Ozark Folk Center State Park Announces Bluegrass and Fried Chicken Festival
(MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ark.) – The Bluegrass & Fried Chicken Festival is Aug. 6-7, 2021, at Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View, Ark. The music festival will feature an extended show on Friday night, a Saturday matinee, and a Saturday eveningextended show. The new event, which is sponsored by Stone Bank and the Arkansas Arts Council, features local, regional, and nationally touring bluegrass bands at Ozark Highlands Theater, the park’s 1,000-seat indoor music venue, and delicious Southern fried chicken at The Skillet Restaurant, also located on-site at the park.
Headliners include The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys and Fast Track. These two bands are growing in popularity among a new generation of bluegrass fans. Both Fast Track and The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys are scheduled to perform two sets during the Friday and Saturday event.
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, a hard-driving traditional bluegrass band from East Tennessee, first caught national attention in 2018 when they won the award for “Emerging Artist of the Year” at the International Bluegrass Music Awards (IBMA) and became known to a wider audience when their debut release for Rounder Records “Toil, Tears & Trouble” received a Grammy nomination for “Best Bluegrass Album” in 2019. The band continued to gain favor with fans after receiving the award for Song of the Year at the 2020 SPGMA Awards (Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America).
Fast Track released their first album last year and drew tremendous interest among the bluegrass community. Although they are technically a new band, its members should be familiar faces to most bluegrass fans. Altogether, individual members of the group have earned more than two dozen IBMA Awards, countless SPGMA Awards, four Grammy nominations, and have performed with Ricky Skaggs, Doyle Lawson, The Bluegrass Cardinals, Alison Krauss, and Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys.
The festival will also feature several youth bands from the “Folk Music Capital” of Mountain View, a town that has become known for producing some of Arkansas’s best bluegrass and old-time folk musicians. The lineup includes Sylamore Special, a young up-and-coming group who won first place at the Youth in Bluegrass Contest in Branson, Missouri, after competing against bands from nine states Memorial Day weekend, and Ozark Legacy, a group featuring 16-year-old multi-state fiddle champion, Mary Parker, and 17-year-old National Banjo Champion, Lillyanne McCool, who was nominated for Young Artist of the Year at the Arkansas Country Music Awards earlier this year.
Other artists included in the festival lineup include veteran musicians from Mountain View, including multi-instrumentalist Pam Setser, and mandolin virtuosos Brad Apple and Sam Cobb. Each has also received nominations at this year’s Arkansas Country Music Awards, including awards for Bluegrass Artist of the Year and Americana Artist of the Year, among others. Redmond Keisler, who is also well-known on Arkansas’s bluegrass festival circuit, is scheduled to perform on Friday night and Saturday.
Concert ticket prices are $25 for Friday night and $35 for Saturday. To reserve your general admission tickets for Bluegrass & Fried Chicken, visit OzarkFolkCenter.Ticketleap.com. (Fried chicken buffet sold separately.) Note: We will be following Arkansas Dept. of Health COVID-19 guidelines to help ensure the safety of guests, so seating could be limited.
The Skillet Restaurant at Ozark Folk Center State Park will be serving its famous fried chicken throughout the festival on August 6-7. The hilltop restaurant, which is known for its Southern hospitality and down-home cooking, will be serving a fried chicken dinner buffet from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, as well as a breakfast buffet featuring chicken and waffles on Saturday from 8 to 11 a.m. The cost for a buffet is $10 for breakfast and $12 for dinner. Special chicken items will also be available in the Ozark Highlands Theater concession stand.
About Ozark Folk Center State Park
The Ozark Folk Center State Park, located in Mountain View, Arkansas, is open seasonally for you to explore the culture of this beautiful region. The mission is “to perpetuate, present and promote the Ozark way of life in an educational and enjoyable manner.” The Craft Village has over 20 Craft Artisans demonstrating and teaching their arts and is home to the nationally recognized Heritage Herb Garden. The park celebrates its folk music roots through Ozark Highlands Radio, a nationally syndicated radio show, live music in the Craft Village, special musical events, and concerts. Relax and enjoy your stay at one of our 53 cabins nestled in the woods and award-winning Southern cuisine at the Skillet Restaurant. Also available on-site is a conference center and meeting space for groups of all sizes. To learn more information about upcoming events, register for craft classes, or book a cabin for your next retreat, visit OzarkFolkCenter.com.
About Arkansas State Parks
Arkansas State Parks is a division of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism. Arkansas state parks and museums cover 54,400 acres of forest, wetlands, fish and wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation facilities, and unique historic and cultural resources. The system includes 1,100 buildings (including 183 historic structures), six National Historic Landmarks, a National Natural Landmark, 16 sites on the National Register of Historic Places, and War Memorial Stadium.
The state parks have 1,800 campsites, 1,050 picnic sites, 208 cabins, five lodges, and 415 miles of trails. Eight million visitors annually come from all regions of the country. Park staffs provide over 42,000 education programs, activities, and special events to more than 700,000 participants each year.
Established in 1923, Arkansas State Parks preserve special places for future generations, provide quality recreation and education opportunities, enhance the state’s economy through tourism, and provide leadership in resource conservation. Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and visit ArkansasStateParks.comand ArkansasStateParks.com/media to learn more about everything we have to offer.
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.