THE STORY THAT IS ALL GOOD
We lived it from our perspective, and you lived it from yours. For us it was the most relevant thing we’ve ever been a part of, it was rewarding beyond description, and it was always so much bigger than ourselves. It was a love city; a massive number of fans, bands, staff, crew and communities coming together as one to celebrate life and music. It was pure joy.
You traveled long distances, you brought the energy, and you were the stars of the show. You braved the elements, you gave it your all, and you always kept it positive. We are continuing to tell the All Good Festival Story, and have just released Chapter 3.
Chapter 1 The Wilmer’s Years 1997-1999
Chapter 2 The Years Between 2000-2002
Chapter 3 The Marvin’s Years 2003-2011
Chapter 4 The Final ‘Then’ Years 2012, 2013, 2015
Chapter 5 All Good Now 2025 (Let’s live this one together in June)
FROM THE GRATEFUL DEAD TO NEW BEGINNINGS
After touring with the Grateful Dead and the passing of Jerry Garcia, we found ourselves following our hearts in search of the music, the scene and the community we had grown to love. Representing Walther Productions and also as a fan, I attended multiple campout events at Wilmer’s Park which inspired me to promote and produce festivals there of our own. Wilmer’s Park in Brandywine, MD was founded in the 1950’s by Arthur Wilmer and hosted legendary acts such as James Brown, John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix. I will never forget sitting in Mr Wilmer’s living room and negotiating the next year’s deal while watching the Price is Right. Watch each card you play and play it slow.
THE LUNAR REVELATION
In 1996 Walther Productions launched our first festival, the Full Moon Festival, essentially throwing a party for our 940 closest friends, and we launched our Autumn Equinox Festival that ran from 1996-1999. In year two of the Full Moon Festival, it dawned on us that in order to have the full moon itself at our festival, we would have to follow the lunar calendar and not the yearly calendar. Hence, we threw our 2nd and last Full Moon Festival, which led us to launch our first All Good Music Festival & Campout at Wilmer’s Park in 1997. On the Grateful Dead tour everything was groovy, everyone looked out for one another, it was “all good brotha”, it was “all good sista”, and to keep that spirit alive, it was the All Good Festival.
The Birth of a Movement
We were right where we wanted to be, we were the middleman between live music and the fans, we were Walther Productions, known now as All Good Presents. There was no handbook, but the biography of legendary promoter, Bill Graham, inspired me to get into the music business and to start on the street as a grassroots promoter. Without social media in the late 90’s and without bands that aired on the radio, I spread the word by personally handing out over two million fliers in six years, Bill would have been proud. The scene was emerging, the bands were jamming and there was love in the air. This was just before these acts were crowned as ‘Jam Bands’ in 1998 by Dean Budnick when he launched jambands.com and released his book: Jam Bands – North America’s hottest live groups plus how to tape and trade their shows. This was the birth of the ‘Jam Band’ Scene.
Tim – put your shirt on!
FROM VISION TO REALITY
For our first festival at Wilmer’s, it was basically myself, All Good Festival partner Junipa Contento, and a vision. Junipa was involved in all things all good, created all of the art, managed the vendors and was our resident vibe coordinator. With our crew made up of one-in house security guy, 4 production guys, a few multi-taskers and some volunteers, we found ourselves a bit understaffed. We enlisted our friends who came for the show to help at the gate, we pointed to general areas to park and camp and we threw a party and got away with it. As we moved forward and steadily grew our operations, we developed an essential crew we called the “Peacekeepers.” They were a well-intentioned fan friendly group that kept it kind and kept it safe. Over the years to follow, we developed 75 departments totalling over 1,200 staff, volunteers and security on site.
Walther Productions aka All Good Presents - Wilmer's Park 1998
Footage from Autumn Equinox and All Good Festival
The group formerly known as Gaspotchio Entertainment
The Show Must Go On
Sometimes we had to improvise. The parking lot is full and there are 100 cars in cue, WTF are we going to do?. I went to the neighbors and offered them $5 per car to park on their property and they took me up on it. On that Friday night we parked 180 cars and paid a neighbor $900, on Saturday we parked 300 cars that paid out $1,500. The show must go on, it always has, and it always will. Be a good neighbor, maintain control, let everyone have fun and leave nothing but footprints.
