Walter McKenzie

Now, shouting “White Springs is full of it” may be fighting words for some, but certainly not if you’re talking about talent. White Springs has an amazing amount of talent for a town its size. Authors, athletes, educators, farmers, businesses, builders, performers and artists are all part of the talent fabric of our community. Even though we have a lot of talent here, we import a lot of talent too. It may seem unlikely that we could be the center of so much attention and such great learning opportunities, but don’t let that stop you from taking advantage of the opportunities that are found here to experience and learn from great talent. 

You may see the following information about the Old Time Music Weekend elsewhere in the paper in a later edition but I wanted to give any aspiring musicians a chance to plan ahead. Once again, the world is coming to White Springs with opportunities for learning and being entertained. Those of you who have been attending the Song Farmers sessions at Stephen Foster Park should be particularly interested in this opportunity to learn from the masters. Others will just want to attend the Friday and Saturday night concerts. Either way, you will get what you’re looking for, a quality musical learning experience.  

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park will host the 13th annual Stephen Foster Old-Time Music Weekend on Sept. 8-10. This three-day event offers participants in-depth instruction in old time music techniques on the banjo, guitar, vocals, and fiddle for all levels. Instructors include Chuck Levy, Paul Brown, Terri McMurray, Tom & Patrick Sauber, Ann Whitley, Tommy Bledsoe, and David & Marietta Massey. Take a look in the next paragraph at some of the amazing facts about this year’s instructors. Registration for the three-day event is $199, which includes all workshops, jam sessions, discussion groups, concerts and meals. A spouse program is also offered for just $85 and includes two concerts, jams and all meals. For those of you who only want to attend the concerts, they will take place on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and admission to each concert is $10 per person. For more information and instructions for registration, please call Kim Rivers at the park at 386-397-7009. 

The instructors for this year’s Old-Time Music Weekend are truly amazing. I’ll mention some now, and some in a future column. Tommy Bledsoe is a musician, actor, writer, director and educator. He grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, where he learned the value of passing along cultural wisdom through dance, songs, and stories. Since relocating to St. Augustine, he continues to perform traditional music and dance calling on various instruments, including guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bass, harmonica and banjo, on which he won titles of Florida Old-Time Banjo Champion in 1999 and 2011. Paul Brown is a musician and retired NPR reporter and news anchor who started playing banjo when he was a kid. He also plays guitar and fiddle. Brown studied banjo intensively with Tommy Jarrell, one of the greats of old time southern fiddle and banjo. The host of the “Across the Blue Ridge” program on public radio, he has produced numerous acclaimed albums featuring traditional artists. His solo album is titled “Red Clay Country.” He presents and teaches at festivals and camps, and continues to record and document traditional music. Terri McMurry started banjo uke, guitar, ukulele, and banjo when she was pint-sized. She dug deep into clawhammer banjo with North Carolina master musician Tommy Jarrell in the 1980s. She co-founded the Old Hollow String Band with Riley Baugus and Kirk Sutphin and has played in bands, including the Toast String Stretchers, the Smokey Valley Boys, and the Mostly Mountain Boys. Terri has taught at festivals and camps coast to coast and is known for her welcoming and encouraging teaching style. 

So, as you can see in the preceding paragraph, White Springs imports a lot of talented performers, teachers and visitors, but to maintain a fair balance in trade, we export some mighty fine talent to the larger world on an occasional basis too. Merri McKenzie just returned from instructing workshops and classes at the American Sewing Guild’s National Convention in Orlando. Merri and her sister, Celeste Beck, took their “Goatfeathers” trunk show on the road to the convention where all of the “goat sisters’” presentations and workshops were filled to capacity. Merri and Celeste always have an energetic and entertaining aura about them and I’m told that they were the “Rock Stars” of the sewing world in Orlando. This is significant to White Springs because Merri started out her career as a fiber artist and weaver when she took the job of Artist in Residence at the Stephen Foster Park in the early 1970’s. She said the first time she crossed the bridge over the Suwannee coming into White Springs all those years ago, she knew that had found her home, and she’s been here ever since. Now retired, Merri enjoys her travels around the region pursuing her interest in fiber arts, but she still says her favorite part of each journey is crossing that Suwannee River and coming home to White Springs!

So, as always, there is a lot going on in White Springs and the surrounding area. We would do well to appreciate and support the talent in our community who strive to make this a better place to live, for us and for future generations. Get out there and take advantage of the opportunities and while you’re doing so, be kind to yourself, your family, your neighbors, and to our visitors. I hope to see you out and about, enjoying the travel and culture that is available right in your back yard, finding adventures, taking positive actions, caring, and sharing an attitude of gratitude for all the good people and good things that are part of your life in White Springs. If you have news you want to share, I care and I’d love to hear from you.

Walter McKenzie

lifeinwhitesprings@gmail.com

386-303-1394