Bones Fests
Through the Years
In the history of bones playing, it seems to have been pretty rare that a lot of bones players gathered together for the sole purpose of playing bones. But we do just that, every year. This wonderful new tradition was started by the Cowett family, and has grown every year since then. Although recently the Bones Fests have included many more people and been slightly more formal, we try to keep the feel of a family reunion when we get together.
Below are some short summaries of our Bones Fests. More detailed information can be found in the on-line Newsletter. There is a complete writeup for each fest in the No 3 or No 4 issue of each year, and Vol 8, Reflections was a special issue that summarized the first ten Bones Fests.
Click here for reminisces of:
- Bones Fest I was held at the Cowett residence, in Greensboro, NC, on Saturday, September 20 1997. 11 bones players attended.
- Bones Fest II was also held in Greensboro, NC, at Bur-Mil park, on September 26 1998.
- Bones Fest III was hosted by Russ and Wilma Myers of Brightwood, VA on September 25, 1999. This festival marked the start of the Rhythm Bones Society.
- Bones Fest IV was hosted by Steve and Janet Wixson in Chattanooga, TN over the entire weekend of September 22-24, 2000
- Bones Fest V was hosted by Steve and Jennifer Brown in Phillipston, MA on the weekend of August 3-5, 2001. 44 bones players were in attendance.
- Bones Fest VI was hosted by the Cowett clan in Greensboro, NC again, this time on the campus of Guilford college. This Bones Fest, held from August 2-4, 2002, included more than 50 bones players.
- Bones Fest VII was hosted by Gil and Linda Hibben in Louisville, KY on the weekend of July 25-7, 2003. It appears that we had more than 60 bones players in attendance this year!
- Bones Fest VIII was at the Lake Anne Plaza in Reston, VA, near Washington, DC, hosted by Sally and Terry Carroll the weekend of August 20-22, 2004.
- Bones Fest IX was held in Signal Mountain and Chattanooga, TN, the weekend of July 8-10, 2005, hosted by Steve and Janet Wixson!
- Bones Fest X was hosted by Jonathan and Melissa Danforth in New Bedford, MA, on the weekend of July 28-30, 2006!
- Bones Fest XI was hosted by Dave Boyles and Don Gilmore at the Riveredge Nature Center north of Milwaukee, WI on August 18-20, 2007.
- Bones Fest XII was hosted by Spike Bones and Scott Miller in St. Louis, MO on October 17-18, 2008.
- Bones Fest XIII was hosted by Gil and Linda Hibben again in Louisville, KY on August 28-30, 2009.
- Bones Fest XIV was hosted by Kenny Wolin and Teri Davis in Old Towne Alexandria, VA on July 23-25, 2010.