For five days every September, Winfield triples in size. Around 15,000 visitors and several thousand musicians converge on the Cowley County Fairgrounds on the west side of town for the Walnut Valley Festival, the country's most prestigious acoustic music competition. The National Flat-Picking Guitar Championship is the headliner; titles in fingerstyle guitar, mandolin, fiddle, hammered dulcimer, and bluegrass banjo are decided here too.
The campground around the fairgrounds turns into a non-stop jam session — strangers picking together at 2 a.m., circles of musicians forming and reforming around campfires. The Pecan Grove and Land Rush areas are the most legendary. Bring a chair, a flashlight, and an instrument if you have one. Tickets sell out months ahead; the event has been held continuously every year since 1972 except for 2020.