We just heard from Mike Lawing with the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY. Mike was passing along some details about the reprise of the IBMM Fan Feast during IBMA week in Nashville. This event was a fundraiser to benefit the Museum’s Video Oral History Project (VOHP).

Mike reports that they raised over $12,000 during the Fan Feast and Auction, held on October 29 in Nashville, but some of that will be absorbed by hotel costs. This event, where bluegrass luminaries serve breakfast to those who attend the event, was a staple of the early days of the IBMA convention in Owensboro, and it was brought back this past week for IBMA’s debut event in Nashville.

The funds generated by ticket sales went mostly to the costs associated with hosting the event (food, room rental, etc) with only about $2 from each $30 ticket making its way into the museum’s coffers. The bulk of the monies raised at the Fan Feast came from the auction proceeds.

The Museum’s VOHP is crucial work, dedicated to chronicling the lives of 223 performers which they have designated as being a part of the First Generation of bluegrass artists. As we prepare to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the birth of bluegrass music in 2006, we realize the importance of reaching the remaining pioneers of our music whose contributions have not been amply recorded and preserved in a timely manner.

Mike especially asked that we make an appeal on behalf of the Museum that anyone with a bluegrass or bluegrass music-related web site consider placing a copy of the Museum logo on their site, along with a link to the IBMM site to help spread the word about the VOHP, and their need to raise the requisite funds as quickly as possible.