Bluegrass music festivals happen all over the country each summer, and to close out this summer Idaho Falls will have its own for the first time.
The Bluegrass on the Snake Bluegrass Festival is tomorrow at Freeman Park. It will feature seven local bluegrass bands and musicians and will celebrate bluegrass music from the area.
The musicians range from music teachers to students and professional bands who will showcase different bluegrass music styles. They’ll begin at noon and the last performance starts at 6 p.m.
“There's different types of bluegrass music. There's traditional and there is a newer style of bluegrass that's coming out,” said Teresa Mortensen, the festival coordinator. “Music always changes a little bit, so there's going to be a really diverse amount of music going on and I think that they will find some that they like. I think they'll be impressed with what the musicians can do and how happy the music is and how it really helps your mood to be happy.”
The family-friendly event is free, but donations will be collected in support of Community Youth in Action. There will be a raffle to win a fiddle and a guitar. T-shirt and hat sales and donation boxes will also be available.
CYA Idaho is a local nonprofit dedicated to empowering youth to use their voice and build healthy communities through action and service. They have programs that connect youth and families to resources to prevent them from entering welfare and juvenile justice systems and they also provide fun classes and support to teens after school.
This is the first Bluegrass on the Snake event, however, the event’s coordinators hope to continue the event, so that it can be a tradition in the community.
“We want to have a lot of people come and enjoy the music so we can have success moving forward,” Mortensen said. “If we have a good successful year this year, we're hoping we can get better sponsorship for next year moving forward, so we can get a lot more different bands to come in the area as well.”
For more information about the event, visit Bluegrass on the Snake on Facebook.