Goodbye – Martin “Lucky” Cates [2020-05-16]

Goodbye - Martin "Lucky" Cates [2020-05-16]

Longtime Wheatlander Martin “Lucky” Cates passed May 16, 2020. Sara Cates, his daughter said, “My dad Martin aka Lucky loved Wheatland for more than 40 years. His mother (the late Rosemary Miller) had volunteered at Wheatland since the beginning. He loved the drum circles, the dance classes and the Sunday morning worship at Main Stage […] Read more »

Goodbye – Rickey Novak [2020-04-29]

Goodbye - Rickey Novak [2020-04-29]

Friend “Banjo-Jim” Foerch wrote, “Rickey Novak passed away suddenly on April 29. He started attending the Festival, Wheatland Jamborees and Traditional Arts (TAW) in 1993. He was a walking library of the songs of the 50s – 60s folk rebellion and could be heard leading them with his guitar in jams at the Blue Water […] Read more »

Goodbye – Ray Simon [2020-04-03]

Goodbye - Ray Simon [2020-04-03]

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 […] Read more »

Goodbye – Pearl Taylor [2020-03-10]

Goodbye - Pearl Taylor [2020-03-10]

Longtime Hiawatha Festival organizer and Wheatland volunteer Pearl Taylor died on March 10, 2020. Pearl worked in the Info Booth at Traditional Arts Weekend and the fall festival for over 20 years. Longtime Wheatland volunteer Chris Cotton described Pearl as “a force in the traditional music and dance world for as long as I can […] Read more »