Fred Waring passes away in July of 1984, and is remembered in the Festival Seven program as a man whose generosity and continued support helped the COTA festival grow, and eventually become established as a yearly event. Kim Parker plays the festival this year, and also Harry Leahey. Solar Energy plays, plus John Coates, Jr., with Dottie Dodgion on the drums. Theater and dance offerings are presented Saturday and Sunday afternoons, inside the Castle Inn. The annual COTA Cats Scholarship, designed to acknowledge outstanding musical achievement and festival spirit, is established and presented for the very first time. In addition to a cash award, each recipient will be given a certificate signed by Phil Woods, and have his or her name inscribed on a plaque displayed inside the Deer Head Inn. For the first time, the festival is broadcast live over WESS-FM, the East Stroudsburg University radio station.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close-bosom friend of the maturing sun,
...as John Keats said in praise of passing Autumn.
Thou hast thy music too.