Focus on Hanley Farm – August 2018

The SOHS “Roots 2018 Music Festival” is just around the corner. On September 8, Hanley Farm will come alive with the music of banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin and bass as music ensembles perform in small groups on the lawns, the main stage and the dance pavilion. This year’s “Bluegrass Promenade” blends the very best of bluegrass, classic and contemporary sounds from popular groups, “Rainy & the Rattlesnakes,” “Waking Hazel” and “Siskiyou Summit.”

Rainy & the Rattlesnakes began when two little girls, sisters Rainy and Lela Miatke, then 6 and 8-years-old, started singing at local and northern California bluegrass jams. Soon after, the girls took up the fiddle and the mandolin and started a band with their father, Ray, backing them up on guitar. Now in their late teens, they perform traditional bluegrass, along with original songs and tunes.

Siskiyou Summit has been performing and cultivating its own brand of bluegrass since 1999! Each band member is an accomplished musician and writes and arranges, contributing to the band’s unique sound. The blend of fiddle, mandolin, Dobro, guitar, banjo and bass is a musical experience you won’t want to miss.

Waking Hazel’s music runs from “fast and furious bluegrass songs to old time fiddle tunes,” a combination sure to get you clapping your hands and tapping your feet. The five piece band specializes in bluegrass, folk, country, and Americana Roots music—a perfect combination for the music festival.

In addition to toe-tapping music, the event includes a “Vintage Instruments Petting Zoo,” allowing younger visitors to touch and play authentic string fiddles, banjos, and guitars. There will also be great food, beverages, beer and wine and topping off the day, there will be an old-fashioned hoedown, complete with a caller and fiddles!

The Bluegrass Promenade is a fundraiser to allow the Southern Oregon Historical Society to conduct restoration of the historic farm buildings, and move closer to their goal of becoming a year-round, living history site serving thousands of visitors each year! Purchase your tickets online at www.sohs.org.

Windows in Time Series—Newswatch 5: Rogue Valley TV News from the 1960s—The 1960s were a turbulent time in our history. The struggle for Civil Rights intensified as protesters drew the nation’s attention to injustice and brutality. Young people protested the Viet Nam War and many dropped out of political life. Hippies grew long hair and practiced free love. Communes, away from the turbulence of everyday life in the ‘60s, grew in popularity. Learn how these and other controversial events were presented on local TV with historian Ben Truwe on August 1 at the Medford Library, and on August 8 at the Ashland Library, noon-1:00pm.

Sundays at the Farm—Sundays through September 2. Admission is free! Farm House Tours: $5/adults; $3/SOHS Members & Children, 12 years and younger. Farm Hours: noon-4:00pm; House Tours: 1:00-3:00pm.