For two decades, Cindy Pinion and a group of up to 100 volunteers have hosted a three-day bluegrass festival to honor her late father, Boxcar Pinion, who played a bass fiddle he called Ole Yeller. When it began, bluegrass music was a niche genre loved by a small but loyal fanbase.
Pinion said her mission then, as now, was to introduce people to quality music and to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
Q: What is the history of the Boxcar Pinion Memorial Bluegrass Festival?
Cindy Pinion: My dad, Boxcar Pinion, loved to play bluegrass and was well known for that. He passed away from cancer. We have our festival as a tribute to him, and we also raise money for the American Cancer Society. Basically I just wanted to show people around here what I drove hundreds of miles to see, though people are warming up to bluegrass.
Q: Many people might not realize that the 'Forever Bluegrass' bumper stickers we see everywhere are yours. What is the story behind them?
A: That is an actual picture of my dad on there. We made those stickers in the very beginning as a fundraiser, but they were very costly, so we figured it would take forever to get our money back. We looked at Rock City and remembered how people used to paint their signs on barns for free and thought, 'Hey, why not give these out for free to get our message out?' Since then we have mailed probably a million of them out all over the world. It's a very generic, very exciting message, but when you see it, you know it, and it has established our logo.
When dad was diagnosed with cancer, all of his friends got together and wanted to do a fundraiser. We figured we needed a logo. A friend took a picture and we put it on a T-shirt and sold adds on the back. It was a few years later we started the bumper stickers.
Q: What year did he pass?
A: He died in 1990.
Q: Can you describe the bluegrass scene in the area at the time?
A: When I first started it, it was a hidden secret. I think people just associated it with this twangy awful music in the background. Once we got good acts in and people got exposed to some really good bluegrass, they were like, 'This is really good.' They don't think it is quite so cornballish.
Q: Where was the first one?
A: Camp Columbus. But we got so many campers, we had to move.
Q: Where is it now?
A: Raccoon Mountain RV Park & Campground in Tiftonia.
Q: How many people come?
A: Several thousand.
Q: How has it survived all these years and with the economy we've had?
A: One thing I'm very proud of is we work very hard and we sell ads to help. We've never had a price increase in all these years. At $45 [per person] for three days of music and camping, it is affordable for the family man and the working man.
Q: Do you promote other shows?
A: Yes. I'm big into house concerts where you get professional musicians passing through to play for whatever the door is. We hold them at Mike's Music in Flintstone. We might get 100 people in and it is very small and very intimate and personal.
Q: What is about doing this that keeps you going after 20 years.
A: The music, the people and driving down the road and seeing my dad's picture on a sticker in another state. I just love it.