Five years ago, at the Curryville Bluegrass Festival, Brandt Schisler asked his friend, Dave Reetz, for help starting a bluegrass festival at Hickory Ridge Orchard.
The first annual …
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Five years ago, at the Curryville Bluegrass Festival, Brandt Schisler asked his friend, Dave Reetz, for help starting a bluegrass festival at Hickory Ridge Orchard.
The first annual Bluegrass Festival is coming to Hickory Ridge Orchard on Saturday. The lineup includes The Tonewood Travelers, Salt River Boys and two of Reetz’s own bluegrass bands through Mexico Music: Youth Bluegrass Band and Heirborn.
The festival will kick off on the stage behind the Hickory Ridge Orchard shop at 10:30 a.m. with local musicians followed by a full day of bluegrass until 6 p.m., when Reetz says the entertainment will turn into an open jam for musicians.
This year’s event coincides with the second annual Sunflower Festival at Hickory Ridge after unpredictable summer weather and rain caused Schisler to lose his crops. The Sunflower Festival, originally scheduled for the first weekend in September, had to be postponed.
“We’re going to have sort of a double whammy festival,” Reetz said. “We don’t know about the future — it’s hard for (Schisler) to plan a Sunflower Festival way in advance. We’ll probably see how the festival goes and if we want to do another one, it may stand alone.”
For Reetz, bluegrass music and agriculture just go together.
“That type of environment is expressed in the rural, organic music with wood guitars and fiddles,” he said.
The events will take place all weekend, from Friday to Sunday, but the main attraction will be on Saturday with a little bit of music Friday. Some local musicians will return Sunday after church.
When Schisler first inquired about having a bluegrass festival, Reetz said he didn’t have many connections with bluegrass bands, but he did have a lot of students who were learning the ukulele. This led to the creation of the annual Ukulele Festival, which is also held at Hickory Ridge Orchard. This year’s Ukulele Festival is scheduled for Oct. 10.
But for now, all his attention is on the upcoming Bluegrass Festival.
“My love for bluegrass music is connected strongly to my rural upbringing,” Reetz said. “It’s a really family-friendly type of music.”
• Salt River Boys: 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
• Tonewood Travelers: noon and 4 p.m.
• Heirborn: 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Heirborn will be joined by guests during the 1 p.m. show.
• Youth Bluegrass Band: 2 p.m.
• Open jam session: 6 p.m.
