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Mimbres Region Arts Council Brings
Back Pickamania!
(Silver City, NM) The Mimbres Region Arts
Council and 1st New Mexico Bank of Silver City
have teamed up to --- bring back the popular
local, FREE music festival, Pickamania! for
2011. Scheduled for September 9-11, the festival
has been the most requested program throughout
the year according to MRAC Director, Faye
McCalmont. “It’s unbelievable how many people
have asked us to please find a way to bring this
festival back,” she stated. “People love the
‘down home, grassroots’ nature of the event and
are very interested in seeing it back after its
one year hiatus,” she continued. “Thanks to the
generous support of our Founding Sponsor, 1st
New Mexico Bank of Silver City, the board felt
confident that the MRAC could move forward with
our festival planning. But, we will still need
the support of the community to make it happen.”
MRAC has moved forward, booking the renowned
Savoy Family Cajun Band from Louisiana as the
headliner on Saturday, September 10 and the
well-known Colorado bluegrass band Spring Creek
as the headliner on Sunday. As a special added
attraction, the popular Honeygitters will kick
off the weekend with a dance at the Buckhorn
Opera House, Friday night, September 9, from
9-midnight. Admission to the dance will be $10,
helping to support the rest of the weekend
events which will be open to the public in Gough
Park and will include food and craft/artisan
vendors.
Spring Creek
"This is a music-loving community, as we know
from the popularity of our Blues Festival which
has grown every summer," said Dale Marcy, MRAC
board president. "By bringing back Pickamania,
we're responding to the demand for traditional,
folk and bluegrass music. We want to specially
thank the local music groups that have stepped
up to make this event possible by contributing
their time and talent.
The original “Pickamania” took place in the mid
1980s on Bill Bussman’s property near Caballo,
NM, where pickers from across the state would
gather in an informal setting to play together
and have fun. The MRAC produced the event in
2008 and 2009 as a festival featuring local,
regional and national musicians. In addition to
the performances in the park, workshops by a
number of performers will take place both
Saturday and Sunday mornings for a modest
entrance fee.
Vendor information for the weekend can be found
at
www.mimbresarts.org/pick_vendors.html. Many
volunteer positions are open for those wishing
to be a part of this exciting music festival.
Email
volunteer@mimbresarts.org to sign up. Thanks
to the support of Rocky Mondello at Morning Star
Screen Printing, fans can become a PickaMANIAC!
For a donation of $25 or more, donors will
receive a t-shirt emblazoned with that
sentiment. All proceeds will go toward
supporting Pickamania!
Two musical instruments will be raffled at
Pickamania! We're very excited to have an Old
Wave Mandolin built and donated by luthier Bill
Bussmann (www.oldwavemandolins.com)
again this year. The mandolin features a curly
redwood top with adirondack spruce x bracing,
New Mexico black walnut sides, back and neck,
Arizona Sycamore binding and peghead veneer,
Catclaw Acacia pickguard, Ziricote adjustable
bridge and fretboard with 12" radius, Turquoise
peghead inlay, soundhole rosette, and fretboard
position dots, bison femur nut, French polish
finish and a tweed TKL hardshell case. The list
price is $2600 and raffle tickets are only $5.
You can buy the raffle tickets on our website at
www.MimbresArts.org.
For a photo of the mandolin to be raffled, go to
www.mimbresarts.org/pick_raffle.html. The
second instrument to be raffled is a Johnson
banjo donated by Brandon Perrault
(575-590-7776). This model, JB 110, features
cast aluminum rim, Planetary tuners, inlaid
M.O.P. headstock design, mahogany resonator with
thumb screws, bound rosewood fretboard, geared
5th peg, mahogany neck, 30 Brackets, nickel
plated armrest, and comes with a case.
Visit
www.mimbresarst.org for more information.
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