"A few of us were jamming around the campfire around 2 a.m. We’d been at it for hours, and it seemed we had played every song that we knew. I expected we’d all be headed to our tents fairly soon.

“Then someone said, ‘Hey, I bet we know 36 more songs!’ And indeed we did! I think we could’ve played for days without running out of material. The sun was coming up when we stumbled off to sleep for a few hours. Then we woke up, drank strong coffee and did it all over again!”

That’s just one fond memory Caroline Wright, founder and president emeritus of Bluegrass Hawaii, has of the inaugural Bluegrass in the Koolaus 2 1/2 years ago.

She grew up in Lake Luzerne, a small town in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, immersed in bluegrass. Her stepfather and late mother were founding members of the 40-year-old Adirondack Bluegrass League, one of the oldest bluegrass societies in the country.

“When I was a kid, my folks would take me to festivals up and down the East Coast,” Wright said. “Sometimes I’d go home with banjo music ringing in my ears. I’d hear that twang for days; it was like being on a sailboat for a long time and walking around with rubbery legs afterward.”

When Wright lived on Oahu, from 1990 to 1997, she became acquainted with several bluegrass musicians. She moved back to Oahu for good four years later, hoping to reconnect with them and meet other enthusiasts of the genre. The best way to do that, she thought, would be to hold a free open jam session.

That event at Thomas Square in May 2003 drew 300 bluegrass followers from all over Oahu. Inspired, Wright started putting on monthly jams at various parks, and helped produce several concerts and open-mic performances. She also created a bluegrass website and continued building a mailing list.

In 2006, with the help of volunteers recruited from that list, Wright began taking steps to establish a formal entity. She founded Bluegrass Hawaii, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, in 2008 to bring fans and musicians together to promote and perpetuate bluegrass music. Held in the spring and fall, Bluegrass in the Koolaus is the group’s biggest event.

“I wanted my friends in Hawaii to feel the spirit and energy of a mainland bluegrass festival — to know what it’s like to play music around a campfire until sunrise, one old song after another, the notes rising with the smoke into the still night air,” Wright said. “Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. When I found out it has great camping facilities, I knew it would be a fantastic setting for a weekend bluegrass outing.”

Bluegrass Hawaii’s first event at the garden in September 2009 was called Pickin’ Weekend. The following year its name was changed to Bluegrass in the Koolaus to identify its focus and location.

“People who love camping and spontaneous live music will have a blast,” Wright said. “Visitors and kamaaina, children and senior citizens, musicians and nonmusicians are welcome. There’s jamming all night long, all weekend long, in the pavilion, by a big bonfire and beside campers’ tents. Part of the fun is wandering around and listening to the different jams. We welcome newcomers as if they are long-lost cousins. It’s like a family reunion with fiddles and banjos.”

One of the most popular activities is the Band Scramble, which assembles musicians of all levels of experience into impromptu bands. In 20 minutes they must come up with a song arrangement to perform before everyone else.

“Contrary to what you might think, it’s not necessary to have an extensive music background to play bluegrass,” Wright said. “Just about anybody can pick up an inexpensive instrument and learn the few basic chords that make up many classic songs. Bluegrass in the Koolaus is about enjoying the fellowship of a camp-out, having fun playing music and making friendships that can last a lifetime.”