BlueGrass in the Endless Mountains of PA

        If you follow my blog or know me personally you know my husband and I both enjoy attending BlueGrass Festivals.  This is something we discovered later in life and I guess we are making up for lost time, attending as many festivals as we can.


This past weekend we went to the NEPA Bluegrass Festival.  It is held in Tunkhannock, PA which is in NE Pennsylvania, hence the title I imagine.  Tunkhannock is located in an area called the Endless Mountains. It is beautiful country and makes for a great place for a festival.

Lazy Brook Park is the venue for the event.  Although I couldn't find much info on the web, I have been told that the area was formerly a small subdivision or neighborhood  that was flooded a few times.  It was finally decided to remove all the houses and turn it into a city recreation area.  The streets are still there, some of the planting from the former houses as well.  It is nestled right on the river so that enhances the place.  I don't know if it has flooded recently but if it did it wouldn't take long to get it back to the beauty it is.

It is situated on Tunkhannock Creek which feeds into the Susquehanna River.  The creek seems a "small" name for the size.  But it is lovely.

Here is our camper set up in a shady grove.

And here is a picture of the stage people setting up for the concerts to come.

We were pleased to be able to see one of our favorite blue grass groups, Aspen Run, perform.  We have followed them for a number of years and actually were at their first festival appearance several years ago.  They just get better and better.  

Another group that played at the event was

Larry Gillis & His Hard Driving Bluegrass Band

  

They were quite a few more groups performing but I was generally too busy listening to take pictures.  I will "try" to do better at our next festival.

Gerome becomes a Blue Grass Fan

A week ago we loaded up our camper and headed to Upperco, Maryland for the Arcadia Blue Grass Festival. It is our third visit to a festival there and as usual we had a grand time though it was a bit different this time, cause we had Gerome along.

Upon returning home it took a while to get the pictures ready for the blog. But here they are.

As most of the GSOLFOT members who have hosted Gerome know.... he loves food. So naturally he was at the center of things when we stopped for lunch on our way to the Festival. This was at a favorite spot... The Interstate 83 Diner, near York PA. Of course he is standing right in front of a picture of dessert.

A tradition when we camp is to have french toast, sausage and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Gerome was right there for it!

Finally the concerts began. The first group we saw was one of our favorites, Aspen Run. If you look closely you will see Gerome, sneaking on stage. If you click on these pictures you will see them better.

Another group we love is called the Blue Grass Brothers. They put on a wild show. And of course Gerome was getting braver and moved to center stage.

The final group Gerome bothered was Gold Wing Express. They had apparently set up a table and he jumped right on it.

After three days of watching great blue grass entertainers perform Gerome now he thinks he is a blue grass entertainer too.

There will be a final installment tomorrow.

The final campout weekend

The camper took its final outing for the year this past weekend. We headed for Virginia for bluegrass camp. The weather wasn't too great, the first day and half of second with a lot of rain... but that didn't stop the music, nor the food. We enjoyed a pot luck cookout and another shared meal that evening. On Sunday morning it dawned cold but clear and so, not to miss an opportunity, we headed to a couple of big flea markets near by. The nice thing about these places is that we can buy things for our shop and ourselves. (and we get there early so we can get back to camp by lunch.) Even got some produce to take home. Not much available here anymore but nice looking veggies there.

Now, my goal for the winter is to learn to play the fiddle well enough to dare to take it with me in the spring when we go our our next camp out.

The Day After...........

We had a great 4th of July this year. It began with an all day Blue Grass Festival and ended with fireworks which we watched from our neighbors house.

Since the weather was advertised as decent we headed out to Benton to the
O.A.T.S Blue Grass Festival. The temps were in the 70s and overcast so it was pleasant to be able to sit there and ENJOY. We got to hear some new groups and now have a couple of new favorites............... David Davis and the Warrior River Band and the Hillbilly Gypsies.

Festivals are fun cause you get to meet like minded people, there is usually good food AND you can get CDs of the artists to take home and remember the day. And we got to meet the artists in person.And while there I managed to attend a fiddle playing workshop that was very helpful.

We only went for one day this year.... next year we plan to attend the entire 4 day event.

Upon arriving home we heard fireworks and so went to our neighbors yard to watch. They have the best view in our area so we didn't have to fight traffic at the park.

From our vantage point we could see three different fireworks shows, two way off in the distance. Great way to end the day.

Oh yeah, the Red Sox beat the Yankees too..... Can't get any better than that.

A Memorial Day Blue Grass weekend

For the third time now since last fall we have gone south to Virginia to camp out at a campground that specializes in Blue Grass weekends. We discovered the place by accident and now can't seem to stay away. The campground is filled, every two weeks with folks who play or love to listen to Blue Grass music.

We were hooked after the first time we went, even though the weather was lousy, the music was terrific. There were little groups of folks jamming in several locations around the campground. It was like sitting up on stage at a concert. Being right in the middle of it all.

This weekend was the annual Memorial Day pig roast as well as lots of music.

There are some extremely talented musicians that come to the campground, that love to play. And they just play and play. Neither of us really play but oh we are getting inspired.... We noticed several young people this time. A young girl on fiddle, her brother on Mandolin and another young man playing guitar. So the next generation is starting.

Here is a short clip of one of the groups that played this time....
Jimmy on Banjo, Kenny on Harmonica, Nevin playing Fiddle and Carol playing Bass. (The guitar player of the group- Wade- is missing for the moment.)




We always hate for the weekend to end but no doubt we will go there again soon!!!