Noah Wall’s beautiful and amazing voice fills the valley
with the wonderful sounds of a song that tells of heartbreak and hard times. Hundreds of people gaze at the girl from
North Carolina and sway to the beat of her song. The song lyrics written by her, Noah sings as
the lead vocalist and fiddle player for “The Barefoot Movement”, who have come
to the Kickapoo Valley to once again perform for “Larryfest”.
Larryfest-2015 marked the 18th
year of the Bluegrass Music gathering in the Sebranek family’s sugar camp, also
known as Bohemian Glen. It’s just up the
way a little bit on 24-Valley Road, not far from where County Highway P winds along
Weister Creek. The idyllic valley setting has become a haven for lovers of good
music and good times.
The first such gathering held in
1998 was billed as the Bohemian Glen Music Festival and featured “Old Time Fiddle,
Polka, Waltz and Folk Rock” music. That
one-day event was free to the public with a free-will donation accepted. Some of the musical groups featured in that
initial festival were String Ties (which has become the “House Band” of
Larryfest), Go Away, The Original Chinquapin Hunters, and the In-Laws (which
has been another constant yet ever-changing group of the Sebranek family
musicians playing together for the festival).
In 1999, the second year of the
gathering, the band RPM would play for the gathering and become yet another
nearly constant musical presence over the years at Larryfest. The Nob Hill Boys, one of the best Bluegrass
bands in the Midwest, was featured at the festival that year. The Nob Hill Boys played Bluegrass songs with
a strong Southern feel that would become an integral part of the music played
at the festival over the years.
“Larryfest” had become the official
name of the festival by 2000. Named
after Larry Sebranek, the bluegrass festival became a yearly family gathering
with several hundred friends thrown in for good measure. A “$10 Donation” was requested at the third
festival, which by that time had become a two-day event with free camping &
parking and sweet corn (if available).
That 3rd festival featured the music of “Runaway” and
“Whipperwill’s Secret”.
We, my lovely wife Carolyn and I,
attended our first Larryfest in 2002. We
were lured to the festival by out niece Caron, nephew Jon and their many
friends who were attending the festival by that time. They were camping at the festival site,
arranged for our getting tickets and even carried our lawn chairs up to the
Larryfest grounds. We sat on the
hillside in the shade of the trees and listened to the wonderful music. In the evening, when the lights were turned
on, our position in the woods was dubbed “The Enchanted Forest” by one of the
bands playing. That name for the wooded
hillside has stuck to this day. The
band, “Heartsfield”, headlined that festival, bringing their “southern &
country rock” to the Kickapoo Valley glen.
By the following year, 2003, the
Larryfest organizers were charging a $25 admission price for the two-day
festival. As Larryfest grew and
expanded, the Sebranek family had to reorganize into a non-profit business organization
to run the event. The Kickapoo Valley
Acoustic Music Association (KVAMA) was created to oversee the festival, seek
out community sponsors to help with the event and sponsor songwriting and
talent seeking arms to feed into the festival.
KVAMA also turned around profits from the event to make annual donations
to the Ambulance Squad and Fire Department in La Farge and other area needs. That year, 2003, “The Wilders”, a group from
Kansas City, took the festival by storm and a Tennessee Bluegrass band,
Mountain Heart, also was featured. By
that time we were pretty much hooked on the great music and good times had at
Larryfest.
Food has always been a part of the
experience of Larryfest. Whether it is
the previously mentioned free sweet corn or the many options of the food
venders on the grounds, a full stomach always is part of the weekend. The menu has offered a variety of foods over
the years, but the famous “Ohbe Burger”, “Queen Anne’s Apples”, B-B-Q’d chicken
sandwiches, fresh-cut French fries, hummus wraps and Shrimp-On-A-Stick always
seem to tickle our taste buds.
But, Larryfest hasn’t always been
sunshine and moonbeams either. In both
2007 and again in 2010, torrential rains led to flooding in 24-Valley, Weister
Creek and the neighboring Kickapoo River.
Despite the treacherous and unforgiving weather, especially for those
camping on the Larryfest grounds, the shows went on as best they could in both
of those years.
As the search for the best talent
to play at Larryfest kept expanding nation wide, groups with multiple Grammy
Awards, Bands of the Year recognition, and nationally known recognition
appeared in the little valley off County Highway P. It came to be a given that Larryfest would
have the best to offer every year. Over
the years, some of those acclaimed groups included “Blue Highway” from
Tennessee, “Finders” from Iowa, “Special Consensus”, and the “Bluegrass
Brothers”.
By 2011, Larryfest ticket prices
had increased to $75 ($65 if purchased in advance and by that time, most
tickets were sold long before the event), and the Friday crowd was introduced
to “Pert Near Sandstone” from Minnesota and the band’s fantastic clogger, Andy
Lambert, pounding out rhythm with his whirling feet. The featured band on Saturday that year was
the “Walker Brothers Bluegrass Band” from Florida, another outstanding group of
musicians. My favorite memory from the
2012 Larryfest was the amazing guitar playing of Richard Smith from London,
England. How he ended up in the Kickapoo
Valley is a whole ‘nother story in itself.
“The Freighthoppers” from North Carolina brought energy and spirit to
the 2013 festival and we first heard that wonderful music from “The Barefoot
Movement” that year as well. So, I’m
back to where we started, listening a few weeks ago to the wonderful songs of
that group led by the amazing voice of Noah Wall.
During that second weekend of
August, this part of the Kickapoo Valley has become a destination for lovers of
good music and good times. Larryfest
draws in the best musicians from all over the country and beyond for the now
three-day gathering. That kind of talent
doesn’t come free and it now costs a C-note to attend. But considering the great music, the good
times and the FREE sweet corn (if you can get there in time to get any), that
price might be a steal. The Sebraneks
and their many cousins and friends still try to offer a wonderful time in their
little music-filled glen. Let’s hope
that the good music and good times continue to roll through the hills up on
Weister Creek.
