Four early leaders of the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society will be honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards on March 13, 2010, as part of the 3rd Annual Northern California Bluegrass Awards. Each gave many years of dedicated service to the then-fledgling Society, now known as the Northern California Bluegrass Society. The awards ceremony is part of the NCBS Bluegrass On Broadway Festival in Redwood City.
Dick Dowell & Judy Dowell joined the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society shortly after its founding in 1982. They assisted in all aspects of the organization’s activities, including helping host the SCBS Spring and Fall Campouts at Mt. Madonna County Park near Gilroy. They also helped organize many concerts and the first SCBS festival, and helped run the Society’s information booth at festivals.
Dick served many terms as SCBS treasurer, as vice-president, and as a long-time board member. Judy served as editor of and a writer for the club magazine, Bluegrass By The Bay. For many years, she graciously hosted the organization’s board meetings in her kitchen.
Dick & Judy were also mainstays in the Country Roads Folk Music Camp, and are avid fans of bowling, airplane races, RVing, golf, and hosted a regular Monday Night Football gathering for bluegrass fans at their home in Saratoga for many years. They are now Davis residents.
Dick Clark & Joyce Clark came to the SCBS in its early days through their love of the band Sidesaddle. They recruited many of the new members of the growing Society by staffing the SCBS information booth at festivals. They also helped with most other Society events, including concerts, campouts, the first SCBS festival, and the Society’s support of local bands and bluegrass businesses. Dick served on the SCBS board and two terms as president.
Since moving from Santa Clara to Mountain Ranch, Dick & Joyce have volunteered for the California Bluegrass Association, hosted bluegrass jams and campouts at their home, and organized regular jams at the Mountain Ranch Cafe.
The Dowell & Clark RVs anchored the early Society encampments at Grass Valley and other Northern California bluegrass festivals, and provided a festival home for the organization’s musicians and other members. Breakfast at the “Two Dicks Cafe” was a Saturday morning ritual for SCBS campers, and evening jammers ran the gamut from Sidesaddle to the Del McCoury band. The camp was an important part of the early history of the organization.
The Northern California Bluegrass Awards ceremony will be held at 3:00pm on Saturday, March 13, 2010 at the Tapestry Church (formerly, the Peninsula Christian Center), 1305 Middlefield Road, Redwood City. The ceremony and all other March 11-14 Bluegrass On Broadway programs are FREE and open to the public..
