As I pause along my journey I was spending some time reflecting this morning before heading out to Red Wing Roots Music Festival.
This is my favorite weekend of the year, Red Wing Roots Music Festival 2019. I am unplugging for a few days and enjoying incredible music and friends at Natural Chimney. It is rare you can take a vacation and be surrounded by so many friends – but that is what Red Wing Roots Music Festival has become for me. It is an oasis of good wrapped up in a music festival located in one of the most beautiful corners on earth. If you have not attended you should plan to be there this year if there are any day tickets left and certainly next year get your tickets early.
As I stress about taking this pause, knowing I have work that needs to be finished, I was thinking how fortunate I am to be able to take this time away from the office. I am grateful for the incredible team at GG that allows me such flexibility of schedule. Thank you Deborah, Maggie, Jamara, Caitlin, James, Paul, and Ray for working on my projects while I am relaxing. I was also thinking about how fortunate I am to have a lot of work that is keeping me busy allowing me the opportunity to stress about getting things done. It was not long ago we had virtually no projects and I was new to the valley. I am thankful for clients that trust us to share their dreams as we work through the process of balancing design goals with budget and schedule. I am thankful to have a career doing work that I love, work that makes life better for my clients and community, and work that can make the future brighter. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do what I love as a career and to be able to take breaks from it. Also thank you (Mike, Michael, Jeremiah, and Jeremy) for giving me the opportunity to design this beautiful stage and sit in front of it hearing beautiful music. (Thanks to James, Deborah, Ivan, and Maggie for helping figure out how to build the vision).
I am also thinking about how much life has changed in the last few years. I thought I had things figured out and then I was smacked in the head with unexpected and unbelievable change. Now life is settling down and I am learning to trust that good will come if I wait. I am so furtunate to have two beautiful daughters that enjoy spending time with me. They are probably more excited about this weekend than I am – one for the adventure and the other for the music. However, they both, teenagers, still want to be with this old man. It has quickly become a family tradition to spend the weekend at this festival and they are already talking about next year’s plans before we arrive this year. We have also shared our camp space with the Sachs’ family which has become part of my family. Getting to live with them for the weekend is a gift! Seeing what Greg has dreamed up for our campsite is always enjoyable.
This weekend is going to be incredible! I hope to see you out there. My heart is already full and the music hasn’t started playing yet.
It is that time of year again – we are holding aRed Wing Roots Music Festival Ticket Give Away! This year we have the opportunity to hold a drawing for a pair of Red Wing Sunday (single day) passes. All you have to do is comment on which band playing on Sunday you are most excited to hear this year.
Red Wing Roots Music Festivalhas become a highlight of the summer for me, my girls, and my office staff. We spend the entire weekend hanging out with so many of our friends, hearing amazing music, hiking, and maybe even a little biking. We also love hanging out near the new stage that we designed….
I have written before about my love for this band that is the host for the festival – Steel Wheels. Their music touches me and I am so looking forward to the release of their new album! For now, I will keep listening to my current favorite song.
Sunday is my favorite day of the festival as the morning opens with a Steel Wheels “Gospel Set” and the day includes the Steel Wheels Tribute Set (where they honor an artist). Also this year I am looking forward to the Wildmans, the Fernandez Sisters, and the Gibson Brothers that all play on Sunday. You should really check out the entire weekend so you can see the Judy Chops, Walking Roots, Mandolin Orange, Charley Crockett, and the Hollering Pines – along with many others that will I will add to my list after this amazing weekend.
It will certainly be a long hot weekend. We drink plenty of water and try to stay cool in the mist pavilion sponsored by Venture Builders or if we are lucky there will be water in the nearby creek. The girls and I enjoy all the time together camping out (of course by camping I mean in an RV with air conditioning – I am a civilized architect after all…).
The community that forms at this festival is outstanding. We feel completely at home surrounded by amazing music and friends.
If you have not been, be sure to comment on which band you want to see on Sunday to enter our contest. If you are like me, this event will become an annual tradition that cannot be missed. If you really want to experience all the great bands, get your three day passes before they are sold out!