First and foremost, you may notice that we have a LOT of new faces on crew, and we want to thank all of you who work this year. We had more than 100 new workers in 2023, and this year is shaping up to surpass that. This festival cannot survive without your help, and we thank you all for your hard work before, during and after festival. We hope you are hooked on the challenging but rewarding work that we do to organize the event, and that we will see you back next year.

Before you even make it onto grounds, you will notice that we have shortened the time between Lineup (9/7) and Land Rush (9/12), meaning you will spend less money on camping before festival begins. Remember, our front gate stays open all night for Land Rush, but will operate from 8am to 11pm afterward. Please plan your arrival accordingly.

We are excited to introduce a new tiered system for youth tickets, making it much more affordable for families to attend Walnut Valley Festival. Teens aged 11-15 years old can now attend for half the cost of an adult ticket. Children up to 5 years old still get in free, and tickets for ages 6-11 cost $10. These tickets are only sold at the gate, and kids must be accompanied by adult.

Like many other events and venues, Walnut Valley Festival’s front gate is going cashless, with only debit and credit cards accepted at front gate. For speedier entry, be sure and purchase your tickets online beforehand, and have them ready for scanning at the gate. As you enter, check out the new look of our pocket-sized full color programs.

Continuing our commitment to sustainability, we are expanding our food waste reduction program with Wichita’s Nudge Compost. This year we intend to enroll more interior food vendors in the program. Don’t forget to participate in the Clean Camp initiative for a chance to win passes to WVF 53 in 2025!

Have you ever noticed how many superb musicians also are talented crafts makers? This year we are rolling out an area for them to put all their skills on display, called Art Beat Ally. Look for the schedule in your program, and catch them doing their thing on Friday and Saturday afternoon.

We know many of our campground pickers like to spend nights wearing out their strings, so this year we will join with Stage 5 and Stage 6 to collect used instrument strings for recycling. The program is a joint effort with D’Addario, CF Martin and Terracycle, and you can find the distinctive collection bins near Stages 5 and 6 in the campgrounds, and across from the Info Booth in the interior.

Celtic band RUNA returns, and will again be collecting socks for those in need. Socks in the Frying Pan, as you might expect, are teaming up with RUNA in this effort. Runatics and Socks fans unite! Look for the sock bin in the Mercantile, as you shop for your merch and performer CDs.

And the music? Once again, we have brought some of the best musicians in the world to Winfield, KS. New acts include AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Common Chords (Robert Jones and Matt Watroba), Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band, Scott Cook & Pamela Mae, Nathan McEuen, Rick Faris Band, Front Porch, Little Big Twang, and Sally & the Hurts.

Several performers in the 2024 lineup are artists who made many fans in their debut last year, including The Barefoot Movement, Becky Buller Band, Tina Bergmann & Bryan Thomas, Haymakers, Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley, Pixie & the Partygrass Boys, and RUNA.

Perennial favorites returning to Winfield include Socks in the Frying Pan, The Steel Wheels, Bing Futch, Beppe Gambetta, Shane Hennessy, Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, John McCutcheon, Special Consensus, Roz Brown & Jim Ratts, Andy May, Karen Mueller, Old Sound, Barry Patton, Dave Stamey, Linda Tilton, and Weda Skirts.

Chris Jones returns to curate the festival’s songwriting exhibition, NewSong Showcase. Andy May also returns to host his Acoustic Kids Showcase, giving young musicians an opportunity to appear on stage and gain experience in front of a live, supportive audience. The youngest festival goers can enjoy a variety of kids’ activities at Feisty’s Music Camp for Kids, hosted by Erin Mae, Aaron Fowler, and Stage 6.

We welcome back to grounds River Rat Print & Skate, a Lawrence-based crew who will be here with official WVF t-shirt and apparel designs. You can find them in Barn 8, the big red barn next to Stage II, along with official WVF 52 mug producers Gallery Mostaza, and Prestige Monogram’s official hats and other embroidered items.

Join us for more than 200 hours of music across 4 stages, 8 instrument championships, a juried Arts and Crafts fair, a Songwriters Showcase, Andy May’s Acoustic Kids, Kids Crafts, Feisty’s Music Camp for Kids, Wednesday Workshops, the Ozark Music Shoppe online show, and an array of fantastic food vendors. We can’t wait to welcome you back to Winfield!

Bart Redford
Executive Director