Wind or rain, the bluegrass festival must go on

Visitors from several states and Canada participate

MOSES LAKE — Bands played, aroma from the dutch oven cook offs filled the air, Oregon Trail Travelers brought the Old West to life, and, yes, even the wind showed up to join in the fun at this year's fourth annual Moses Lake Bluegrass Festival.

But no matter what the weather brought, nothing could keep diehard bluegrass fans from having a good time at the Grant County Fairgrounds this last weekend.

Woodwright Jim 'Dutch' Boynton with the Oregon Trail Travelers started cooking at 5 a.m. Saturday didn't let the wind phase him at all.

"It doesn't make any difference to me," he said.

Even though numbers were down from last year, a variety of groups came and people from several states traveled here to participate which helped to make the event a success, co-chairman for the festival Gayle Gaither said.

In between handing out tickets, Hostess and Sunrise Rotary member Jo Blundell said, "people have come as far away as Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio, Idaho, Utah and even Canada."

"It's in my blood," said Bev Crozier who has attended bluegrass festivals in four other cities and plays several instruments. "I'm just looking forward to jamming," she said.

Six teams participated in the dutch oven cookoffs, where one rookie team won first place in the main dish category for their Confetti Taco Chili.

Of their first time entering in the cookoff, Aaron Oliphant and Jim Dills said it was fun and they enjoyed working across the way from the bands who they later fed in between concerts.

"We called it 'play for food,' Art Russell, who was with one of the participating dutch oven societies, said.

After the cook off awards were presented, dutch oven cooks put on a barbecue dinner.

"We had 300 people come and eat and all the funds raised from the barbeque went to help DOS member Bob Ottmar with recent medical expenses," said Joyce Boyer of the Columbia Basin Dutch Oven Society.

"We had 160 pounds of meat," said Ottmar, who used the chuckwagon he built to prepare the food.

"It's just like what they had in the early West so when they were ready to pull out on the range they had everything they needed for cooking right there on the wagon," he said.

When it comes to food, recreating the ways of the West is not something easy to come by.

"Today food is gourmet," Boynton said, distinguishing between modern flour and what early pioneers called "firsts" and "seconds."

"Flour isn't called firsts and seconds anymore, but white," he said.

And don't think the weekend's cool weather kept the campground jammers from playing well into the night.

"The jammers did stay pretty well tucked away due to the wind, but they were still out there playing until all hours of the night," Gaither said.

With other events going on in the Basin this last weekend such as the Adam's County Fair and Deustchesfest, Gaither thinks the festival was a success.

"We try to be as diverse as possible in the events and groups we invite, and we got a good blend this year," Gaither said.