The 24 hour circus
We were part of the community, we camped with the fans, we celebrated with the fans, and we all loved the live music. Camping at music festivals was a right of passage, it was the preferred way to enjoy a festival. Fans camped next to their cars, in their cars, on their cars, they camped in the woods and some laid beneath the stars. The 24 hour circus included food and craft vendors, drum circles, campside kitchens, cold-beer-for-a-buck coolers, bootleg vendors, shady guys with something you were looking for and that’s right, there was always that one naked guy.
Staying True
There are things that came naturally and made sense to us in the beginning that remain intact today. We believed in slow growth, we wanted to do it right and provide personal freedoms, to make it a warm family experience, we wanted fans to have the time of their lives, to be part of a community and to be one with the staff and the bands. It wasn’t about making money, it was about survival. On Grateful Dead tour I was trying to make enough money to get to the next show and with Walther Productions we were trying to make enough money to throw the next festival. We started at $18 for a weekend of music and camping. We believed strongly in no-overlapping sets, that fans should be able to see every minute of every band they came to see. We did our best to build the bands; we hosted bands at the clubs, brought them to the festival and then brought them back to the clubs. It worked, the bands were growing. And of course there should always be fireworks. It took me a while to learn, but fireworks should be done by professionals.
DISCOVERING BANDS AND SHARING THE MAGIC
We were fortunate then and are fortunate now to book the lineup that we would most want to see. In the 90’s as a promoter, to discover a band, you had to either receive a promo-pack in the mail from a booking agent or you had to go to live shows to check out a buzz band. There was no Spotify, no streaming and their CDs could not be found in record stores. Oftentimes we would be seeing bands for the first time along with the fans and there was nothing better than witnessing the reaction of a crowd when a band hits the stage and blows their minds. Pure bliss.
Bela Fleck & Victor Wooten All Good Music Festival & Campout 1997 – Wilmer’s Park
COMMUNITY OF KINDNESS
The bands were original, trail blazing, grassroots, diverse and talented. They gave us their all from the national and local level. In the Wilmer’s Year’s we hosted national acts such as Aquarium Rescue Unit, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Gov’t Mule, Jazz is Dead, John Scofield, Zero, Strangefolk, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Deep Banana Blackout and Agents of Good Roots. To local favorites; All Mighty Senators, Lake Trout, Jah Works, Blue Miracle and the Kelly Bell Band. To full circle acts such as The String Cheese Incident, Moe., and The Disco Biscuits that we will feature at All Good Now this year.
As a living and breathing community, we shared love and kindness, we got to know each other, we watched each other’s backs and ultimately, we found our way back home.
Tim Walther
Walther Productions Inc, DBA All Good Presents
1/15/25
1) After Garcia’s death, the big questions were ”what would be next,” “where would the energy go,” “who would make the music,” and ultimately, “what would happen to the scene?” The answer is now clear, and it’s All Good. See you at the next festival
Lee Abraham – Relix Magazine 1998
2) “And while it may be true that there are no more Woodstocks, surely the offspring of the event lives, and at least one of them is finding its wings at Wilmer’s Park in Brandywine, MD”. “There is a general feeling of well-being and camaraderie in the audience- a real “we’re all in this together” feeling”
Benjy Eisen – JamBands.com – 1998
3) I was there with the Stubblefield, Medeski, Wood thing. That’s a great festival. I love that spot, Wilmers’s Park. People love it there, and Tim Walther Productions has done so many successful festivals now that it’s become a big thing for people all over the east coast.
John Scofield – JamBands.com – 1999
4) In January 1995, I founded the Home Grown Music Network, which would soon become a hub of the burgeoning Jamband community. Around the same time a young Deadhead in Baltimore started Walther Productions, promoting concerts and then festivals featuring the same artists that I loved.
