship**
**See our photos of the 2006 Fire on the Strings concerts**
The next festival was the Kentucky Lake Bluegrass Festival held near Aurora, Kentucky at the beautiful Kenlake State Park near the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area
** See our photos of the 2006 Kentucky Lake Bluegrass Festival**
We went to the Bill Monroe's Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival June 10-17, 2006 in Bean Blossom, Indiana
**See our photos of the 40th Anniversary Bill Monroe's Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival**
We had the opportunity to attend a workshop and concert dedicated to the music and life of Bill Monroe held at the John Waldron Arts Center in Bloomington, Indiana June 10, 2006, taught and performed by David Grier, Mike Compton and Butch Robins, each of whom had a connection to Bill Monroe.
**See our photos of the Grier, Compton, Robins workshop and concert**
We stopped by Steve Kaufman's Acoustic Kamp Friday June 23, 2006 to visit old friends and to see the concert that night. One of Friday night's headliners was John Reischman and the Jaybirds
**See our photos from the 2006 Steve Kaufman Acoustic Kamp Week 2**
We attended the 2006 Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas September 13-17 and we saw some wonderful music performances. The weather was extremely hot and windy so it was pretty uncomfortable sitting in the sun at most of the stages during the day. Things usually cooled off at night though. The performance highlights for us were the Tim O'Brien Trio, The Greencards with Bryan Sutton on guitar, Tommy Emmanuel, Cadillac Sky and the David Munnelly Band.
The real highlight of the festival was the National Flatpicking Championship. We got photos of all the contestants, the finalists and the winners' circle. This was by far the finest display of contest flatpicking we've ever witnessed. They were all top notch contenders and the judges' task must have been difficult.
**See Our Photos of the 2006 National Flatpick Guitar Championship**
We also attended the National Mandolin Championship. We got photos of all the contestants, the finalists and the winners' circle.
We attended the 2006 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) World of Bluegrass week in Nashville, Tennessee September 25th through October 1st, 2006. The venue has changed quite a bit since the move to Nashville from Louisville, Kentucky. We were fortunate enough to be given passes to the private after hours showcases during the business conference part of the week, then we bought tickets to the Fan Fest portion of the week which happened September 29th through October 1st. We also attended the IBMA Awards Show September 28th at the Grand Ole Opry House. We took hundreds of photos of the showcases, awards show and other happenings while we've been here in Nashville which we have put on several pages.
**See Our Photos of the 2006 IBMA World of Bluegrass**
While we've been in Nashville, we've seen several shows at the world famous Station Inn
**See Our Photos of Shows at the Station Inn**
While we were in Nashville we discovered one of our favorite new bands The Infamous Stringdusters
They hosted the 2006 Halloween Party at the Station Inn plus we heard them play in many other venues in Nashville. If you have the opportunity to see them, don't miss it!
**See our photos of the Infamous Stringdusters**
Some of the most musical fun we've ever had was at picking parties at Nickie & Sparrow's house in north Santa Rosa County.
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