MerleFest—Fingerpickin’ Good April 25-28, Wilkesboro
MerleFest 2002 will take place April 25-28, presented by the non-profit Wilkes Community College Endowment Corporation. MerleFest began in 1988 as musicians gathered on the campus of Wilkes Community College to honor the late Eddy Merle Watson, son of North Carolina Folk Heritage and National Heritage Award-winner Doc Watson. The younger Watson died in a tractor accident in 1985. What began as a relatively small number of pickers in an auditorium and on the back of two flatbed trucks playing to a crowd of 4,000 has grown into a 13-stage, four-day event that attracted 77,000 fans in 2001. The 2002 festival will feature Earl Scruggs and Friends, Leahy, Nickel Creek, Patty Loveless, Sam Bush, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Alison Krauss, and more than 90 other acts.

Festival an Economic Boon to Region
MerleFest has become one of the most important annual events on the national music scene as it defines and leads the way for the emerging field called Americana music. The festival has also become an important economic engine for western North Carolina. The regional economic impact of MerleFest reached $12.5 million in 2001, up 20 percent from the previous year. Proceeds from the festival over the years have permitted Wilkes Community College to make a number of capital improvements, including the Eddy Merle Watson Memorial Garden for the Senses, the Doc and Merle Watson Theatre, fiber-optic wiring for the campus, and the endowment of scholarships for its students. For more information about MerleFest 2002 call (800) 343-7857 or visit its Web site at www.MerleFest.org.