The Festival of the Bluegrass, located in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

, is the oldest

bluegrass music Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as ''traditional music'', ''traditional folk music'', ''contemporary folk music'', ''vernacular music,'' or ...

festival in the

bluegrass region The Bluegrass region is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It makes up the central and northern part of the state, roughly bounded by the cities of Frankfort, Paris, Richmond and Stanford. The Bluegrass region is characterized ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. The festival takes place the first full weekend of June each year. The Festival of the Bluegrass helped shape the early bluegrass festival culture. The Cornett family of

Georgetown, Kentucky Georgetown is a home rule-class city in Scott County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 37,086 at the 2020 census. It is the 6th-largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the seat of its county. It was originall ...

, began the festival in 1974 with The Festival of the Bluegrass, which was named by Raymond K. McLain. The first festival stage was a farm wagon with a tarp for shelter. The fans also used a tarp as shelter from the terrible thunderstorms the first day of the festival. This first festival was held on

Walnut Hall Farm Lamon Vanderburgh Harkness (January 6, 1850 – January 17, 1915) was an American businessman and one of the largest stockholders in Standard Oil. Lamon V. Harkness became involved with Standard Oil through his father Stephen V. Harkness, who ...

, part of which is now the

Kentucky Horse Park Kentucky Horse Park is a working horse farm, international equestrian competition venue, and an educational theme park opened in 1978 in Lexington, Kentucky. It is located off Kentucky State Highway 1973 (Iron Works Pike) and Interstate 75, at Exi ...

just on the north side of Lexington. Later the festival was moved to

Masterson Station Park Masterson may refer to: Places: *United States: ** Masterson, community, Carson County, Texas () ** Masterson, community, Moore County, Texas () ** Masterson, community, the original name of the town of Clinton, Vernon County, Wisconsin ** Maste ...

, a Lexington city park, for initially two years. However, the festival did not move back to the Horse Park until the seventeenth year, by which time the Horse Park was fully developed with a suitable campground. The annual event is a

traditional bluegrass Traditional bluegrass, as the name implies, emphasizes the traditional elements of bluegrass music, and stands in contrast to progressive bluegrass. Traditional bluegrass musicians play folk songs, tunes with simple traditional chord progression ...

festival dedicated to preserving bluegrass music. Since 1998, the festival consists of three stages of music and incorporates a music camp designed to teach bluegrass music to school-age children. In 2007 the festival received the

International Bluegrass Music Association The International Bluegrass Music Association, or IBMA, is a trade association to promote bluegrass music. Formed in 1985, IBMA established its first headquarters in Owensboro, Kentucky. In 1988 they announced plans to create the International ...

's Event of the Year award. In 2013, the weekend Festival of the Bluegrass will be following up a weeklong celebration in Lexington, "Best of Bluegrass"."Big Ears, Boomslang, and Best of Bluegrass: the Boom of the Multi-Venue Music Festival"
''Under Main''

References

External links

Festival of the Bluegrass website
{{Bluegrass music Folk festivals in the United States Bluegrass festivals Music festivals in Kentucky Music festivals established in 1974

See also

References

External links