This is a great time for kids and for their parents. If your child would like to participate, it is best to sign up ahead of arrival with the instrument they wish to play. That way, they will have enough instruments at the festival so that each child can have one to use. The academy is in sponsored in June by Harry Grant and the Wind Gap Bluegrass Festival and in August by AFBA association and Festival. Here are the links to each of them: www.windgapbluegrass.com www.afbawindgap.org Instructor for the Bluegrass Academy: Mark Panfil and his brother Chris. Born and raised in Lackawanna, NY (a steel mill town, south of Buffalo), Mark began playing harmonica at age eight. He played songs on his Marine Band that he’d heard on local radio by ear, the way his dad taught him to. He began playing five string banjo at 15 and soon after that formed a local bluegrass group with his brother, Chris called, the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad. When high school finished, he decided to make music his career by pursuing a degree in Music Education with piano as his primary instrument. After graduationg with his BA in Music, he went to work for Young Audiences of Western New York doing school concerts. In college, he began playing chromatic harmonica and added sight-reading music to his harmonica skills. His first Dobro was bought in the early 80′s and he soon joined Creek Bend as their Dobro player. He still plays with them and they have two cd’s available on the Copper Creek record label from …

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