About the Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Association

In September of 1975, bass player Tom O'Neill circulated a proposal to a group of people whose names had been gleaned from the personal address books of his bluegrass and old-time music playing friends. He sent out a preliminary newsletter announcing The Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Association (MBOTMA), based on the San Diego Bluegrass Club and its newsletter format. MBOTMA got started with its first official newsletter, mailed to a new membership of 40, that October.

During the first year there was a heavy workload to bear but the Association's membership grew steadily and in August of 1976 MBOTMA was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in Minnesota. During the first three years membership grew to over 400 and many events were put on to try to raise money for the fledgling organization.

The organization introduced its first three-day festival at Wildwood Campground in Taylor's Falls (MN) in August 1980. This event would eventually become the Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Festival, now located near St Cloud (MN). Its 25th anniversary edition has been nominated as “Event of the Year” by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA). 1980 was also the same year MBOTMA held the very first Buy, Sell, Swap Meet, which would develop into today’s Winter Bluegrass Weekend: A Festival of Bluegrass & Old-Time Music & Dance, held annually the first weekend in March at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center in Plymouth (MN).

In 1988, the MBOTMA Festival moved to Camp in the Woods Resort, near Zimmerman (MN). By the second year at this location volunteers had constructed a permanent stage facility that they were proud of, and over the years countless bands enjoyed performing there to capacity audiences. The Minnesota Homegrown Kickoff Music Festival was started in June 1993 at the same venue and provided a format for MBOTMA Member Bands to show off their talent. This festival also flourished, but in 2001 Camp In The Woods was sold to a housing developer, the stage that the volunteers had worked so hard on needed to be abandoned, and a larger location with a long-range future was sought.

The goal of moving the two summer festivals to a new home was realized in 2002 with a move to El Rancho Mañana, a campground and riding stables located in the rolling hills of central Minnesota west of St. Cloud. The venue is large enough to accommodate increased interest in bluegrass and old-time music and offers amenities such as horseback riding and a swimming beach. Volunteers designed and contributed much of the labor to build a new concert area and stage, larger then the old, that is now considered one of the Midwest's most beautiful outdoor festival grounds.

In 2001, MBOTMA brought on board its first professional executive director, Jed Malishke, to better serve its membership and mission. New concert programs were established. The Community Concert Series now brings MBOTMA Member Bands to small venues in small communities throughout Minnesota. The Lonely Pines Concert Series bring to Minnesota professionally touring bands to seven of Minnesota’s largest cities. MBOTMA also hosts various jam sessions, sponsors children’s educational programs, and helps support many events sponsored by other organizations or its member bands.

With a current membership of about eleven hundred, MBOTMA marked its 30th anniversary in 2005. Its three major festivals are well established, along with the Lonely Pines Concert Series, the Bluegrass Minnesota Concert Series and many other special events. Its monthly publication Inside Bluegrass has been voted “Best Newsletter” by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) for the last two years. The Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Festival was nominated "Event of the Year" by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2005 AND 2007. And bluegrass and old-time music has never been better here in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest!