Bluegrass at the Beach was formed in 1992. . .
when Stephen Ruffo,
a resident of the North Oregon Coast (Manzanita) found out that
the HayStack program run thru Portland State was
going to shut down its Bluegrass Program held in Cannon Beach. Stephen
had attended some of the activities that were open to the public
and was disappointed to find out it was going away. The Haystack
Program was nationally popular and had such great instructors including
Hot Rize, John Reishman and Laurie
Lewis. This was where Stephen first met Laurie.
He contacted Portland State and they told him that
they could support the Instructors but not the support staff. He
asked how big was support staff and they told him 17 people. That
was at Portland State and included staff for many programs besides
the Haystack program. Some of those programs still run today.
Well Stephen thought, heck 17 staff, maybe I could
do it was just some volunteer help. Stephen talked with the Oregon
Bluegrass Association and enlisted the help of Claire
Levine and a couple others and off we went. The OBA became
the non profit umbrella under which the beach operated but as it
grew it became a problem for the bookkeeping for the OBA and did
not really produce any income, with many years Stephen not even
making an compensation so a few years ago the OBA and Stephen decided
that it was best to just become a private enterprise. The OBA still
supports the Beach with advertising and other great things it has
available to it.
Year one in 1992 had 25 musicians
and the following staff:
FIDDLE, Laurie Lewis
MANDOLIN, Tom Rozum
GUITAR, Peter McLaughlin
BANJO,Tony Furtado
DOBRO, Sally Van Meter |
Year 2 had 27 musicians and the following
staff:
FIDDLE, Laurie Lewis
MANDOLIN, Tom Rozum
BASS, Cary Black
GUITAR, Peter McLaughlin
GUITAR, Dale Adkins
BANJO, Craig Smith
DOBRO, Sally Van Meter |
Eventually Bluegrass at the
Beach grew to around 80 students, the maximum that we had
set for ourselves in the current facility. Laurie and Tom have been
with me all along with laurie being the Program Coordinator, helping
to choose staff.
Our Artwork has mainly been done by Kenny
Fox, a stained glass artist and old friend of mine who
is also a great painter.
We developed the theme of the Woody car, a classic
50’s and 60’s stationwagon that became popular for the
surfers and instead of a Surfboard on the top, we put the Bass in
classic Bill Monroe style.
We have also always been at the beach in Manzanita,
Oregon on the North Coast but over the years, Manzanita has changed
dramatically and it becomes harder to find our space out there.
More changes are happening at the Nehalem Bay State Park
that may make it easier for us to camp all together.
Also we have traditionally done an opening party on
our first nite with a fresh Tuna Fish Barbeque and have invited
all of the town folks that have supported our camp. One person at
Manzanita Seafood provides us with 100 lbs of tuna
fish, caught the day before for whole sale cost. Her father in law
used to catch the fish for us and Stephen marinades it with his
special ginger lime marinade.
Bob and Donella Evoniuk have been
Stephens main support staff for many years. Bob was part of Bluegrass
at the Beach and Stephen brought Donella out one year to help and
Bob and Donella fell in love in Stephens kitchen while making the
Artist dinner for the pre planning meeting. Within a couple years,
they were married with the ceremony being performed at the Beach
the night before Bluegrass at the Beach began. It was on a Sand
Dune overlooking the beautiful ocean with Stephen presiding at the
preacher. David Grisman came to the beach in 1998
to bring his son to study with Todd Phillip, who
was an original member of the David Grisman Quintet
in 1976. The 2nd year that David came back, 1999, he met Tracy who
was a friend of Stephen’s from Port Townsend and was staying
in Stephen’s house, helping out. They met and were married
in 2007, actually in Port Townsend, with once again, Stephen acting
as the preacher. David was so in love with Bluegrass
at the Beach that he wrote and recorded a song by that title.
One year Rob Ickes was married and
spent his honeymoon at the Beach with us.
And these stories go on. We had one good friend, Ken
Milam, who came for years. One year, Ken was sick on our last few
days of camp and eventually was diognosied with a terminal illness
and passed away a short time later. We established the Ken
Milam Scholarship fund in his memory and it still exists
today, although since we are not a non profit, we do not actively
solicit donations. Many ask about helping out so we may become more
active with financial help.
Our future, as in many things, tries to wrestle with
the changes that are happening to Manzanita. I look for ways to
expand, make it better, grow the offerings, etc. Lately I have been
trying to form a Bluegrass Symposium to study Bluegrass music. Kind
of like the colleges that are offering degrees in Bluegrass music,
but in a week long camp instead. We will see what develops.
Stephen also was part of the Wintergrass
organization having been on its Board of Directors for several years
until becoming it’s Executive Director a few years back.
Stephen also developed the Mandolin
Symposium in 2005 along with David Grisman,
Mike Marshall and Chris Thile.
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