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Thousands coming to bluegrass festival

By Tracy Bogusz | The News Herald

Published: June 29, 2008

Morganton - With gas prices soaring, there's no need to leave Burke County to have fun.

Morganton's Red White and Bluegrass Festival begins Tuesday. It's good, clean, lively family entertainment. After three days in Catawba Meadows, it winds up with a bang (literally) on the Collett Street Rec Center's grounds on the Fourth of July.

What better way is there to celebrate the most American of all holidays than with a festival filled with one of the most American forms of music?

The four-day event has become one of the largest traditional and admission-free bluegrass festivals in the United States, according to Morganton Parks and Recreation Director Gary Leonhardt. He said this year's festival should easily surpass last year's record draw, which he estimated at 40,000 people.

"We've got people coming from all over the United States and from around the world," said Leonhardt, who organizes the festival.

He also said the festival is becoming a coveted showcase for many nationally known bluegrass groups such as Larry Sparks & the Lonesome Ramblers, Mountain Heart, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, IIIrd Tyme Out and J.D. Crowe & The New South.

More than 30 bluegrass artists will perform more than 32 hours of music. The lineup includes beloved local musicians, established Grammy-award-winning artists and up-and-comers you can say you saw before they become famous.

Amateurs' jam sessions will go on throughout the week.

If you feel the need to stretch your legs, there's much more to the festival than just music. You can hop on board the Martha White Bluegrass Bus Museum and follow Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs during the early days of the Grand Ole Opry. Make plans to talk with Chris Jones, IBMA Bluegrass Broadcaster of the year, while Sirius Satellite Radio broadcasts from Catawba Meadows during the festival. Or meet one of bluegrass music's greatest ambassadors, Cindy Baucom of the Premier Radio Network show, "Knee Deep in Bluegrass."

Visitors also can take a horse-drawn ride through the festival area, jockey an entry in the annual frog-jumping event or compete in the watermelon-eating-contest.

The festival caps off its four-day celebration with a performance by Grammy winners Cherryholmes and a huge fireworks show.