Margaret Longhill

 

“There’s a place I know

Where the river runs slow…

And the dawn flows thru

Like a sweet old tune any heart can sing

Where the Rainbow  meets the Withlacoochee

There’s a house where friends may come

To rest their souls and celebrate their songs

And the rivers roll on.”

 

©Amy Carol Webb

 

     This is the first verse of a song entitled “Rivers Roll On” by national touring artist Amy Carol Webb, from Miami Springs, taken from her CD Faith, Fortitude, Friends.  The artist sees the confluence of these rivers as a  place, where “weary travelers lay their burden down.” In Dunnellon for the October Sunday Sampler Concert, she was awed by the beauty of Dunnellon’s rivers and saw the confluence of the Rainbow and Withlacoochee as a sacred place, akin to the medieval shrines visited by pilgrims in the Middle Ages.

     Amy Carol Webb is not alone in appreciating the treasures of the rivers. 

Dunnellon residents, including Sue Ann Reichelt, extol the treasures of our rivers.  Mem Semmes, a local songwriter, has written “Golden River:”

“Golden river in the moonlight, silver river in the sun,

Calms my soul and I will ever

Call the Withlacoochee home.….

Born in the Green Swamp,

Always northward bound,

She blesses every field and farm and town…”

©Mem Semmes

    

     These artists and others in the Dunnellon area, as well as throughout the state, lament the loss of Florida’s precious wild places, and passionately strive to encourage the rest of us to protect what little is left.

     They belong to a vibrant Florida folk music community celebrated annually the second weekend in March at Willfest, the Will McLean Festival.  The celebration is sponsored by a Dunnellon Area Chamber of Commerce member, the Will McLean Foundation, whose purpose is to educate citizens, through the arts, about the history, heritage, and natural treasures of Florida. The festival began sixteen years ago at Rainbow Springs State Park, in the natural amphitheatre there, with the Rainbow River as a backdrop.  When the festival went to a whole weekend, it was moved to a campground, and is now held at the Sertoma Ranch near Brooksville.  There you will meet and enjoy the works of over fifty of Florida’s premier musicians, painters and crafters There are those in town who look forward to the day when Willfest will come “home.”

     Set among huge oaks, graced by a shining lake, and surrounded by fragrant orange groves, the venue provides a perfect setting for a festival honoring Florida's premier folk singer.  Will McLean  roamed from the Panhandle to the Keys, writing and singing poems, stories and ballads in praise of his beloved Florida.  As early as the fifties it was clear to him the destruction man was bringing in his wake to the state's fragile ecosystem.  In 1996 the state honored him by induction into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.

     Sometimes it takes a work of art—a song, a painting, a festival-- to jolt us into taking another look at the natural treasures we may take for granted. Nothing can ever take the place of the Rainbow and Withlacoochee Rivers.

It is given to us to see that they are saved from pollution and destruction.

They have been entrusted to us, these sacred places along the path of life’s pilgrimage.  May we be worthy of that trust!

 

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See www.willmclean.com

      www.Amycarolwebb.com

 

Other topics:  Dunnellon not a “cultural wasteland”

 

                       Mark Johnson, Herb Reichelt

                        Our Florida Bookstore

 

  Margaret Longhill is a retired college professor, and current President of The Will McLean Foundation for Florida Heritage In Music. She teaches a class occasionally to "stay sharp". On speakers circuit to talk about the importance of the arts in education.

  Upcoming topic: Things are percolating on the Rainbow River Ranch property