Bluegrass festival planned in July
By Greg Seubert
Concerns over COVID-19 have caused several music events – including Milwaukee’s Summerfest, Rhinelander’s Hodag Country Festival and Oshkosh’s Country USA and Rock USA festivals – to be canceled this year.
Waupaca County’s Littlestock, however, is still on and is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, July 10-11, at Steingraber Ponds, N7098 Bestul Road, Manawa.
Randy Steingraber has held the bluegrass festival on his property, located between Manawa and Symco, for several years. This year’s event was originally scheduled for July 9-12, but several acts that had been booked backed out due to COVID-19 concerns.
“We did that because some of the bands didn’t want to play,” Steingraber said. “Some of the bands weren’t against it and we found a couple other bands.”
This year’s lineup includes Noah John and Ringing Iron; Burnt Toast and Jam; Dig Deep; Eddie Biebel and the Skylarks; Dekorra; and Ryan Thompson and Townline.
Some of them played at last year’s festival, which was held July 11-14.
“They’re local bands from not too far away,” Steingraber said. “We know what bands are playing, but I don’t have the schedule lined up yet.”
26-year legacy
The festival’s roots go back almost 30 years, according to Steingraber.
“A friend of mine and I started this around 15, 16 years ago,” he said. “It was a Sunday afternoon thing and it kind of grew after that. That was the Little Creek Music Festival.
“I had another friend, Randy Genske, that did another one called Cornstock for 26 or 27 years and he was looking for a place to do that,” he said. “We ended up having two of them for a couple of years, then we decided we’d go together and do one. We changed them from Little Creek and Cornstock to Littlestock. This is probably the fourth year that we’ve had them together.”
Steingraber and Genske are taking precautions because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re going to keep the place as clean and as sanitary as we can,” Steingraber said. “We’ll have hand sanitizers out. The camping is a big, open space in our field. It’s not like anybody’s going to be packed in anywhere. We don’t get big crowds, but we’re limiting it to 200. When we sell 200 tickets, we’ll be full.”
Food will be available.
“We have a food stand that we run ourselves with hamburgers and stuff like that,” Steingraber said. “There are a couple vendors that come in and sell clothes, trinkets and a few other things.”
Tickets are $50 for both days and can be purchased by calling or texting Steingraber at 920-538-2072 or emailing him at [email protected].
Littlestock isn’t the only opportunity to hear live bluegrass music in the Manawa area. The Manawa FFA Alumni Chapter holds the Manawa FFA Bluegrass Bash, a two-day festival, each October at Conroy’s Bear Lake Resort.
“It’s easy listening music,” Steingraber said. “My grandkids come and they love listening to it. I’m not going to say they’re going to be big bluegrass fans, but they love the music. My kids are getting hooked on it, too.”