The Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, the country’s longest running folk festival, now in its 87th year of highlighting mountain culture, returns to the Diana Wortham Theatre this summer. The Festival runs for three full evenings, Thursday, July 31 through Saturday, August 2 at the Diana Wortham Theatre in downtown Asheville. Tickets are on sale now.
With introductions beginning at 6:50 p.m. and the
show beginning at 7:00 p.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, July 31 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.
2014
Mountain Dance and Folk Festival Performance* Schedule (as of 7/11/14):
(*Note: Performers and schedule are
subject to change at any time.)
Thursday, July 31: Carol Rifkin and
Jerry Sutton, Masters of Ceremonies; Ed Herron; Grey Eagle (Stoney Creek Boys
with buck dancers); Dance Team: Fines Creek Flatfooters; Betty Smith; The Peg
Twisters; Maggie Lauterer, Zack Allen & Jon Lauterer; The Griggs; Dance
Team: J Creek Cloggers; Dance Team: Folk Heritage Smooth Dancers; Sheila Kay
Adams, Jeanette Queen & Carol Rifkin; Crooked Pine Band; Dance Team: Green
Valley Cloggers; Bobby and Blue Ridge Tradition; The Trantham Family; Dance
Team: Southern Mountain Smoke; Whitewater Bluegrass Company.
Friday, August 1: Laura Boosinger and
Kevin Hamlin, Masters of Ceremonies; Ed Herron; Grey Eagle (Stoney Creek Boys
with buck dancers); Dance Team: Cole Mountain Cloggers; Appalachian Consort;
Phil & Gaye Johnson; The Waymasters; Joe Penland; Dance Team: Appalachian
Mountaineers; Dance Team: Avery Smooth Dancers; The New Broad River Band; Bryce
Parham & Kathryn Brickey; Dance Team: Dixie Darlins; The Arrowood Sisters
Band; Laura Boosinger; Bearwallow; Dance Team: Southern Appalachian Cloggers.
Saturday, August 2: Glenn Bannerman and
Richard Hurley, Masters of Ceremonies; Ed Herron; Grey Eagle (Stoney Creek Boys
with buck dancers); Dance Team: Mountain Tradition Cloggers; Paul Crouch &
Friends; The Ross Brothers & Terry Woody; Brooke & George Buckner; The
Cockman Family; Don Pedi; Dance Team: Bannerman Family & Friends; Dance
Team: Bailey Mountain Smooth Dancers; Clearwater Connection; Roger Howell;
Dance Team: Southern Mountain Fire; Southern Highlanders; Richard Hurley; Dance
Team: Bailey Mountain Cloggers; Buncombe Turnpike.
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, the 48th Annual Shindig on the Green, a free gathering
held each year at Pack Square Park on the Bascom Lamar Lunsford stage, with a
stage show and informal jam sessions on Saturday evenings – June 28; July 5,
12, 19; August 9, 16, 23 and 30. Both events rely on the generosity and shared
talent of the region’s finest old-time musicians and mountain dancers.
Raffle:
The much-sought-after annual raffle items for the 2014 Shindig season are: a
D-16 Adirondack acoustic guitar by C.F. Martin & Co.; and a 75” x 75”
handmade quilt from a 19th century quilt pattern, created by local
quilting collaborative Mountain Jam Circle. Raffle tickets are available at
each Mountain Dance and Folk Festival evening and the winning tickets are
pulled at the end of the summer Shindig season.
Sponsors: The Folk Heritage Committee
produces Shindig on the Green’s 48th Summer Season and the 87th
annual Mountain Dance and Folk Festival with support from the following
Corporate Sponsors: Able Rent-A-John; Acoustic Corner; Acoustic
Sound Production; Alan's Jewelry & Pawn; Americare Pharmacy Consultants;
Biltmore®; Brian C. Hunter, CPA, P.A.; C.F. Martin & Co.; Elly
Wells Marketing + Project Management; Fox Dental Associates; Graybeard
Graphics; Greybeard Realty; Henco Reprographics; Jack of the Wood; Laughing
Seed Café; Lenoir-Rhyne University; Luella’s Bar-B-Que; Mast General Store;
Mountain Jam Circle; Okie Dokies Smokehouse; Pack’s Tavern; Parsec Financial; RomanticAsheville.com
Vacation Guide; Sam’s Club; Skyland Auto Group; State Farm
Insurance – Diane Bauknight; Stevenson & Carney, Attorneys at Law; Telco
Community Credit Union; Timothy E. Gillespie, DMD, FAGD; 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; Mountain Xpress; News Radio 570 WWNC; Smoky Mountain Living; Smoky Mountain News; and WNC magazine. Ongoing support of Shindig
on the Green is provided by the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, the City of
Asheville, and Buncombe County.
Ticket Information: Tickets (Regular $20;
Children 12 and under $10; 3-night package $45 for adults and $24 for children)
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/mountain-dance-and-folk-festival-2014. 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment