THE SHOALS-The Music Preservation Society, Inc. Board of Directors is proud to announce the winner of this year’s W.C. Handy Music Festival design competition is Garrett Rittenberry. This year’s art pays homage to co-creator of the W.C. Handy Music Festival, Dr. Willie Ruff. The design has a slightly psychedelic seventies feel in bright colors and features a silhouette of Dr. Ruff himself.
Board members of the Music Preservation Society were excited to show appreciation to Dr. Ruff for his part in founding what has become one of most popular weeks of the year. Dr. Ruff, a Sheffield native, and Dr. David Mussleman of Florence came up with the notion that there should be a music festival honoring the memory and the legacy of William Christopher Handy while conversing at the Muscle Shoals airport. After receiving permission from Dr. Ruff to use his image, one of the first people to be told about this year’s poster design was Attorney Lindsey Mussleman, daughter of Dr. Mussleman who immediately announced plans for her law firm to purchase t-shirts with the design.
“I learned about Dr. Willie Ruff from my 92 year old friend Betty Dyar,” Rittenberry said. “She grew up with him in Sheffield when they were young. That’s where my idea came from.” This is the second Handy Competition win for Rittenberry, a professional artist who designed graphics for nationally known singers at a major music industry record labels. Previously based in Nashville, Tennessee, and now residing in the Shoals, Rittenberry and his wife decided to move to the area after watching the “Muscle Shoals” documentary which will be shown on Wednesday of the Festival at the Shoals Theater.
This year’s 42nd W.C. Handy Festival design will be featured on the 2023 t-shirts in purple for public sale, white for Handy Hosts, black for sponsors, and yellow for participants in the DaDooRunRun 5K race to take place in Leighton. The design will also be seen on posters, brochures, and other marketing materials. A limited number of the posters will be autographed by the artist and be available during the Festival along with unsigned posters at Handy Headquarters located in the Southall-Moore House, 215 East Tuscaloosa Street, across from Wilson Park in Florence. Posters and other concession items will soon be available for purchase.
More information about the Handy Festival can be found at WCHandyMusicFestival.com or by using a QR Code seen on the official posters.
Media Release/Tori Bailey/The Music Preservation Society, Inc. Board of Directors
