US
The Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music ("BFOTM") , a non-profit all-volunteer organization, was founded in 1972 *** with the goal of helping to preserve traditional American music by presenting live performances of Bluegrass and old time music in Northern Delaware and the surrounding areas of Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and encouraging local traditional musicians. From the outset, it has been an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization. ..... Beginning in 1972, the BFOTM, in partnership with Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley, began a Labor Day Weekend Bluegrass Festival in Bear, Delaware [now - 2018 - this is the oldest Bluegrass Festival in the NE US] For twenty years beginning in 1974, the group presented a July weekend of traditional music titled "The Brandywine Mountain Music Convention." ---------------------------------------------- *** founded in 1970 per his Chairman, Carl Goldstein: “The Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music was formed by myself, Shel Sandler and the late Mike Hudak in 1970."