Bluegrass & Fried Chicken Festival at
Ozark Folk Center State Park
(MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ark.) – The Bluegrass & Fried Chicken festival is Aug. 26 & 27 at Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View, Ark. The Skillet Restaurant located onsite will serve its famous fried chicken buffet in between music shows at the park’s 1,000-seat indoor music venue, Ozark Highlands Theater. The music festival will feature an extended show on Friday night, a Saturday matinee and a Saturday evening extended show featuring the region’s biggest names in bluegrass and top touring bands.
Headliners include 10x International Bluegrass Music Award-winner Missy Raines and Bluegrass Hall of Fame members The Dillards. The Dillards, also known as the Darlings, became famous after introducing millions of Americans to bluegrass music by performing songs like “Dueling Banjos” and “Dooley” on T.V.’s Andy Griffith Show.
Also performing at Bluegrass & Fried Chicken is top talent from the Mountain View music scene including Ozark Strangers, Spillwater Drive (Arkansas CMA “Bluegrass Artists of the Year”), The Ozark Legacy and Sylamore Special (KSMU “Youth in Bluegrass” Champions and Arkansas CMA “Young Artists of the Year”) featuring 18-year-old National Banjo Champion Lillyanne McCool and 17-year-old Arkansas Grand Champion Fiddler Mary Parker.
Tickets to music shows are available online for $50 (both days), $25 (Friday only) and $35 (Saturday only). All-day admission to the park’s artisan Craft Village and gardens are included with festival tickets. Family passes are available for two adults and children under 18.
To reserve your tickets to the Bluegrass & Fried Chicken Festival or to learn more about the event, visit OzarkFolkCenter.Ticketleap.com.
The Skillet Restaurant at Ozark Folk Center, which is known for its Southern fare and scenic dining, will serve a dinner buffet from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, as well as a breakfast buffet on Saturday from 8 to 10:45 a.m. featuring chicken and waffles and a lunch buffet on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. All you-can-eat buffets are $13 for breakfast, $14 for lunch and $15 for dinner.
The Ozark Folk Center State Park is home to dozens of demonstrating artists and 20 artisan shops in the park’s nationally renowned Craft Village, which will be open throughout the weekend. Stop by the upper level of the Village to enjoy a concert in the open air at the Blacksmith Stage featuring lively Southern Mountain music or set aside time to discover the Heritage Herb Garden where pass-along plants, flowers and herbs for healing are on full display. For families with children, be sure to visit the park’s animal-powered picnic swing for a ride with Whiskey (or Tango) the Donkey and experience the historic Shannon Cabin or one-room schoolhouse to imagine pioneer life in the Ozarks.
The state park offers modern cabin rooms at the Cabins at Dry Creek, located onsite at the Ozark Folk Center, in scenic Mountain View. To book a room during the Bluegrass & Fried Chicken Festival, August 26 and 27, visit OzarkFolkCenter.com.
Cathy Drew is a lifelong resident of the region that she loves to promote. She was born in downtown Batesville in the late ’60s, located in one of the eight counties she now enjoys encouraging people to visit.
Drew became associated with the Ozark Gateway Region in 1990 while working at the ad agency (The Media Market Inc.). The agency handled marketing for the regional association, where she and her co-workers produced an annual tabloid publication. She began working as the Ozark Gateway Region director in June 2000.
After Drew became director, she took the region to the next level by helping the tourism organization create a new website and moved it from the old newspaper paper tabloid publication to a color magazine format. She helped open a visitor center for the Ozark Gateway, allowing visitors to pick up information from the entire state 24/7. Over the years, Drew has helped the organization meet new marketing goals, such as in- and out-of-state marketing, assuring that all 100,000 copies of their magazines are distributed each year.
In 2016, she assisted in creating the first Ozark Gateway Region Golf Classic. The tournament continues to grow each year, allowing the organization to expand its co-op program and helping each county have dedicated promotion. Drew stays busy at Ozark Gateway as the ad sales manager, magazine editor, day-to-day office operations, trade show representative, and magazine distribution representative, all while ensuring that the region is represented all over Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Drew was featured in several local and statewide publications over the years, as well as the 1997 cover of the Ozark Gateway Region tabloid, along with her then 4-year-old son, Jon. She has received several awards, such as the Batesville Rotarian of the Year in 2010 and a three-time Paul Harris Fellow.
She also has served as an Independence County election commissioner for several years. She now serves as their co-election coordinator, helping with behind-the-scenes management of voting equipment, day-to-day election deadlines, and poll worker training.
Drew is Batesville Rotary Club Past President, and is the Rotary Clubs’ current membership chair.
In March of 2018, Drew was honored with induction into the Arkansas Tourism Hall of Fame for her many years of dedicated service to the tourism industry.