August 3, 2002

Twenty-two artists from around the region participated in the First Annual Highway 61 Folks Festival Songwriters Contest in Mahtowa Minnesota on Saturday, August 3 as part of the Annual Mahtowa Days Celebration. The competition was stiff, and though everyone was a winner, prize money was paid for the best songs based on 6 categories including Performance, Creativity, Lyrics, Instrument, Listenability, and Area Appeal. Scoring a "10" on all 6 Categories would earn a bonus point, for a perfect score of 61 .

 

Despite the constant battle with the rain, performers and concert goers braved the elements for an unforgettable afternoon of music on the outside stage at Rob's Mahtowa Tavern. Eric Coleman from Ames, Iowa warmed up the guitar strings early Saturday morning with some "Low Self-Esteem Talking Blues" leading into a memorable performance by Craig and Clayton Lasart of Embarras with "Iron Train", a ballad about an LTV Steel train wreck in 1993, Wayne Hamilton from Minneapolis penned a song just for the event and called it "61", drawing a perfect score of 61 from one of the judges. Every singer, young and old, welcomed the appreciative crowd, and provided a days worth of inspiration and emotions ranging from goose bumps to smiles and tears.

 

First place and $100 went to Brian Dack of Duluth for "Loon Lake Lift-off" a somewhat mysterious and fun song about Northern Minnesota. Second went to Becky Schlegel for Red Leaf and there was a tie for third between Sara Thompsen's "What Brings You Here" and Ed Anderson's "George, Alexander, Clark, & John", a song of tragedy and great human compassion.

 

We are in the process of compiling and mastering selected songs from the event and will be releasing a CD shortly. Reserve your copy here. The proceeds will go to help benefit future Festivals.