The History of MerleFest
It all began with a gardener who wanted to raise funds for the campus gardens of a rural North Carolina community college and a group of musicians who wanted to memorialize a fallen friend and his musician father. It grew to an internationally renowned music festival and fundraiser that contributes more than $10 million to the region annually. It’s MerleFest.
Before becoming the first executive director of MerleFest, “B” Townes began his career at Wilkes Community College in the horticulture department. Driven by the goal of raising capital to improve the campus gardens, Townes had the idea to hold a concert in the fall of 1987 as a fundraiser. It was going to be a “one time, one night, one man show.”
Townes recruited Ala Sue Wyke, a WCC Gardens board member, and Bill Young, a retired banker from Northwestern Bank and a first class guitar picker who happened to have a friend named Doc Watson. In October of 1987, the three met with Doc Watson who generously agreed to do the concert in the John A. Walker Community Center and had a November date available for the event. “That was less than a month away,” remembers Townes. “I naively said, ‘Great,’ and then learned the next morning from Bud Mayes, the manager of the center, that you do not simply decide to have a concert today and fill up all of those 1,100 seats tomorrow!”
Doc’s wife RosaLee and daughter Nancy suggested a festival to be held at the end of April. At that suggestion, the group began planning a two-day, multiple artist event for Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1, 1988, with all proceeds going to the Eddy Merle Watson Memorial Garden for the Senses.
Townes focused on the logistics of organizing a festival while more and more of Doc and Merle’s musician friends committed to play the festival. Soon the group had a sold-out event. “We began to feel frustration … because we had all these people … wanting to attend the concert,” said Townes. “I spoke to Cliff Miller … and he suggested another site and having multiple venues.” The first festival was held over two days on two stages with a schedule that was written literally hours before the artists performed. Also, a workshop was held in the Mayes Pit Auditorium.
The 1988 event featured Doc, Earl Scruggs and fiddler Jim Shumate, Tony Rice, Chet Atkins, Grandpa Jones and daughter Alisa, Marty Stuart, Mike Cross, New Grass Revival, David Holt, Jack Lawrence, The Smith Sisters, John Hartford, Mark O’Conner, Jerry Douglas, George Hamilton IV, and others. That first year was a truly special one explained Sam Bush to MerleFest’s hometown newspaper the Wilkes Journal-Patriot in January 2001: “Since it hadn’t been long since Merle had passed away, our thoughts that first year were … centered on wanting to be with the Watson family to celebrate Merle’s life.”
Growth and Change
The second event in 1989 featured the most bluegrass heavy lineup in the festival’s short history. That year the college debuted the Doc & Merle Watson Theatre, its backstage dressing rooms, and the innovative use of the adjacent Cabin Stage as a “tweener” to cover set changes on its larger neighbor.
Shortly after that first year, Townes attended the International Bluegrass Music Association’s conference in Owensboro, Kentucky, and saw what that organization was doing with an outreach program with area schools. “I was impressed with that program, and it fit the mission of the college, so we applied the idea to MerleFest.” The MerleFest Outreach Program has since grown and introduced tens of thousands of children to the rich musical heritage of their region.
The festival had been known as the Merle Watson Memorial Festival until the summer of 1994. Kay Crouch of the band Strictly Clean and Decent had performed at the festival in 1994. As the band hit the road after the festival, they broke down in Boomer, N.C. While waiting to get back on the road, Crouch wrote a song called “Boomer Breakdown.” Crouch wrote a letter to Townes, included the song, and asked the dates for the next “MerleFest.” Townes was intrigued by the term and brought the idea of renaming the festival to the Watson family. With their blessing and enthusiasm, MerleFest became the official name.
As the festival grew, organizers continued to use the Mayes Pit Stage in Thompson Hall and added the popular Midnight Jam in the Walker Center, the workshop-oriented Creekside Stage, the Dance Stage and the Little Pickers Family Area.
Jammin’ became a defining feature of MerleFest from the beginning as the mix of artists collaborated in unique and seldom seen ways. Award-winning artist Laurie Lewis says it well: “You never know what’s going to happen. What questions people will ask. And you get the chance to play with people you don’t usually perform with.”
In 1992 WCC staff collaborated with North Carolina Public Television to tape all four days of the festival. Edited down into two-hour and eight one-hour versions, the series “Pickin for Merle” was shown on public television stations nationwide over a three-year period. This enhanced exposure increased attendance, and MerleFest 1995 saw total participation reach 38,433–an increase of almost 12,000 in just two years.
Throughout the growth of the festival, organizers have consistently looked for ways to improve the festival experience. The Hillside Stage moved to its fourth location in 1998 with enthusiastic audiences making it MerleFest’s largest daytime venue. When construction began on the college’s new science and technology building, Lowe’s Hall, the stage moved to what was supposed to be a temporary location. However, a positive audience response encouraged festival organizers to keep the new location. Over the years, the once flood-prone grounds of the Watson Stage area have been built up, and the stage has been raised to make for better sight lines. The festival entrance has changed multiple times to improve traffic flow and provide a more scenic entry.
MerleFest 2000 brought a permanent, covered Creekside Stage, a paved road from Hillside Stage to the on-campus RV campground, and the unveiling of the R&R tent. Following the crowding of the largest single day ever, “Dolly Parton Saturday” of MerleFest 2002, MerleFest 2003 witnessed additional major improvements in the festival infrastructure that permitted more general admission space.
MerleFest 2007 saw impressive infrastructure changes. In the summer of 2006, MerleFest staff agreed to work diligently to increase green space and reduce the amount of cars parked within the festival grounds. Organizers moved vendors onto a parking lot to create The Shoppes at MerleFest, which then created a domino effect of relocating parking and services. The end result was extremely positive, and staff and volunteers were proud when they saw their hard work come to fruition. “Once the festival started, we saw people doing exactly what was expressed in the original vision–reading on the lawn and children playing in the grass. It was exactly what we wanted to achieve,” commented current festival director Ted Hagaman.
MerleFest 2008 kicked off the new era of a greener MerleFest as the organizers and volunteers began to work toward reducing the environmental impact of the festival and setting a positive example of responsible environmental stewardship.
In planning for MerleFest 2010, organizers faced some challenges given the economic climate. However, the festival team agreed not to cut back on the quality of the event or in any way diminish the experience fans have come to expect. At the same time, we renewed our commitment to Wilkes Community College by maintaining the fundraising levels previously established. The event was a success, indeed! We welcomed 79,557 participants for the four-day festival, which had an estimated regional economic impact of more than $10.2 million. Fans traveled from 48 states, the District of Columbia and 10 foreign countries to take part in the celebration.