“Bluegrass Spectaculars” at the Ice House

Bluegrass Hall of Fame member Carlton Haney has received (and deserved) much acclaim for his production of a bluegrass festival in 1965 at Cantrell’s Horse Farm in Fincastle, Virginia, universally hailed as the first multi-day bluegrass festival and the model for all that followed. The only problem with this much-repeated narrative is that “Bluegrass Spectaculars,” a two-day festival presenting 15 bluegrass bands at the Ice House in Pasadena, California, had taken place almost two years to the day earlier. “Bluegrass Spectaculars” (aka the Ice House Bluegrass Festival) was held over Labor Day weekend 1963. The festival presented afternoon and evening shows on Sunday (9/1) and an evening show on Monday (9/2), Labor Day. It was reported in Billboard, the music industry trade magazine, that “at least” 15 bluegrass bands performed (but I can account for only 10 of them). The Ice House, located on North Mentor Avenue, opened in 1960 as a folk music club, presenting both