What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1479832
MONICA HOOPER NWA Democrat-Gazette M any moons ago, at a party in Rogers, the Hillberry Harvest Moon Festival was unknowingly conceived. "Our first event was a private party," explains Jon Walker of Deadhead Productions. "We had about 200 people come out. The second year was the same way but double the number of people. By the third one, we're like, 'Oh, shoot, maybe we should take this thing public.'" Now in its eighth year, Hillberry Harvest Moon Festival, which runs Sept. 29-Oct. 2, will be at the Farm in Eureka Springs. "This year, our lineup is a little bit different. We've actually expanded the genres a little bit. In the past, we've been very heavy on the bluegrass and jam grass," says Walker. "We've got some other acts to kind of break that mold a little bit [such as] Oteil & Friends, — Oteil [Burbridge] is in the band Dead and Company — coming out. I think people are excited about Cory Wong. He was from the band Vulfpeck. He's got an incredible new album that he just recently put out. It's really interesting. It starts as a funk album and kind of turns into a bluegrass album. He's done like sit-ins with Billy Strings and Del McCoury." He adds that beloved bassist Victor Wooten will also be returning to the festival this year. "We have a lot more local acts this year," he adds. "We have so much musical talent in Northwest Arkansas. It's really incredible. We really wanted to try to expand on that and give a showcase for a lot of the up-and- coming local bands. So in order to do that, we started programming earlier. We have music kicking off at noon Thursday, and music will run all the way through till the wee hours of Sunday morning." Walker adds that the festival starts early this year on Sept. 29 with local band Danny Spain Gang. He says that he's looking forward to hearing Arkansauce, a band which played at previous festivals. "They are rapidly gaining steam. They're emerging as more and more of a regional band and not so much of a local anymore," he says, adding "Opal Agafia, out of Eureka Springs. She is also doing a great job. She's been rising quite a bit and getting a lot of fanfare, so it's good to have [her and her band] back." He adds that he's excited about performances by The Gravel Yard and Country Jesus and other local acts including Danny Spain Gang, Eureka Strings, The Damn Neighbors, Rachel Ammons, Charlie Mellinger Band, Sprungbilly and Skye Pollard and the Family Holler. "We've got two different stages that we will rotate music between. None of the acts play at the same time. So you have the opportunity to see all the bands on there if you really want to," Walker goes on, adding that there will be around 30 craft vendors and seven or eight food trucks there as well. "I've got an activities director, and she has programs going on from Thursday all the way through Sunday. We have kids' workshops; we have parades. There's a kid's tie- dye workshop. There's something constantly going on for kids during the day." For the adults, there's the music, obviously, but there are activities as well from "Bloody Mary Breakfast Clubs" to face painting to workshops focused on instruments that are led by www.malco.com www.malco.com www.malco.com www.malco.com 12 What's up! september 25-OctOber 1, 2022 Faq Hillberry: The Harvest Moon Festival WHaT — A four-day music festival with arts, crafts and workshops. Music includes Railroad Earth, Oteil & Friends, Cory Wong, Sam Bush, Yonder Mountain String Band, Victor Wooten/ Bass Extremes, Keller & The Keels, Big Something, Circles Around the Sun, The Lil Smok- ies, Kitchen Dwellers, Horse- shoes & Hand Grenades, The High Hawks, Arkansauce, Opal Agafia, Pert Near Sand- stone, Friends of the Phamily, One Way Traffic, Clusterpluck, The Gravel Yard, Skye Pollard & Family Holler, Country Jesus, Eureka Strings, Rachel Ammons, Sprungbill, Pretend Friend, The Dirty Strings, The Charlie Mellinger Band, The Damn Neighbors, The Trav- eling Squirrels, The Danny Spain Gang, Blurred Name. WHEN — Sept. 28 (early entry); music from Sept. 29-Oct. 2 WHERE — The Farm, 1 Blue Heron Lane, Eureka Springs COST — $70 for one-day pass to $215 for a four-day full event pass; $230 for five-day full event pass; other ticket options available INFO — hillberryfestival.com Music In The Mountains hillberry harvest moon Festival back and even bigger Deadhead Productions' annual hillberry harvest moon Festival returns to the Farm in eureka springs for four nights of music, art, camping and more. (courtesy photo/Jamie seed) EuREKA SPRiNGS See Hillberry Page 38