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Bill Grant: Devoted to Kiamichi Country roots & Bluegrass music


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hoctaw County native Bill Grant has spent most of his life extol- ling the natural beauty and sim- plicity of life in southeastern Oklahoma. And promoting Kiamichi Country tour- ism is serious business for the 82-year-old Hugo native – whether it involves man- ning an information booth at one of the numerous sport, boat and travel shows in the multi-state region or performing his original songs about growing up at the foot of the Kiamichi Mountains.


Now Taking Orders


Grant serves as executive director of the Kiamichi Country Association, a board charged with promoting tourism for the 10 counties located in the state’s southeastern corner.


“I guess you could say I’m devoted to it,”


he says of the tourism promotion business. “Once I got on the board, I just kind of grew into it. I’ve always loved southeastern Oklahoma.”


Just Arrived – Pawnee & Kanza


Through the years, Grant also made time to serve his community. He served on the Choctaw Electric Cooperative’s Board of Trustees from 1977 to 1982. His father, Ray Grant, was a founding member of the Choctaw County-based cooperative and served as a board member for 37 years. Also a Bluegrass performer at heart, Grant spent many years traveling from stage to stage around the world to perform his original, award-winning blue-


grass music. But no matter how far his trav- els have taken him, Grant says his love for southeastern Oklahoma has always been too strong for him to ever consider leaving the area.


“I’ve played in 34 states and seven foreign countries,” he says of his music career, “and I’ve never been away from home more than three weeks. I’ve always come back home.” Many of his songs are reminiscent of the memories he’s made while growing up near the Kiamichi Mountains in rural southeast Oklahoma. One of Grant’s most well-known ac- complishments as a musician and event promoter is the long-running, outdoor bluegrass festival he started at his family’s home place, known as Salt Creek Park, just north of Hugo. Grant and his fam- ily opened their rural acreage to bluegrass fans in 1969, after constructing an outdoor stage, camping sites and other facilities to make room for the hordes of bluegrass fans who traveled to Hugo each August from across the United States for the multi-day festival.


Holding honors as the fi rst and longest- running bluegrass festival west of the Mis- sissippi, Grant’s Salt Creek Park festival continued through 2004 – an impressive 35 years of continuous summer shows. Dur- ing its reign, the Hugo festival attracted some of the biggest names in bluegrass, in- cluding headliners Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley. In 1985, the longtime event pro- moter started an annual two-day “Early Bird Bluegrass Festival” in Hugo that continues today.


Much of Grant’s performing career was spent with his long-time singing partner, Delia Bell. During their partnership, he penned more than 80 songs and the duo recorded 32 albums. Grant has been recognized as an offi cial “Ambassador of Bluegrass” by three Oklahoma gover- nors. A member of the “Old Time Coun- try Music Hall of Fame,” Grant was awarded the International Bluegrass Music Association’s “Distinguished Achievement Award” in 2006. One of his greatest passions, however, is tour- ism promotion. Grant has served on the Kiamichi Country Association board since 1988 and has been execu- tive director since 1990.


Grant says the Kiamichi Country Association promotes the 10-county area as “A Paradise at Your Finger- tips.”


Find more information on


Kiamichi Country at www.kiamich- icountry.com. OL


Photo Courtesy of Gloria McAfee Carver


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