The 39th annual Rockbridge Mountain Music and Dance Festival is taking place this Friday and Saturday, Sept. 11 and 12, at Glen Maury Park in Buena Vista.
Preceding the festival on Friday at 5 p.m. will be a celebration of the music of the late Carol Elizabeth Jones in the big tent. Jones, a Rockbridge area resident and renowned musician who was a regular presence at past festivals, died earlier this year.
The festival itself gets underway later Friday at 8 p.m. with a square dance. Ben Miller and the Bergton Buggy Jumpers will provide the music and Hannah Johnson will be the caller.
Various workshops will take place Saturday afternoon. The first one will be a banjo workshop with Barry Southern at noon. Gabrielle Macrae will lead a fiddle workshop at 1. A harmony singing workshop with the Horsenecks will be at 2. A guitar workshop with Lizzie Cahalin will be at 3 and will be followed by a flatfooting workshop with Gina Dilg at 4.
Mini-concerts will begin at 6:30 p.m. with the Horsenecks. Ben Miller and the Bergton Buggy Jumpers will follow. A square dance will begin at 8. The Horsenecks will perform and the caller will be Ben Nelson.
Festival admission fee is $60, which includes camping both nights. Daily festival admission fee is $20. Children 14 and under are admitted free.
Created in 1986 by Mike Seeger, the festival is his vision of a noncompetitive celebration of old-time music and dance.
