About the Minnesota Bluegrass
& Old-Time Music Association

During the first year there was a heavy workload to bear but the Association's membership grew steadily and in August of 1976 MBOTMA was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in Minnesota. During the first three years membership grew to over 400 and many events were put on to try to raise money for the fledgling organization.

The organization introduced its first three-day festival at Wildwood Campground in Taylor's Falls (MN) in August 1980. This event would eventually become today's Minnesota Bluegrass August Festival, now located near St Cloud (MN). 1980 was also the same year MBOTMA held the very first Buy, Sell, Swap Meet, which would develop into the Minnesota Bluegrass Winter Weekend, held annually the first weekend in March at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center in Plymouth (MN).

In 1988, the August Festival moved to Camp in the Woods Resort, near Zimmerman (MN). By the second year at this location volunteers had constructed a permanent stage facility that they were proud of, and over the years countless bands enjoyed performing there to capacity audiences. The Minnesota Bluegrass Homegrown Kickoff was started in June 1993 at the same venue and provided a format for MBOTMA Member Bands to show off their talent. This festival also flourished, but in 2001 Camp In The Woods was sold to a housing developer, the stage that the volunteers had worked so hard on needed to be abandoned, and a larger location with a long-range future was sought.

The goal of moving the two summer festivals to a new home was realized in 2002 with a move to El Rancho Mañana, a campground and riding stables located in the rolling hills of central Minnesota west of St. Cloud. The venue is large enough to accommodate increased interest in bluegrass and old-time music and offers amenities such as horseback riding and a swimming beach. Volunteers designed and contributed much of the labor to build a new concert area and stage, much larger then the old one. It is now considered one of the Midwest's most beautiful outdoor festival grounds.

In recent years two more indoor festivals were added to the annual calendar. The Minnesota Bluegrass Fall Jam was first celebrated in 2006, is a multi-day festival featuring  concerts, band development workshops and jamming in Minneapolis in the fall. Plus a late winter gathering was added to the annual calendar in 2011 - Minnesota Bluegrass Cabin Fever, which was held  in early April in Duluth. We hope to reinstate this event in the next year or two. MBOTMA also hosts various jam sessions, sponsors children’s educational programs, and helps support many events sponsored by other organizations or its member bands.

MBOTMA is marking its 50th anniversary in 2025. Its monthly publication  of the Minnesota Bluegrass Magazine has been voted “Best Newsletter” by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) twice. The International Bluegrass Music Association nominated the Minnesota Bluegrass August Festival “Event of the Year” in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2014 and 2015 — and bluegrass and old-time music have never been better here in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest!