{"id":16083,"date":"2025-07-28T18:12:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T22:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onemanz.com\/guitar\/?p=16083"},"modified":"2025-08-26T19:03:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T23:03:58","slug":"martinfest-2025-under-new-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onemanz.com\/guitar\/martinfest-2025-under-new-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Martinfest 2025 &#8211; Under New Management"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Guitar &amp; Friends&#8217; first annual Martinfest was a huge success<\/h2>\n<h3>A new hotel and many new and old friends<\/h3>\n<p>Now under the umbrella of the new not-for-profit <em>Guitars and Friends<\/em>, Martinfest has been given a new lease on life and it looks like it will be every bit as fun and successful in the coming years as it ever was.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5X-LcpnREWA?si=zlnD82VPsOY1igis\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dvaReC65QyU?si=E2Fj2vDTS0ipsQRN\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aBxOxF6fQGA?si=EZUrHiE5Hi0sKCCK\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>These collages are made up of videos captured during the nighttime song circles by Maury Rutch, interspersed with my personal phone videos, and sublimed with some phone videos from other attendees.<\/p>\n<h3>The Phoenix Arises<\/h3>\n<p>Martinfest began in 2002 as a gathering of members of the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum, in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Starting this year, the event was planned, orchestrated and successfully put on by a group of Martinfest enthusiasts, with the blessing of the UMGF administrators, who were ready to give up the reigns after more than two decades of laborious love, which set an example we continue to follow.<\/p>\n<p>Under the tireless leadership of Jim Fortmuller, a small planning committee set out to create a new not-for-profit organization, Guitars and Friends, which is dedicated to perpetuating the comradery that keeps bring so many back to share their music and laughter with people they would have never encountered if it weren&#8217;t for Martinfest.<\/p>\n<p>For many of us, it is like a family reunion. For others, who are relatively new citizens of Martinfest, it is a rare opportunity to indulge in their love of fine acoustic guitars, while getting a chance to play and sing for the most welcoming, accepting, and non-judgmental group of music lovers one could hope for. Jim Fortmuller is one such singer\/songwriter\/guitarist.<\/p>\n<p>Jim came to his first Martinfest shortly before the COVID pandemic broke the 19-year streak. But it had heard about it for years from some now-former coworkers. Upon his retirement, he made the pilgrimage and had fantastic time. So much so, that when it seemed there wouldn&#8217;t be a Martinfest in 2024, Jim volunteered to help the UMGF admins give it one last go &#8211; and then by the sheer will to keep the Martinfest flame lit, Jim took it upon himself to recruit like-minded diehards, and tour some 8 hotels\u00a0 in Eastern Pennsylvania, to find what is clearly the best hotel Martinfest ever had.<\/p>\n<p>The official days were Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, although some people arrived as early as Wednesday, and some left as late as Tuesday. There was an opening night receptions, where people at their first Martinfest were singled out for welcome. And then there were loose song circles in the two conference rooms, and looser jamming in the lobby and a suite we rented as a hospitality room. Earlier that day, many people visited the Martin Guitar factory and museum and took the tour.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, many of us attended the Martin on Main street fair in downtown Nazareth. Others stayed in the comfortable climate control of the hotel. On Sunday, we gathered at the long pavilion in Nazareth Borough Park, were we had a memorial sing-along for dearly departed attendees, and enjoyed an open mic, as well as a fun auction to help raise money to cover a portion of our operating costs. But really, it was the all-night party at the hotel that is what we look forward to all day long.<\/p>\n<p>That hotel loved us, and are eager for our return in July of 2026. For more information, please visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.guitarsandfriends.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">guitarsandfriends.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about Martinfest and its uniquely magical spell it casts on so many, who come back year after year after year, here is an old article from its heyday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/onemanz.com\/guitar\/articles-2\/places-and-events\/martinfest-2013\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grand Gathering of Martin Guitar Lovers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guitar &amp; Friends&#8217; first annual Martinfest was a huge success A new hotel and many new and old friends Now under the umbrella of the &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16,660,657],"tags":[628,95],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-16083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guitars","category-events-2","category-music","tag-cf-martin","tag-martinfest"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Martinfest 2025 - Under New Management | One Man&#039;s Guitar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The annual gathering of Martin guitar enthusiasts took place at new hotel, and organized by the new nonprofit, Guitars and Friends\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/onemanz.com\/guitar\/martinfest-2025-under-new-management\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"one man\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/onemanz.com\\\/guitar\\\/martinfest-2025-under-new-management\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/onemanz.com\\\/guitar\\\/martinfest-2025-under-new-management\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"one man\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/onemanz.com\\\/guitar\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b5cfd8475e321c535df6cda6764099bb\"},\"headline\":\"Martinfest 2025 &#8211; 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