In the early years we did a lot of canoeing on streams in the Ozarks and in Colorado. Our favorite canoe was a yellow 17 foot "Old Town." One early year we went straight to Winfield after a canoe trip. Friends who joined us said they spotted the yellow canoe on top of our car. For several years after that we always took the yellow canoe. We explored the Walnut River before the festival, but we hung the canoe up in the trees when the crowd started gathering so our friends could find us. We became known as the "Yellow Canoe Camp." As the years started taking a toll on our bodies, we started questioning the tradition of hauling a 75 lb. canoe up into the tree tops. I think it was one of those dark nights, sitting around a campfire after many tunes and many beers, someone suggested, "You know, everybody else just puts up a flag or something. That would be a hell of a lot easier." It sounded like blaspheme at the moment, but the next year a yellow canoe banner guided the yellow canoe crowd to camp.

The "Yellow Canoe Camp" remained south of the fire lane in the Pecan Grove for several years, until Gary and Nancy and a few other diehards decided to fight the "Land Rush" and move the site to the more upscale side of the fire lane and tap into the electricity. Thus began a whole new era and brought the "Yellow Canoe" into the electronic age, opening a Pandora's Box of creature comfort possibilities. (See "The Things We Brought."

Many changes have taken place since then. The "Pavilion" as it is affectionately known was added, providing much needed shade and rain protection keeping the old-time music going until the wee hours, when the weary wandering canoers return from a biscuits and gravy run and finally call it a night.

Be sure to look at some of the early photos, and read the stories of some the past festivals.