I finish writing this report, I will turn right around and write one for last year too. I still have all the notes I made (they are sitting in the printer tray
along with a million other papers) I just can't believe that the year got away from me so fast! This years festival was wonderful, as always- good weather,
great music and lots of old friends to re-unite with. I spent my first night
camping in line for land rush- and that was great fun! Steve Peters, Teresa Bachman, Jerry & Linda Greer, Rob Koke and I tried our best to stake a claim under the old Cottonwood tree again- and we got pretty close. We were happy to see some familiar faces camped around us again- like the VanDusen bunch, the Coleman clan across the road, the Fiasco Brothers to our east, and it's always fun picking with Ron Christie and his friends.
We had several exciting new additions to our camp this year, beginning with a grand new bridge that Jerry and Rob built to span the mud-hole. The kid's really enjoyed playing on it all week, and it did actually get put to use after a couple of rain showers. Dayton & Sandy Wodrich surprised everyone with a huge "Froggy Mtn Family & Friends" mural to hang in the picking shelter. We could not believe how it fit the space perfectly and really dressed up the camp. I guess the greatest addition of all was the newly re-done "tarpaulin blue" chuckwagon. Many thanks to Don and the boys for sharing it with us all these years (and thanks to Jerry for all his assistance in the final assembly of the wagon and all the odd & end camp projects!) Like the home kitchen, the camp kitchen is the central gathering spot for everyone and really makes it feel like home. The weather this year was really outstanding- cool and clear for most of the early week, and hot and windy on Saturday. The cool- clear nights gave several of us a great chance to do some stargazing, and we had a great time trying. Some of the more memorable moments from the festival this year were:
-green toenails and fingernails (who has that picture of Don's green toes?)
-the robotic frog malfunction and Dr Jerry's miraculous repair
-taco night with frozen "frogeritas"
-the tragedy of Angela Jenkins lost & found
-new groups: Cadillac Sky, the Tim O'Brien Trio and Bruce Greybill
-Western Hoe-down dance Tuesday night at Metaphysical camp
-final performance of Split Lip Rayfield on Stage5
-Stage5's 20 year anniversary and makeover
Well, that's about all I can remember so I guess I'll start on that 2005 report!
Everyone stay well and start working on all those new tunes for next year!
Renee
*Don't forget to email me any pictures of "Froghead Sightings" for the website!