Get out there and have fun

(Editor's Note: This story first appeared in the July 2007 issue of Mammoth Monthly magazine. Subscribe here.)

It's hard to imagine that the Millpond Music Festival, opening Friday, Sept. 14 in Bishop, could get any more rangy than it has been in the past.

Yet Julie Bear and the organizers of what she calls the "little big festival" appear to have pulled it off again. They reached north to Canada for Le Vent du Nord, a traditional band from Quebec; across the Atlantic to Sweden for the band Vasen, and into the wild world of "Latin guitar world fusion," where Incendio, from Southern California, holds forth.

"Once again we have a really diverse, eclectic group of performers," said Bear, the president of the board of the three-day festival.

This year, the festival is Sept. 14-16 at the Millpond Recreation Area just north of Bishop. The venue is set against the backdrop of the Eastern Sierra escarpment -- a sheer wall of mountains that rises nearly four thousand feet from the Owens Valley floor.

It's more than the physical grandeur of the setting that makes Millpond such a popular event, however.
"I think it's so popular," Bear said, "because it's a beautiful outdoor venue that is lively and large enough to be fun and exciting, but still small enough that intimate friendships can be formed. And there are so many projects and opportunities for all ages."

Certainly there are opportunities for people to pick up craft and skills in the workshops from the musicians including from those from the far-flung places of the globe, such as Le Vent du Nord, players of traditional music from Quebec.

Tentatively scheduled to perform on Saturday, Sept. 15, this band is led by Nicolas Boulerice, who brings the hurdy-gurdy to the stage.

The instrument is an ancient European stringed instrument known in French as a vielle a roue ("wheel fiddle"). Boulerice is now proficient at both playing and building hurdy-gurdies, having handcrafted the two that he currently plays.

Bear said that it is musicians such as Boulerice who make the workshop experience at Millpond such a signature aspect of the festival.

"The size of the workshops and the closeness lends itself to great interaction between the audience and the performers," she said. "People really ask questions and talk to the performers.

"And although it probably doesn't make a big difference to people in the audience, it's great for them to know that we have the performers go into the schools throughout Inyo and Mono County before and after the festivals."

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Where: The Millpond Recreation Area, Bishop
When: Friday, Sept. 14—Sunday, Sept. 16
Tickets, Camping and Other Info: www.inyo.org/millpond or by contacting the Inyo Council for the Arts , 137 South Main Street, Bishop, CA 93514
Phone: 760-873-8014 FAX: 760-873-5518.