Chris Jones & The Night Drivers at the 2026 Walnut Valley Festival – photo © G. Nicholas Hancock
The Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS had been on my bucket list for about 50 years. I had heard about it almost every year since the late 1970s. My main interest in the festival has been the National Flat Pick Guitar Championship for which it is primarily known. However, the festival also conducts the International Autoharp Championship, the International Finger Style Guitar Championship, the National Mountain Dulcimer Championship, the National Mandolin Championship, the Walnut Valley Old-Time Fiddle Championship, the National Hammer Dulcimer Championship, and the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship.
I personally know several people who have won the National Flat Pick Guitar championship, such as Allen Shadd, Steve Lewis, Kenny Smith, and Luke Lovejoy. I have always thought winning at Winfield was the big deal. Today, I think merely entering and placing there is a big deal. Sort of like Galax but bigger, much bigger. After all, these are national and international championships being held there each year, this being the 54th year of the event.
My problem was I never got around to going, to making that long trip. Last May, I learned that Oscar Caudell from Asheville, NC would be entering both the mandolin competition and the flat pick guitar competition at Winfield. That did it. I know Oscar and his family, and I also know Oscar is a fine guitar player. I called a mutual friend of Oscar’s, JonPaul Sepulveda, who is also a fine guitar player, and said, “Guess what? Oscar is entering the flat-picking guitar competition at the Walnut Valley Festival in September. Want to go to Winfield?” And JonPaul said, “Yes, let’s go cheer on Oscar!”
We flew out of Charlotte, NC on Thursday evening, the 17th, and arrived in Wichita, KS at 10:00 p.m. I had previously made rental car and hotel reservations back at the end of May. We were all set to take in a full Friday and Saturday of the mandolin and guitar competitions, as well as catch performances by The Cody Sisters, Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, and the Songs of the Road Band.
In addition to participating in the two instrument competitions, Oscar, 19, and a freshman at Belmont University in Nashville, is also one of the three subjects of the documentary film titled, Winfield, being produced and directed by YouTube’s Marcel Ardans and filmmaker Rob Gourley. Rob is an Emmy Award-winning director, cinematographer, and film editor. Hayes Griffin and Allen Shadd are the other two subjects the film is being created around.
Winfield’s population is 11,745 people, and the festival is held each year at the Winfield Fairgrounds. The Walnut Valley Festival Headquarters told me they use the numbers 11,000 to 12,000 annual attendees when commenting to potential vendors or performances groups, and they had not determined the exact number of attendees as of this writing. However, onsite it seemed to be larger than that. WVF headquarters did say there were 1,300 camping units this year.
The festival operates on four stages. All the instrument competitions are held on Stage 4. The artists’ performance stages (1-3) are open from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 midnight on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. On Sunday, Stages 1 and 3 are open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and Stage 4 is open from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. for the National Bluegrass Banjo Competition. This year there were 19 bands and eight individual artists performing. The festival advertises that it offers 200 hours of music from Thursday through Sunday.
Friday began with our arriving at the fairground and touring the vendor area underneath the stadium. We saw Brandon Green and his family (Strings of Green) set up at a table representing Williams Baptist University in Walnut Ridge, AR. Brandon’s son, Ezekiel, 13, was playing guitar and Brandon asked JonPaul to jam with them. Ezekiel switched to his mandolin, handed JonPaul his guitar, and the Strings of Green plus JonPaul Sepulveda entertained the festival goers in the vendor area.
I saw a familiar face and recognized it to be Luke Lovejoy from Cloverdale, IN who won the flat-picking guitar championship in 2018 when he was only 15. Luke is 23 now. I introduced JonPaul to Luke and they talked briefly about the guitar competition. After the jam session, both Brandon Green and Luke began urging JonPaul to enter the flat-pick guitar competition even though he did not bring his guitar on the trip. JonPaul said he would think about it.
Then we went to Stage 4 to catch the last part of the Songs from the Road Band performance before the National Mandolin Championship began at 2:30 p.m. Ezekiel Green had entered that competition. Anthony Howell, who currently plays banjo with Seth Mulder & Midnight Run, had also entered the mandolin competition for his first time. There were 20 contestants from 10 states in the competition. By 5:00 p.m. the mandolin competition had ended. Oscar wasn’t one of the five finalists. Anthony Howell took the championship with Ezekiel Green taking 2nd place, and Myles Thompson of Hendersonville, TX finishing 3rd.
By then, JonPaul had decided he would enter the flat-pick guitar competition, “just for fun,” and went to the registration tent to register. He borrowed someone’s guitar to play.
The National Flat Pick Guitar Championship was scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. Saturday and continue to 3:30 p.m. if necessary. The festival allows up to 50 flat-pick guitarists to register. Being a contestant means being at the warmup area near Stage 4 at 9:30 a.m. for instructions from the festival director, and drawing a number to determine your position in the order of playing. Thirty-six guitarists had registered, and 29 from 15 states and Canada showed up to compete. Oscar drew number 31 and JonPaul drew number 16 for their positions in line.
Each contestant had to prepare four tunes to use in the competition; two tunes for Round 1, and then two different tunes for the Finals, round if they are scored as being one of the five finalists. It is a blind judging competition with a panel of three judges sequestered in an air-conditioned trailer next to the Stage 4 building. The MC calls out only the number of the next contestant to come on stage. No names are spoken but the audience can see the contestant names on a large card that is inserted into a frame on stage.
Round 1 of the flatpicking competition ended about 2:00 p.m. In approximately 10 minutes, the five finalists were announced: Nick Norris, Anthony Howell, Dillon Hodges, Jakob Thomas, and JonPaul Sepulveda. JonPaul and I were shocked when the MC called his number. Never expected that. Now the task for each of the five finalists was to play those last two tunes so the judges could decide by their scores who would be two finalists and then the third, second, and first place winners.
Jakob Thomas from Charleston, WVA and JonPaul Sepulveda from Travelers Rest, SC were the two finalists and received the Finalist trophies. Nick Norris from Nashville, TN was 3rd place winner. Anthony Howell from Kosciusko, Mississippi won 2nd place. Dillon Hodges from The Shoals, Alabama became the 2026 National Flat Pick Guitar Champion. Hodges received a check for $3,100.00, and for his first-place prize, he selected a Preston Thompson custom D-MA guitar donated by Preston Thompson Guitars.
JonPaul and I could not stay on Sunday to watch the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship competition, but our friend Alex Davis of Manchester, TN won 2nd in that category. Joey Gipson, also from Manchester, TN won 1st place, and Brian Anderson from Rancho Cordoba, CA won 3rd.
Over the past 50 years, I have attended many music festivals and competition events. The Walnut Valley Festival at Winfield is now at the top of my list. It is the best organized and operated festival I’ve ever attended. Both JonPaul and I were amazed at the friendliness of all the festival workers, the volunteers, the campers who camped there, and the competition participants. Plus, the entire town of Winfield made us feel welcome. Plans are being made now to attend the event next year.
