Wheatland neighbor Ray Simon died on April 3, 2020. Ray and his late wife Ann raised 13 children together and were longtime supporters of the Wheatland Music Festival. According to Bruce Bauman, in the early days, Ray loaned Wheatland organizers his farm truck so they could haul the snow fence used to mark off sections of the festival site, and Ray and Ann also provided housing for festival performers. In this century, Ray (whose family farm was on Pierce Road) enjoyed watching the parade of festival-bound campers on Wheatland weekend.