Line-up announced for 85th annual Mtn Dance & Folk Festival

The Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, the country’s longest running folk festival, now in its 85^th year of highlighting mountain culture, announces the performance line-up for this summer’s festival. The Festival runs for three full evenings, Thursday, August 2 to Saturday, August 4 at the Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place in downtown Asheville. Tickets are on sale now.

Held 7:00p.m. nightly, the festival formally showcases an amazing repertoire of mountain performers – old-timers as well as the newest generation of bluegrass and mountain string bands, ballad singers, big circle mountain dancers and cloggers – who share music and dance that echo centuries of Scottish, English, Irish, Cherokee and African heritage. The festival begins Thursday, August 2 with Hometown Appreciation Night. In keeping with the grassroots flavor of the festival, local families and individuals are encouraged to attend to help kick off the first night of the festival.

Audiences at each of the three performances will see an extensive line-up of the best musicians, ballad singers and dancers; each evening features at least four dance teams from the very young to the young at heart. The popular and long-standing house band the Stoney Creek Boys returns to perform each evening. And each night of the festival features both well-known musicians and new talent alike, representative of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and its continuing traditions.

Cole Mountain Cloggers

 2012 Mountain Dance and Folk Festival Performance Schedule:

(Note: performers and schedule are subject to change at any time)

• Thursday, August 2: Carol Rifkin and Jerry Sutton, Masters of Ceremonies; Ed Herron; Grey Eagle (Stoney Creek Boys); George and Brooke Buckner; The Ross Brothers; Zack and Maggie Allen; Dance Team: J Creek Cloggers; Bryan McDowell; Peg Twisters; Don Pedi; Dance Team: Dixie Darlins; Roger Howell & Friends; Paul’s Creek Band; Crooked Pine Band; Dance Team: Southern Mountain Fire Smooth Dancers; Whitewater Bluegrass Company.

• Friday, August 3: Laura Boosinger and Kevin Hamlin, Masters of Ceremonies; Ed Herron; Grey Eagle (Stoney Creek Boys); Dance Team: Cole Mountain Cloggers; The Waymasters; Sam Adams; Dance Team: Southern Appalachian Cloggers; Paul Crouch; Bobby and Blue Ridge Tradition; Dance Team: Southern Mountain Smoke Cloggers; Clearwater Connection; The New Broad River Band; Laura Boosinger; Dance Team: Green Valley Cloggers; David Holt – Special Tribute to Doc Watson.

• Saturday, August 4: Richard Hurley and Glenn Bannerman, Masters of Ceremonies; Ed Herron; Grey Eagle (Stoney Creek Boys); Dance Team: Mountain Tradition Cloggers; Betty Smith; The Cockman Family; The Hollifields; Dance Team: Appalachian Mountaineers; Bryce Parham & Kathryn Brickey; Appalachian Heroes; Dance Team: Bannerman Family; Dance Team: Stoney Creek Cloggers; Richard Hurley; Trantham Family; Dance Team: Southern Mountain Fire Cloggers; Bearwallow.

Parking:  Festival patrons can park off-street, at the parking garage on Biltmore Avenue - which also provides wheelchair access to the Festival - or at the various parking garages located throughout downtown Asheville.

The Mountain Dance and Folk Festival is presented by Asheville’s Folk Heritage Committee which also produces its sister event, Shindig on the Green, a free gathering held each year at Pack Square Park at Roger McGuire Green on the Bascom Lamar Lunsford stage, with a stage show and informal jam sessions on Saturday evenings – June 30; July 7, 14, 21; August 11, 18, 25; and September 1. Both events rely on the generosity and shared talent of the region’s finest old-time musicians and mountain dancers.

The Folk Heritage Committee’s mission is to produce Shindig on the Green and the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in order to support the preservation and continuation of the traditional music, dance and storytelling heritage of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The Folk Heritage Committee produces the 46^th Annual Shindig on the Green and the 85^th annual Mountain Dance and Folk Festival with support from the following Corporate Sponsors: Able Rent-A-John; Acoustic Sound Production; Alan's Jewelry & Pawn; Biltmore^®; BlackBird Frame & Art; Caleb Smith Guitars; Earth Fare; Elly Wells Marketing + Project Management; Emmet Carney, Attorney at Law; Fox Dental Associates; Graybeard Graphics; Harmony Motors; Henco Reprographics; Jack of Hearts Pub & Restaurant; Jack of the Wood; Laughing Seed Café; Luella’s Bar-B-Que; Mangum Pottery; Mast General Store; Mission Health; Okie Dokies Smokehouse; Parsec Financial; RomanticAsheville.com Vacation Guide; Sam’s Club; Taylor RanchFest & Pink Corn Maze 2012; Tops For Shoes; and Town Hardware & General Store. Media Sponsors are: 880 AM The Revolution; 88.7 FM WNCW; 99.9 FM Kiss Country; The Laurel of Asheville; News Radio 570 WWNC; Smoky Mountain News; Smoky Mountain Living; and WNC magazine. Ongoing support of Shindig on the Green is provided by Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, City of Asheville, and Buncombe County.

Ticket Information: Tickets (Regular $20; Children 12 and under $10; 3 night package $54) for the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival are available from the Diana Wortham Theatre box office: (828) 257-4530 or online at www.dwtheatre.com.  For more information on the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival or Shindig on the Green, visit www.folkheritage.org or call the Folk Heritage Info Line: (828) 258-6101 x345.