Lee Crumpton – Homegrown Music Network – 2025
5) “We attended tons of the Wilmer’s Park shows way back in the last century and kept some of your flyers and mailers. I especially love the map of Wilmer’s Park that Tim and Junipa created. There is a group on Facebook called “I Loved Wilmers Park” and they have a ton of photos from Walther days, pre-Walther days …”
Nick Beard – All Good Fan and Ticket Winner
6) I was there the day The Recipe played for the first time.. a Janis Joplin song it was awesome ….. And when Tim introduced Bob the Thief, who was escorted out while being booed at and shot with water guns. Dark Star orchestra Amazing. And Fat Apple in the woods in the early morning hours, magical i tell ya. The Rain room on a miserable hot day (mist tent) The semi with free water. So many memories !!
Debra McKinney – All Good Fan and Ticket Winner
WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM
We outgrew Wilmer’s Park in 1999 and then outgrew three venues in the following three years; Buffalo Gap in 2000, Oakley Farm in 2001 and Sunshine Daydream in 2002. In 2000 we landed at Buffalo Gap in Capon Bridge, WV, and little did we know that we would spend 11 of our next 15 years in Wild & Wonderful West Virginia. Buffalo Gap was a beautiful mountain oasis that made for our only All Good that took place at an official campground. At this early point in their careers, Moe. and The Disco Biscuits headlined with mind blowing sets and will both be joining us at All Good Now, 25 years later. The year 2000 was also the year that jambands.com threw their first Jammy Awards at Irving Plaza in NY where John Scofield sat in with Soulive, Les Claypool sat in with the Disco Biscuits, Merl Saunders sat in with Strangefolk and so much more.
“Co-headliners The Disco Biscuits were up next, and the All Good was sparked into overdrive by an intense version of “Run Like Hell” featuring Rob Derhak of moe. on bass as the final dim glow of the cloud-covered sun faded into darkness.” Homegrown Music Network 2000
THE LOST YEAR
In 2001 we arrived at Oakley Farm in Spotsylvania, VA, a family owned farm that survived the Civil War. It was a beautiful spot and we were thrilled to donate a portion of the proceeds to help preserve and maintain the farm. This edition of All Good was another barn burner with bands such as Dark Star Orchestra, Leftover Salmon, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and Keller Williams. We are a little short of memories, a bit of a lost year, but this video sums it up pretty well.
moe. IN THE SNOW
The All Good Festival at Sunshine Daydream is one of the most memorable. It was a true test of the spirit of the fans and the crew to survive through massive weather swings that dominated the weekend. Here is Volume 1, Issue 1 of what we called the Walther Street Journal. It sums up our move from Wilmer’s Park to our discovery of Marvin’s Mountaintop, “The Show Must Go On!” And highlights a summary from 2002 where Sunshine was only a Daydream, the “All Good Wrap Up” For those who were there we hope you enjoy the walk down memory lane and for those who weren’t you may find it an interesting stamp in time.
1) We were just kids when we were playing All Good’s initial years in Wilmer Park. We were still a young band spreading our gospel around the country but planting firm roots with promoters who fostered a sense of community orbiting around a collective love of music. In those initial years of going back to All Good we would continue to activate new fans and convert them to come on tour. Well … here we are! 25 years years later. Still spreading our gospel, still working with promoters who foster a sense of community. The Disco Biscuits are honored to be part of the resurrection of All Good Now. Bigger and better!
