It is with much sadness that, after the government announcement yesterday, we have decided to cancel Kiwigrass 2022. Although technically 100 of us could gather at Paeroa Racecourse and have a socially distanced get together under the trees, we feel it is better to take the safer route and not put any of our bluegrass family at risk from this highly contagious variant that is getting past vaccines.
In the meantime, if you need a Camp Kiwigrass songbook, or a festival t-shirt, flask, or drink bottle, drop me a line. I can go into the online sales business to keep me out of trouble until we can start planning for 2023 back at Karฤpiro or Paeroa. Maybe we’ll even be able to have an act or two from overseas by then!
We are sending all our love to our friends and bluegrass family across the globe. Be safe, keep in touch, and keep picking that beautiful music.
Author: Jenine Abarbanel
Kiwigrass 2022 Announcement
It is hard to believe that after managing a successful Kiwigrass 2021 and the roll outs of vaccine programs in New Zealand and overseas, that we would once again be faced with uncertainty about our ability to put on a festival in 2022. However, things are, if anything, even more uncertain now, emphasised by the cancellation of spring and early summer festivals that we are seeing now. Here at Kiwigrass we’ve taken a hard look at what we feel we can and can’t do, and what we feel is most important to preserve during this time. Our conclusion is that it is too risky to attempt to put on a full festival this coming year.
At the same time, it is important to us to maintain a “home” for bluegrass music and the people who love it in New Zealand. So Kiwigrass will be on in 2022, just scaled back. This year Kiwigrass will have more emphasis on participation and immersive music experiences, rather than concerts. We will still have a stage for performances by all your favourite New Zealand bluegrass, old time, and bluegrass-adjacent Americana bands.
With our smaller size, we also have a new venue, the Paeroa Racecourse. This is where Hamsterfest was held last Easter, so we know it is perfect for what we have in mind. And we’ve had to shift the date to February 11-13, a week later. We will put out more information about this year’s festival in the coming months.
Peter Madill featured in Stuff
Kiwigrass stalwart of the Luthier room Peter Madill was featured in a lovely article in Stuff recently. What especially caught our eye was Peter’s choice in attire:
Peter made a custom 5-string fiddle, valued at $7000 for the 2022 Kiwigrass Fundraising raffle! You will be able to buy raffle tickets to win the fiddle with festival tickets go on sale.
Colleen Trenwith 1946-2021
New Zealand’s musical world lost an inspiring pioneer who was friend or family to many of us. A founding member of Hamilton County Bluegrass Band, Colleen’s fiddling was world-class and she repeatedly proved it on stages and albums. Our hearts go out to her family and fellow band mates. “No sad farewells / No tear dimmed eyes / Where all is love / And the soul never dies.”
