Feet stompin', toes tappin' at bluegrass festival

While a bluegrass band played on a stage next to the Bowers Mansion in Washoe Valley on Saturday, James Maxey, 57, was trying out a fiddle.

"If you don't start tapping your foot to this kind of music, you gotta be dead," said Maxey, who was among hundreds of people listening to bluegrass bands play at the 25th Bowers Mansion Bluegrass Festival.

It ends today after a free bluegrass and gospel performance at the Davis Creek Campground Amphitheater that starts at 10 a.m.

The event attracted more than 300 people and 11 bands - most of them local - that donated their performances to the Northern Nevada Bluegrass Association, said program coordinator Tom Emmert.

Emmert said the event used to attract national acts to the annual festival, but recently has focused on local bands and attracting newcomers to the genre - like himself.

It was just two years ago when Emmert said he saw a bluegrass performance and decided to buy a guitar and try his hand at the genre, which usually includes instruments such as banjos and fiddles.

"From there it was all downhill," Emmert said with a smile. "The very next day I bought a guitar in a pawnshop. Now I'm on the board of directors of the Northern Nevada Bluegrass Association."

He said many people often pick up bluegrass music late in life.

"That's the one thing that people like about it, it makes it easy for a lot of people to come together and play on the same even field," he said.

Joyce Furlong, who used to run the festival, said she started playing the stand-up bass about five years ago and joined the bluegrass band the Piney Creek Weasels.

"Right now we probably have around 16 bands in the area," Furlong said. "And our bands all donate their performances."

Dan Baker, the president of the Northern Nevada Bluegrass Association and the guitarist for the Piney Creek Weasels, said the organization hosts workshops throughout the year. For more information visit www.nnba.org.

"For me I grew up playing it," Baker said.

Furlong said she just like the sound of bluegrass.

"Anybody can sit on their back porch and play this music," she said. "You don't need anything but your guitar or your banjo."

Melena Bernard, 40, brought her children Johanna, 5, and Austin, 3, to the festival on Saturday.

While Bernard said she's not a self-professed bluegrass fan, "I enjoy it when I hear it."

Dustin Clark, 30, said three generations of his family came to the bluegrass festival on Saturday, including his three children.

"I'm a fan of all music," Clark said. "I'm a fan of Irish music."