– Aron Magner, the Disco Biscuits
2) ITS ALLGOOD!…Those were the words on everyone’s lips the very first year I went to Allgood in Capon Bridge WV (2000)..It wasn’t just the name of the fest it was the truth. Other than the rain that seemed to pour down the whole weekend until Sunday (the last day), this seemed to happen every Fest, but it Never drowned anyone’s spirit’s. Even the next year in Spotsylvania, VA (2001)…same rain but an Even Bigger and Better fest was had by all. Now the rain could always be dealt with until the next year when it was moved to Sunshine Daydream Campground in WV (2002) where the rain turned to snow…Seriously, we woke up Sat morning to an inch of snow. Needless to say,the fest ended too soon for me, but the site of barefoot hippies gathered around a fire in the Snow was enough for me, I was outta there…Fortunately for me I lived a hour away. So next year the fest was moved to July and to Marvins Mtntop Wv.,(2003) where it would be its new home till 2013. I attended every Allgood fest there till 2009…The craziest thing and coolest thing was all the years seeing many Great bands, alot of them playing Grateful Dead songs,one of my all time favorite’s, like most folks who go to the Fest….Then finally the members of the G.D performing with their own solo bands and reuniting as Further in 2013 and playing on the same stage where they were held in such high regard for so many years. Funny how things workout…They have to when it’s AllGood.
Dalyn Sites – All Good Fan and Ticket Winner
3) I started going to All Good when it was like a big camp out among friends. Sunshine Daydream aka Tripps Farm was such a gorgeous location. I had a religious nature experience one afternoon relaxing in my truck looking up at the sky. The way the mountain top was shaped had clouds from all directions coming together, swirling as the heat rose from the valley below.I recall coming up one year we had cold weather and a bunch of kids came from tour somewhere down south and were freezing. This was back when they were held in mid May because I always came to celebrate my birthday with friends. I knew the incoming weather being somewhat local so I brought a bunch of extra warm clothes and was able to share them with those who were in shorts and flip flops near the bonfire.The barn shows were off the hook! Every single one of them! Homegrown Music Network vendor had all the jams on cd and had the most fun folks to talk about music with while the lighted wire vendor made magic about the crowd boogying below. The opportunity to bring my All Good journey full circle this summer would be the most amazing blessing. Thanks for the opportunity thru this submission.
Lisa Stephens – All Good Fan and Ticket Winner
Our New Summer Home
Marvin’s Mountaintop was the home we had been searching for, providing over 250 acres of grassy knolls surrounded by woods with a panoramic view from the Allegheny Mountains overlooking Cheat River. You would drive narrow and windy West Virginia country roads to seemingly nowhere, and all of the sudden, you would arrive at this secluded festival oasis. Marvin and his twin boys and Lydia Main, the mayor of Masontown, were the hosts joined by Bob Carpenter, the local excavator. They helped us create what became a thriving festival city full of love that would emerge once a year on top of the mountain. Marvin and friends operated under what we referred to as the ‘West Virginia Code’. They were soft spoken, generationally wise, righteous, homegrown WV folks that you could literally trust with your life. Marvin became the best All Good Festival property partner we ever had.
Keeping up with the Growth
From 2003 – 2006, we grew from 6,000 to 12,000 in attendance. In 2006, we had a storm that flooded the only access to the site backing up traffic for 8 miles, and due to the weather some of our on site infrastructure broke down. For the first time in All Good history, we had site management concerns and were seeking a solution. We heard that one of the lead Site Ops Managers from Bonnaroo, Jim Tobin, was on the String Cheese bus and it was suggested that we speak to him for support. I met with Jim as he came off of the bus, I filled him in on the situation and he spent the rest of the day helping us to recover. We got the traffic in, we got the fans processed, parked and camped, we cleared the safety lanes around the site and got the infrastructure back to where it needed to be. Tobin and I hit it off and for the next 5 years we joined forces to develop the site and operations that would support our growth from 12,000 – 23,000 in attendance. As a full service operation to our fans, bands and community, All Good became recognized as the one of the tightest run festivals of its size in the country. We created the foundation for what became the peak years of All Good, The Marvin’s Years.
The bands and the fans took it from there.
THE ARTISTS
We were blessed, honored and forever grateful to have hosted the founding fathers, the emerging leaders, and the blossoming generation of jam bands and grassroots artists.
The Fans
You traveled long distances to Marvin’s Mountaintop, you set up camp, you braved the elements and you let go. You brought an unwavering abundance of love and kindness and your energy took All Good to a higher level expedition. Some say that the phrase ‘it’s All Good’ set the tone, and it did have something to do with it, but it was undeniably the best fans on the planet that made it happen.
