News from Britt Hill – May 2024
IT’S A SPRING SYMPHONY in the woodlands surrounding Jacksonville. The string section—Douglas firs, Ponderosa Pines, flowering big leaf maples, and the majestic madrones—swells around us with a fresh wash of greenery. Oregon grapes, hazelnuts, wild roses, snowberry sword ferns, miner’s lettuce, and white flowering buck brush comprise the lush wind and percussion sections, filling in the sound and ornamenting it. And then there are the soloists: western bleeding hearts, trillium, lupine, shooting stars, and delphinium. They are with us briefly, standing center stage to take our breath away for a beautiful, ephemeral moment.
All of it together is a cacophony of textures, colors, and scale. It harmonizes against the swirling creeks that are full of snowmelt. It beckons us toward the beautiful music of our Britt summer ahead.
Wildflower season is perfect poetry, I think, for the magic of live performance. While we’re lucky to live in a time and place where recorded music is readily available, there’s a reason we flock to the hill to experience performance in person. A performance is its own ecosystem, and the wildflowers to be seen on stage are only there for a moment, not to be missed or taken for granted.
I’m therefore unbelievably excited that we’ll be presenting Wildflowers in Full Bloom with the legendary Judy Collins alongside our Britt Festival Orchestra in June. This is our annual fundraiser, supporting our education programs, our orchestra, and the costs of stewarding the park 365 days per year. It’s also a rare and precious moment to experience something musically extraordinary: Judy Collins performing her entire Wildflowers record with a live orchestra. Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” was first recorded by Judy Collins for this album, and the entire performance will be filled with gems from the 1960s folk movement. This music glimmers and gently glows, just like the sunlight filtering through the forest and touching on the petals of our spring blooms.
Obviously, there are many other fleeting moments to be had on the hill this summer, so whether you’re joining us for Star Wars: A New Hope, Willie Nelson, Colbie Caillat and Gavin DeGraw, Ziggy Marley, Trombone Shorty, or any of our other wonderful upcoming shows, we can’t wait to experience that moment of magic with you. Meanwhile, I hope you’ll take a moment to enjoy that spring symphony surrounding us.
See you on the hill!
All best, Abby