By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
FORT FAIRFIELD — Four of the top names in bluegrass music will be gracing the stage at this weekend’s County Bluegrass Festival in Fort Fairfield.
Amy Gallatin & Stillwater, Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, and Dailey & Vincent will highlight the four-day festival which kicks off Thursday night at FARM Park.
According to organizer Stev Rogeski, about one dozen acts will be performing at the festival.
“We try to have one really big American band each day of the festival,” he said. “Dailey & Vincent are the number-one bluegrass act in the world right now, Doyle Lawson is in the top five, and Junior Sisk was just awarded the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Emerging Artist of the Year Award.
“Amy Gallatin has been around for a long time and is one of the most requested acts. She came up and did a winter show for us a couple of years ago, and we had a lot of requests to bring her back as a main act,” said Rogeski. “We’re fortunate to have some of the best in bluegrass performing at our festival.”
Also appearing will be Zink & Company, White Mountain Bluegrass, The Bluegrass Diamonds, Blistered Fingers, Shadow River, Wilf Clark & The Misty Mountaineers, 8 Wheel Drive and The LaClaires.
It’s taken a while for major acts to commit to traveling this far north, Rogeski said.
“In the beginning it was a struggle because we were a pretty small festival and unknown,” he said, “but now our facility has absolutely been deemed one of the best in New England. Our facility was built from the ground up as a bluegrass venue. We have a pole barn onsite that will seat 1,700 people. The barn not only has a roof but it has sides on it, so if it gets a little breezy, we can drop the sides down. We also have beautiful bathroom/shower facilities onsite, so weather really isn’t a concern for people. Big-name acts don’t mind coming here now.”
Rogeski and his wife, Nancy, often travel to scout bluegrass performers.
“We go to bluegrass festivals all over Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and last year we even went down to Tennessee,” he said. “Whenever we have a show, we always ask our customers to give us some bands that they think they’d like to have come up, and then we try to go see them in concert because bands in person are not always the same as they are when you hear them on the radio. We really like to see bands before we bring them in, so we travel as often as we’re able to so we can hear them live.”
About 80 percent of the “bluegrassers,” or customers, are from Canada.
“Our average customer travels four-and-a-half hours to get here and they usually come for a week,” said Rogeski. “We typically have 300-400 campers in here for the weekend. I know of a few people who have actually gone out and purchased a camper so they can come and stay onsite.”
Attendees will also have the opportunity for some “field pickin’.”
“Bluegrass is one of the few genres of music where big acts will do a show until 9:30 p.m. and if they’re staying over till the next day, they’ll go out and play with the fans in the fields, who are encouraged to bring their instruments,” Rogeski said. “This past July we had Leroy Lewis up here. Next to Earl Scruggs, he’s probably the second best banjo player that’s ever played. At 12:45 a.m. we walked into the pole barn and there were eight people sitting around Leroy learning how to play the banjo. There aren’t many genres of music where you can sit with the best that there is and get lessons from them.”
The County Bluegrass Festival will be held Aug. 29-Sept. 1 at FARM Park, located at 119 West Limestone Road. This is the fifth year of the festival which holds shows in January, July and September.
“Our Labor Day show has consistently grown by 25 percent a year in attendance,” said Rogeski. “We’re getting big names and people enjoy themselves and come back year after year. We invite everyone to come to this year’s festival and see what they’ve been missing. They won’t regret it.”
Weekend tickets at the gate are $85 per person. Day ticket prices per person are $15 Thursday, $20 Friday ($15 after 5 p.m.), $30 Saturday ($20 after 5 p.m.), and $30 Sunday ($20 after 5 p.m.).
A performance schedule and other information is available online at www.countybluegrass.com. For further information, call Rogeski at 227-6242.