FANS SHARING THEIR STORY
I went to All Good from 2008-2012 However 2008-2011 transformed my life. It was the biggest little festival in the world. It was pure love. It was magic. Never in my life had I experienced something like the magic brewing on Marvin’s Mountaintop. I have been chasing that high ever since. I am sure I have photos somewhere and I will upload another testimony at some point with them. But a few things that stuck out over the years. The Chinese lanterns during Widespread Panic in 2010. Whenever you accidentally bumped into someone or the like, you’d say “sorry”, they’d respond with “it’s all good” and the mountainside would just erupt with chants of “ALL GOOOOOOD!!!!”. It was like everyone there was on the same wavelength. It was indescribable and I don’t know if you could truly put into words how magical that festival was. I made life long friends. I meet people to this day that were there and we become instant friends.
– #1 Seth Bradley, All Good Fan and Ticker Winner
My husband and I attended All Good 2007 for the first time. We loved it so much that we kept attending each year after that at Marvin’s Mountaintop. In 2009 on the last day of the festival my husband with the help of our friends got down on one knee and proposed to me during Tea Leaf Green’s set on the main road to the concert bowl. After he proposed we were at our campsite and my friends suggested that we get married there the next year. So we emailed Junipa and Tim to see if they would let us do that, and they said yes! So we got married before the music started on 7/8/2010 on the Grassroots stage. We celebrated the whole weekend and there was even another wedding that same weekend. We attended All Good up until the last one. This festival is very near and dear to us. We hope to make it to the new one if we can. We’re going on 15 years married.
– #2 Patricia Patrick, All Good Fan and Ticker Winner
I took three buddies to WV for my 40th birthday and we celebrated at AllGood 2010. We wrote a song the last night of the festival based on my friend’s 20 year old Merrell boats falling apart after climbing the hill after the last performance. We were novice songwriters at that time, so the song is long. Enjoy. LOL
– #3 Hughes, All Good Fan and Ticker Winner
My favorite moment from All Good festival was in 2010 in Morgantown, WV. My two friends Dave and Nikki and I had traveled all the way from Lancaster, Pennsylvania for our first festival together.
Night One, we were way up front for Bassnectar (before we knew he was a creep) and were having a total blast. After an hour or so it got to be a bit much (our extra-curriculars were coming on strong) and we decided to head for the hill to enjoy the show.
After turning around, the sea of people stretched on endlessly before us. We tried to push through the crowd of Bass Heads having a blast, and after what felt like forever, we stopped to turn around and see how far we went. We had hardly moved ten feet! I started to panic, and some voice in the crowd, I kid you not, laughed and said, “There’s nooooo waaayy oouuut,” cackling evilly as they said it. At that exact moment, when I was beginning to panic, a woman came dancing through the crowd holding two glowing lightsabers. She waved them in everybody’s faces, pushing them back and creating a big space for us to stand. She, smiling from ear to ear, said so happily, “Come on, follow me! Follow me!” She led us straight out of the massive crowd with plenty of space by waving these sabers in the audience members faces. Crisis averted!!
I turned around to thank her, in her pure white rave outfit and LITERAL angel wings. She smiled at me again, and disappeared back into the crowd, I can only assume to go find more folks to save from the panic of too many psychedelics in the Bassnectar pit. If you’re out there, you winged beacon of joy, know I still think about that act of kindness to this day. You were actually heaven sent for us that day. Hope to see you this year in Maryland!!!
— #4 Frank D, All Good Fan and Ticker Winner
2010 All Good on the mountain top! Went with three dear friends left with 3000 more. Too many stories from that weekend. Some should stay in WV in a very good way
I will share a quote that my circle uses to this day. We spent the day enjoying everything All Good had to offer while also enjoying everything we brought on our 5 hour drive from Baltimore, MD. Futhur takes the stage and right as they start getting down with “After Midnight” it all hit me and I really started feeling the effects of all the goodness I consumed to that point. I turned to my boy and said, “man, I’ll be back. I need some air” my buddy looks up then side to side and says…..”brother, we’re on a mountain, what’s wrong with the air here?” ……. We all had a laugh and that was all it took to bring me down.
