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The Blistered Fingers Festival:
More Than Just Music

Family getting together ... picking guitars, strumming, singing. The harmonica joins in, maybe a banjo, the feet tapping sometimes breaking into a stamping or a clogging.

What's it all about? It's about the good old days when the world was only as big as the neighborhood and lived off the heritage of intergenerational music ... and story telling.

The Cormiers of Sidney, Sandy and Greg, and children Chad, Jenny and Katie, and daughter-in-law Jenn and granddaughter SavAnna Marie are about this world. Sandy grew up playing the guitar and singing country and Canadian tunes with her parents at local Sidney gatherings. Greg — a Sidney boy — had already taught himself the banjo by the time they met. After getting married in 1981 they continued playing and following local bluegrass festivals. In 1987, they formed their own band, named for the blisters that come with a lot of pickin'. In 1992, they put on their own event, the Blistered Fingers Family Bluegrass Festival at the Silver Spur Riding Club in Sidney — a success. Eventually Chad and Katie joined the band.

This year the Cormiers will hold the 26^th and 27^th Blistered Fingers festivals, from June 15–18 and August 24–27, respectively. Sandy energetically does the paperwork, the legwork. Greg handles the organization.

When their children were babies, Sandy once described, everyone in the audience was a surrogate aunt, uncle, grandparent watching them, caring for them, holding them while the Cormiers performed. The support was tremendous. Last summer, five minutes before show time at the August festival, granddaughter SavAnna was born. She was only two days old when they introduced her on stage.

In Sidney, according to Sandy, no two festivals are alike. No? Perhaps from a talent perspective there are changes, different bands, and of course the weather treats no two festivals the same. But the pride, the love, the support — they are constant. That's family staying together through the heritage of music.

For more information, visit www.blisteredfingers.com.

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