Revived festival provides toe-tapping good time

SEMINOLE -- Take one sunny afternoon, some cool breezes and lively bluegrass music and what do you have?

A delightful day in the park.

That's what was in store for the 500 or so people who visited Seminole City Park Sunday for the 25th Seminole Bluegrass Festival, which lasted until early evening.

The event, sponsored by the G.F.W.C. Junior Woman's Club as its major fund-raiser, was back after an absence of two years because of renovations to Seminole City Park.

"Isn't this new park great?" emcee Hank Shaw, a disc jockey for WQYK, asked the audience.

Festivalgoers responded with a round of applause.

And the early birds, those who arrived at 11 a.m. or shortly after, were the luckiest people because they got their pick of the shady spots under the live oak trees.

By 2 p.m., there were rows and rows of toe-tapping visitors sitting in lawn chairs on the tiered grass steps in front of the new stage.

"It's a beautiful, beautiful day," said Sandy Holloway, who was helping out with the musicians. "Of course, we'll get more people later ... the after-church crowd."

Holloway was one of the organizers of the event 25 years ago and has been actively involved almost every year since. Her daughter, Kristen Holloway-Oliphant, was supposed to be in charge Sunday, but Mrs. Holloway-Oliphant plays in a band that had to go out of town that day.

An early crowd pleaser at this year's event was the band Foothill, which sang the bluegrass tune I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow from the soundtrack of the movie O Brother Where Are Thou?. The soundtrack garnered four Grammy awards and was among Billboard Magazine's top 10 albums earlier this year.

Although his band, Flattop, wasn't playing on Sunday, Rick Meyer, a string bass player, was enjoying the music just the same ... as a spectator.

"This festival is a lot more intimate than most," said Meyer, of Largo. "Seminole is such a small community. And these people (the Junior Woman's Club) work like dogs to put this on."

Meanwhile, James Shelton, 67, of Largo, was recording some of the proceedings for his own enjoyment on a tiny cassette recorder. "I've got about 40 tapes of different concerts," he said. "I like the bluegrass a lot."

And Sunday was a family day for many. Donna Croteau, 37, was there with her daughter, Dylann, 3, and niece, Shannon Diehl, 7, of New Port Richey.

"I came for the music, but I brought the kids along for the fun," said Croteau, of Seminole.

Little Dylann danced to the music as her mother spoke. She and Shannon also enjoyed the moon walk, other kids' activities and hot dogs.

Among the groups who performed were Southbound, the 97th Regimental String Band, Beaumont, Southwind, Shark Attack and Green Grass Revival, a band that performed at the first festival in 1977 and has performed most years since then.

After expenses are paid, the club will realize about $3,000 from the event, said Tori Thrower, overall chairwoman of Sunday's event. The proceeds will go toward children's charities.

Over the years, the club has donated over $170,000 to such organizations as Ronald McDonald House; the Pinellas Association for Retarded Children (PARC); the Special Olympics; R.O.C.K., a special summer camp for kids with cancer; the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast; Hugh O'Brien Youth Foundation and more, Thrower said.

Other funds have gone to the Seminole Community Library, Seminole Pow Wow Festival, Seminole Kids' Appreciation Day and more.

-- Information from Times files used in this report.

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