I go to two festivals each season. Nothing. Nothing compares to my weekend on the mountain.
— #5 Mitch Warren, All Good Fan and Ticker Winner
THE ALL GOOD DIARY
Photos by Itamar Gat
PROGRAMS FROM THE MARVIN'S YEARS
West Virginia Water
It’s custom to present a care package of sorts to the bands upon their arrival. We provided a pint of moonshine to every band that ever played Marvin’s. No matter what we gave the bands, the moonshine was always their favorite. I have been known to preach that the moonshine that we get for our festivals is the best moonshine in the world…this is how it goes…the world looks to the U.S. for having the best moonshine, the U. S. looks to West Virginia as having the best moonshine, West Virginia looks to X county for having the best moonshine, and we would get our moonshine from the best distiller in X county (god rest his soul), therefore, it was the best moonshine in the world. In 2010 we had a Moonshine Breakfast with Keller and the Keels where I may have been handing out half pints to the crowd. Pro tips – don’t drink moonshine before noon, if moonshine burns blue, it’s pure, if moonshine spins for a water tornado, it’s of high quality. Proceed with caution, one nip at a time.
Keller Williams & the Keels – Moonshine Breakfast – 2010
The Nitrous Mafia
Nitrous was a thing when touring with the Grateful Dead, is still found outside of many jam band shows, and for All Good, it became a problem when the Nitrous Mafia showed up in numbers. They took over areas of the campground, they assaulted our security, they carried weapons and threatened the safety of our fans. We had to develop a Nitrous Patrol undercover task force to help us shut down this hippy camp crime organization. The Nitrous Mafia was creative, they would go to Marvin’s weeks before and bury tanks in the ground, they would create false beds in pick up trucks and build secret compartments in larger vehicles to bring in tanks, this was an organized ring of thugs. One year as we were loading in cars on day one, I ran into a nitrous operation that was slowing down traffic to the campgrounds. I radioed the Nitrous Patrol, they arrived and shut them down. The patrol and I proceeded up the road and then I circled back by myself and ran right into the same group of thugs, and to them, I was the rat. Three of them approached me, intimidated me, and their leader swiped at my hip and stole my OMNI pass which gets you full access everywhere. I reached out to the crowd and explained that I was the promoter, the crowd got my back and the thugs moved on. We suspected that the mafia would use my OMNI pass to try and smuggle in tanks. Sure enough the next day, two vans came rolling up, flashed the pass and we let them in, but we knew who they were. We stopped them, searched the vehicles and confiscated 18 tanks and impounded the vehicles. I got my OMNI pass back and took the Driver’s License of the leader as a trophy, which I still have today. We kept their vehicles for over six months and eventually gave them back. They didn’t return, it was once again, All Good.
Fireworks
For many years, when the show was over, we would light off our homegrown fireworks display from backstage. There was one time where the fireworks blew up right in front of us, someone could have gotten hurt, and the consensus was that we would not continue with this tradition. The following year renegade fireworks were being shot off from the VIP hill and when security swarmed down upon the perpetrator, they found me, the defiant fireworks enthusiast. With another slap on the wrist from my team, I have succumbed to the pressure and have only permitted fireworks to be done by professionals at our festivals since 2009. What is a festival without fireworks anyway?
In Loving Memory of
Robey Trudeau Gibson 5/5/57 – 3/5/25
My Spiritual Advisor during The Marvin’s Years
Also a Big Fan of Fireworks
We’ll Miss You!!!
— Tim Walther – March 7, 2025
SHARE YOUR STORY
All Good Festival Story Contest. Please submit your stories, quotes, images and videos and we will choose winners for Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4 and post the winning stories on the All Good Now website. Each winner will receive a pair of All Good Now Lawn Tickets!
*Please include the Festival, Year, first and or last name, or be anonymous.
