Wildflower Pavilion

[djames4]

When will the lineup for the pavilion be announce for the Folksfest? Some of my favorites have played there(Ellis, Amy Speace ...).

[BluegrassDustin]

It's not likely that we'll have the Wildflower Pavilion sets to announce till much closer to the festival.

[djames4]

If you are still looking for acts for the Wildlower Pavilion, let me suggest The Sea The Sea. They are instructors this year at the Song School before the Fest and they are staying for the Fest. Have seen them a coupe times and they put on a terrific show and since they will already be there...

[sharnrose]

I totally agree please do have The Sea The Sea at Wildflower Pavilion, would love to hear them again, many will recall Chuck E Costa, the winner a few years back. They are really good.

 Listening to: Joshua Radin

[Gnossos]

Hey, isn't is now "close to the time of the festival" so we should be informed of the performers and schedule for the pavilion???  We are just 14 days from the start!  Why maintain suspense like this?

 Listening to: new Gregory Alan Isakov CD

[djames4]

12 days now to the Fest. Really would like the Wildlower schedule for planning purposes. Traditionally I have liked some of the acts there better than headliners at  the time(Amy Speace,Ellis etc).

[djames4]

I have it on pretty good authority now that The Sea The Sea will be pay ing on Sunday in the late afternoon in the Wildflower Pavilion. That's great to hear.

[Gnossos]

I sent the following text in an email to Planet Bluegrass today.  Do you think my criticism is unfounded?   I hope not.  My intent is to provide candid feedback from a newbee.



To Planet Bluegrass,

The Folks Fest website indicates that the schedule for the Pavilion will be issued a few weeks before the festival and people have been posting comments on the community board requesting the information.  I also had the impression from the website that if I signed up for your emails I would get information about the lineups and schedules in a timely fashion, but since I did sign up for your email newsletters several months ago there have not been any newsletters issued at all.  Why promote them on the web site?

Well, here we are with just 9 days to go before the festival starts and still you have not announced who will perform in the Pavilion.  This will be my first time attending your festival so maybe I am wrong, but it seems like the Pavilion performances are part of what we are paying for and a part of what makes the festival great.  I am anxious to investigate the Pavilion performers on the internet before I travel to Lyons so I can look forward to seeing some of them…but I can't have time to do this if you further delay the announcement of who they are.  If you don't even know yet with just nine days to go then I think you are not living up to your stellar reputation any longer.

I hope that after earning such an unblemished reputation for putting on a great festival (which I have hoped to attend for many years now) you haven't backslidden and become complacent by not updating your web site this year and not issuing email newsletters, etc.  I am surprised also that you never seem to post updates on the community board where obviously we first timers look for learning and your long time attendees also frequently post and answer questions, etc.    I see you have not yet sold out in advance this year like I believe you have in recent years and maybe that is because the lineup is weak this year or more likely because you no longer keep up a level of excitement and updates to engage potential attendees.

Sorry to be critical but I think you need to hear from someone trying to get excited about attending your festival and planning my one big vacation trip for the year around it and at considerable expense.  I think you could be more customer focused.

[Gnossos]

Well, I could not resist sending a second email to the Planet Bluegrass folks today after seeing that they do not even maintain their Facebook page for the festival.  Here is what I sent, and again I would welcome any comments especially if you think I was inappropriate.  Have they forgotten what it is like for their customers to be excited about attending their festival with just over a week remaining?


To Planet Bluegrass,

I want to provide a little more feedback which I hope you will receive with my good intentions appreciated . 

I do not have a Facebook account and I find the format of Facebook is not at all conducive to exchanges of information like your community board is and can always be.  But I decided today after sending the email below that I better check your Facebook page to see If I had missed out on an announcement of the Pavilion performers placed there. 

So, I clicked on the link on your Folks Fest web site and I was really surprised to find that your Facebook page has not even been updated for an entire year!  It still lists the dates and performers for your festival in 2012.

Now I am nervous that my actual experience at the 2013 festival next week will not be up to par with the reputation you have and that you are no longer caring to provide excellence since you don't even maintain your own Facebook page.  Has something gone wrong at Planet Bluegrass this year?

[TheLorax27]

Well, I could not resist sending a second email to the Planet Bluegrass folks today after seeing that they do not even maintain their Facebook page for the festival.  Here is what I sent, and again I would welcome any comments especially if you think I was inappropriate.  Have they forgotten what it is like for their customers to be excited about attending their festival with just over a week remaining?


To Planet Bluegrass,

I want to provide a little more feedback which I hope you will receive with my good intentions appreciated . 

I do not have a Facebook account and I find the format of Facebook is not at all conducive to exchanges of information like your community board is and can always be.  But I decided today after sending the email below that I better check your Facebook page to see If I had missed out on an announcement of the Pavilion performers placed there. 

So, I clicked on the link on your Folks Fest web site and I was really surprised to find that your Facebook page has not even been updated for an entire year!  It still lists the dates and performers for your festival in 2012.

Now I am nervous that my actual experience at the 2013 festival next week will not be up to par with the reputation you have and that you are no longer caring to provide excellence since you don't even maintain your own Facebook page.  Has something gone wrong at Planet Bluegrass this year?

I can understand your excitement and enthusiasm, however I will share with you that while the Wildflower component is very cool and a wonderful part of the festival it is not integral to all Folks Festival goers.  I would venture to guess that many do not even know music is going on there.  This to me is intentionally self limiting as due to its size the Wildflower pavillion could not handle the whole festival ducking in for a whole show or even a few moments.

I am quite certain I have never known this schedule ahead of time and was pleasantly surprised each time I stumbled upon a performance there.  I imagine a schedule will be provided upon arrival at the festival to those looking for this.

As far as the "experience you are paying for" In my opinion Planet Bluegrass provides without a doubt the best value for the price. 

As mentioned I truly understand your enthusiasm and would only caution you that any doubting that you will have a full festival experience before you actually arrive at Planet Bluegrass ranch would be premature.  Things tend to slow down a bit there and most things happen as they are meant to, so to speak. 

In my experience PB is the MOST customer oriented organization in music and I imagine they will respond to your emails shortly and they most certainly read this forum regularly.

Lastly to me the lack of something on facebook is a positive :-) Glad to hear it!

I hope you get your questions answered and have a great time at Festival!!! See you in the Wildflower if I remember to get out of the river or off my comfy low back chair, or if I can pull myself away from the tremendous music on the main stage.

One Love ~ Nate Grant


 Listening to: Girlyman( a wonderful Wildflower surprise a few years back)

[BluegrassBrian]

I just posted the Wildflower workshop schedule for the 2013 Folks Festival:
   http://www.bluegrass.com/folks/workshops.html

Much like our main stage lineups, each year's Wildflower schedule comes together at its own pace.  This year we had to wait a few extra days to get final confirmation on times from a few of our very busy performers.  Thanks, everyone, for your patience with this...

Gnossos, sorry for the out-dated Facebook link on our web page.  The link you clicked-on incorrectly went to the Facebook event page for the 2011 Folks Fest.  I've now fixed this to point to the 2013 Facebook event page.  Thanks for pointing that out to us.