Spirit of the Suwannee Fans and Family Mourn the Loss of Bob Cornett
A phrase I have used often is: THIS IS PERSONAL. That certainly pertained to Paul Levine’s Herculean effort to resurrect the spirit of the Bear Creek Music and Arts Festival and that of the Wanee Music Festival with the brilliantly magnificent Suwannee Rising Music Festival last weekend (review to follow soon). In fact, most of what our MusicFestNews crew does IS personal; we are music fans just like you who enjoy sharing our personal insights and opinions about the music we love.
But this celebration of a man’s life is even more personal than that.
Bob Cornett has left us.
I regret that I never got to meet Bob Cornett. Chances are you didn’t know him, either. In fact, very few of the 700,000+ people who come annually to enjoy the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida, have ever even heard of him.
And yet we sing his praises constantly. Like when that great meme appeared that showed a picture of Disney World with the caption “Happiest Place in the World,” and underneath was a picture of the Amphitheater in full-blown action with the caption “BITCH, PLEASE.”
The park means so much to us that, when it appeared there would be no Wanee this year and before Suwannee Rising was announced, hundreds of us were planning on coming to the park just to be together — THERE.
Just yesterday, Donna and I were discussing cremation plans, and I reiterated that my ashes are to be spread at the park (probably at Short-Cut Camp!).
When Magnolia Fest and Spring Fest opted to leave the park for other options, those options fizzled, and in their place two incredible festivals — Suwannee Roots Revival and Suwannee Spring Reunion — arose to take their places and have blossomed into wonderful family events centered around bluegrass, the first love of Bob Cornett and his wife, Jean, who passed away February 6, 2015.
So let me tell you about the couple who dedicated their lives to music — TO US — for 55 years.
Bob and Jean Cornett came to us from Lexington, Kentucky, where they helped to create the Festival of the Bluegrass there — in 1964! Their tireless work helping to promote musicians young and old, seasoned and green, internationally known and known at local music joints to flourish, providing opportunities for thousands and thousands of players of every stripe. They received the Bluegrass Event of the Year Award for the Festival of the Bluegrass in 2006 from the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), and they were also awarded the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award in 1998.
They were visiting Florida, interested in finding a campground, when Jean heard that a park in Florida had closed that just might make a fine place for music. She and Bob leased the park for 12 years before finally purchasing the 800-acre tract of pines nestled along the Suwannee River in 1997. Since then, they have added a canoe and kayak post, numerous cabins, great tree houses, a store, a music hall, permanent bath houses, an equestrian area, and much more.
While they created a residence at the park, they also summered in Lexington, and the Cornetts worked to create music programs in Kentucky for school children. Their loving work also extended to SoSMP and the Suwannee Spirit Kids Camp. Its mission statement is “to provide positive, life-enhancing experiences for all participants in our programs for members of the surrounding community, including those less fortunate… each participant should come away with tangible evidence of having succeeded in one or more activities, as well as intangible feelings of independence, self-worth and self-confidence!”
This outstanding interview was recorded by Rex Thompson in 2013. Rex writes for Live for Live Music and is now a SoSMP resident:
While we mourn the loss of a man so instrumental to our happiness, we take great heart in the fact that their son, James Cornett, is owner of the park and has been working for years on all of the improvements to our home away from home.
There is a reason that the park’s motto, website, and everything else are adorned with this simple sentence, and for that you can fondly remember Bob and Jean Cornett. It’s even part of the website address!
