There’s a whole lot of confusion rumbling through these hills at the moment about a certain semiannual music festival, traditionally scheduled to take place in a few short weeks. Will the Black Mountain Music Festival happen on Memorial Day weekend? And, if it does, where will it be staged?
Cynthia White and Zack Alper — the festival’s producer and director, respectively — have recently sent a succession of e-mails to the press and others stating that the Black Mountain Music Festival will take place at Camp Ton-A-Wandah in Flat Rock on May 28, 29 and 30, where the festival has been held since its move from Black Mountain’s Camp Rockmont. These messages have contained — among other information, such as ticket prices and the music lineup — the assertion that “cabins are filling up fast” and suggestions that people reserve tickets, campsites and cabins early by sending payments to the festival address.
But Camp Ton-A-Wandah Program Director Lisa Brooke has informed Mountain Xpress that the festival will not return to Camp Ton-A-Wandah this spring. “We’ve had lots calls from people saying that they’ve heard we’re having the Black Mountain Music Festival here, and then we hear [organizers] are sending out e-mails saying it’s going to be held here. The festival will not be happening here,” she notes emphatically.
Contacted by telephone on May 7, Alper did confirm that the festival, indeed, will not be held at Camp Ton-A-Wandah, but instead will be held at Henderson County’s Deerfields Amphitheatre. That same day, Deerfields owner John J. Redden confirmed that the amphitheatre has struck a deal with the Black Mountain Music Festival and that “it’s definitely on. The festival will be held at Deerfields on Memorial Day weekend.”
“Both parties are very happy with the situation,” he adds. While the Deerfields site features no cabins, Redden points out that camping will be available.
The bottom line? If you want to do a little checking on your own, call Deerfields Amphitheatre at (828) 890-0008, or visit their Web site at www.deerfields.com. The Black Mountain Festival telephone number is (828) 281-3382 (or visit their Web site, which will be linked to the Deerfields site, at www.mindspring.com/~bmmf.)
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