1:03pm | With an estimated 1000 plus people in attendance yesterday, the inaugural Rose Park Bluegrass Festival was a rousing success.
Although the children’s arts & crafts activities ran out of supplies a few hours in, the lucky ones could be seen with their handicrafts wandering the park and in the case of 7 year-old Timothy Clapper, onstage showing his chops on a homemade banjo made from a cigar box and rubber bands. It was then that the arts & crafts booths went truly organic with children and some adults cobbling together materials left from the various projects to create necklaces and bracelets.
Some of the gourmet food trucks were also caught unawares by the size of the crowd with pictures of food being removed from the menu board as they ran out of those particular items until, in the case of the Go Country 105 Radio Chuck Wagon, fries and soda were the only option left.
Even these minor glitches weren’t enough to put a damper on a beautiful day in the park. Children moved from the depleted activities booths to play in the bales of straw in Picker’s Corner with the unencumbered ease of a child’s imagination.
The Signal Hillbillies and Wreck N’ Sow played to an enthusiastic crowd and Lonesome Otis brought them closer to the stage with the only true bluegrass set of the day. Headliner Frank Fairfield mesmerized the audience playing his “old-time” music with a nonchalant style like he was on his country porch seemingly unaware of the hundreds of people keeping the beat with clapping hands and stomping feet.
This unique neighborhood festival, far removed from the concrete city settings of other summer music events, seems to have found its place in the hearts of the Long Beach community.
Signal Hillbillies
A little boy dances to the music of the Signal Hillbillies
Watching the bands onstage at the Rose Park Bluegrass Festival
Building rainmakers at the Garage Theatre’s arts & crafts booth
Pie eating contest
KC Gobble receives a messy high five after being declared the winner in the pie eating contest at the Rose Park Bluegrass Festival
Brad Howza quenches his thirst after competing in the pie eating contest at the Rose Park Bluegrass Festival
Paul Quinby shows off a cigar box guitar he brought to the Rose Park Bluegrass Festival
Timothy Clapper raises his homemade cigar box banjo after playing onstage at the Rose Park Bluegrass Festival
Betsy Brandel took 2nd place in the banjo contest during the festival on Sunday
A little girl plays in the straw at the Picker’s Corner section of the festival on Sunday
Children play in the straw at the Picker’s Corner section of the festival on Sunday
A little boy plays along on his cigar box guitar during the Lonesome Otis set on Sunday
Lonesome Otis with Dog
Frank Fairfield at the Rose Park Bluegrass Festival
Lots of great people watching at the Rose Park Bluegrass Festival on Sunday
Frank Fairfield at the Rose Park Bluegrass Festival
Frank Fairfield at the Rose Park Bluegrass Festival