87th Annual Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, July 31 and Aug. 1 & 2

From a press release:

87th Annual Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, July 31 and Aug. 1 & 2

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 (subject to change)

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.