Red River Community House (Red River, NM)
Click here for a festival flyer
Click here for workshop schedule and descriptions
Joe Collins (mountain dulcimer) from Shelby, NC, will be this year's special instructor.
All concerts and workshops are free (thanks to the Community House, event organizers, and participant donations). You register on-site so they know who came. During concerts, they'll pass a hat for donations. Saturday lunch is available on-site for a small dontation.
Looking for a wonderful time of fun and music (and vacation in the cool mountains of northern New Mexico)? Come to Red River for workshops, concerts, singing, and jamming. Don't know what a dulcimer is? Never played an instrument? Sign up for a workshop or two and experience the fun of learning a new instrument or singing with shape notes. This year's classes will include hammer dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, penny whistle, bowed psaltery, guitar, autoharp, ukulele, bodhran (Irish frame drum), other rhythm instruments, singing, and shape note (Sacred Harp) singing. Loaner instruments will be available for many workshops. Enjoy concerts, and listen to the jamming out on the lawn with the Red River Valley Dulcimer Club.
There are many lodging options in Red River. There are also two RV parks and six US Forest service campgrounds in the area. You can find many sandwich shops and restaurants in town.
The Red River Valley Dulcimer Club is based in Bennington, OK in the Red River Valley (forms the border between TX and OK). They love getting together to enjoy the great traditional music of yesterday - the Old Time tunes from the Appalachian Mountains - the ballads, the bluegrass, the gospel. Their goal is to promote both the music and the traditional instruments created to play it. David and Annette Lindsey and friends had been doing concerts and Sunday music for the Community House for a few years. With a NM town having the same name as their beloved OK valley, they thought it would be fun to start up a dulcimer festival in 2013 and see where it would go.
The history of the Red River Community House is the story of a few families and their devotion to traditional American values. These early 1940's families wanted Red River to have a place for families to worship, marry, play, dance, enjoy music, and preserve the culture and history of Red River. Through their dedication and hard work, the Community House became a reality. Today, over 80 years later, the building and its programs continue that legacy of values and vision.
