Sedalia resident, Nancy Moss, was presented with the Chrysanthemum Award at the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival May 30, 2019.    Moss told the crowd during the presentation at a concert intermission “I’m truly honored”.  She also thanked her family for “putting up with me in my Scott Joplin mode for more than 23 years”.
     John Simmons, President of the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation, noted the first-ever Chrysanthemum Award is a “pinnacle” award that won’t be given annually.  Instead, it will be presented periodically to those who are found to be a ‘curator of ragtime culture’.
      Nancy has attended every Festival since its inception in 1974.  She has also served on the Foundation’s Board of Directors for 22 years and given monetary contributions for 28 years.  She also began the Festival’s Hospitality Room 20 years ago to provide refreshments and food to ragtime performers between performances.
    Simmons noted, “she’s got that institutional knowledge and you can count on Nancy not to let something slip by…I can’t say enough about her focus, her passion and sense of duty”.
 Information sourced from Faith Bemiss’ article in the Sedalia Democrat

During the Music Hall concert Saturday, June 1, 2019, Peter Lundberg received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2019 Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri.
     Peter was one of the first researchers and performers in modern times to travel around the US and document our ragtime history. He has been a featured performer over numerous years at our festival and elsewhere.
      On his own initiative in 1963, he ventured from his home in Gothenburg, Sweden to many of the most significant locations related to the music's development. He made important observations, and met contacts along the way, which led to further research, all the while connecting dots that we now take for granted. He was one of the few people at the time to actively reach out to Mrs. Joe Lamb, Rudi Blesh, Eubie Blake, Charles Thompson, Wally Rose, Trebor Tichenor, Max Morath, Bob Darch (who mentored Peter), John Stark's daughter Carrie, and others in his cross-country journeys. His stops also included the WC Handy Music Company Building, (meeting Handy's children), the QRS piano roll company, the Library of Congress, and numerous historically important performance venues.
      Following his initial journey, Peter kept up on correspondence, pursuing questions, publicizing his discoveries, and, most importantly, inspiring young American and European players to perform and study ragtime. He has given talks on his travels, and there is always great interest in his work from serious ragtime aficionados.
      It should be noted that Peter was doing his work long before the 1970s rediscovery of ragtime in the US, the start-up of regular festivals, and the Internet and email. So his dedication is that much more impressive and worthy. Also, he has contributed to the repertoire of music through his many popular compositions.  I feel that Peter Lundberg is an excellent choice for this year's award. 

---Courtesy of David Reffkin's Nomination

The Scott Joplin Foundation is pleased to announce Richard Dowling as our 2018 Artist in Residence. Dowling, of New York City, will be in Sedalia Jan. 29 to Feb. 1 visiting the schools in and around Sedalia. 
       The Artist in Residence is a component of the Local Awareness Campaign and is part of a youth based Ragtime Curriculum Package designed to introduce grade-school students to: Scott Joplin as the King of Ragtime, Classic Ragtime as the root of American music, and Sedalia’s connection to American music history.   The Artist in Residence Program reaches approximately 3,000 students each year and has been sponsored by the Sedalia Rotary and local PTA’s since 1997.
     Dowling gave two concerts at Carnegie Hall on April 1, 2017, exactly 100 years from the death of Scott Joplin. In the four hours of concerts, he played all 53 pieces written by Joplin, becoming the first-ever solo performer to play all of Joplin’s works in concert. Since that time, he has traveled the U.S. giving those two concerts, and has more booked for 2018. We are extremely glad to have him scheduled for the week here.
      In addition, Dowling will perform for a silent movie at the Liberty Center in downtown Sedalia.  The silent movie selection, “Safety Last” featuring Harold Lloyd, will begin at 7 p.m, Tuesday, January 30th.  Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

​Karen Marie Hatcher Melton died, Thursday, June 29 at Mercy Hospital, St. Louis from a series of debilitating strokes. 
 
Karen was born April 2, 1944 in Union and with her brother David Hatcher went to public school there. Karen’s parents were Wanda and Raymond “Hatch” Hatcher. She was a diploma graduate of the Research Hospital School of Nursing program and she earned her nursing license in 1965.  Her forty-five-year ministry of care-giving included nearly ten years at Bothwell Hospital in Sedalia, Missouri and almost thirty-five years at Mercy Hospital, Washington.  She retired in 2012 as a nurse in the Ambulatory Care Unit.
 
Karen and her husband Larry co-founded the first Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri in 1974.  It has become a long-running annual event.  Karen was also active in the First Baptist Church, Washington.