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Mossy Oak hosting 47th Bluegrass Festival
banjo

They’ve said it here before, if you appreciate acoustic music played in the best traditional bluegrass and gospel style, then you’ll certainly want to be in Guyton this week for the 47th Bluegrass Festival at the award-winning Mossy Oak Music Park.

“Last October we set another attendance record and we are expecting and preparing for what looks to be another large crowd,” Doug Lanier said.

Doug Lanier, his late sister, Rebecca Rose, her husband Russell Rose, and their father, Allen Lanier and family, have hosted the festivals on their family farm two miles out of historic Guyton since 2002.

The Park provides camp sites for more than 525 motor homes, trailers, and tents for all those who wish to come.

“Our April lineup of entertainers includes some of the finest touring bluegrass bands,” Lanier said. “They’re coming to entertain us from Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. And, we’re featuring eleven bands, including the highly regarded Daughters of Bluegrass, a group of very talented ladies ‘raised on bluegrass music’ not only from Appalachia but others areas as well.”

Lanier continued about additional acts for the festival.

“In addition to our special headliner group, The great ‘Daughters of Bluegrass’ Band, The Evan Rose Band, Amanda Cook and Kennesaw Ridge, Francis Mooney and Fontanna Sunset, Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road, The Band Kelly, Newtown, The Sometimes Later Band, Bell’s Highway, The Old Mill Road Band, The Wilson Banjo Company Band, Kati Penn, and MindyRakestraw will also play,” Lanier said. “Most of these bands are multi-award winning groups in bluegrass circles.”

    The “Daughters of Bluegrass” band was once again honored with national recognition by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) and several members are Gospel Music Association’s national Dove Award winners.

    Members of each of the military branches will again be recognized and special guest 91-year-old Neal Corbin, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corp, Retired, of Rincon will again present the colors during the special flag ceremony.

    Visitors will enjoy free bingo every morning from 10am to 12 noon, as well as free shuttle service from the Park to the     big city-wide “Sale Along the Trail” yard sale in historic downtown Guyton on Saturday.

    The Park has a large covered theater/pavilion that seats more than 700, a ample and well-lit handicap accessible parking area, an on-site daily flea market, a full kitchen, playground, museum, bath house, vendors, dump stations, and a number of other amenities. Pets and golf carts are welcome, too.

    “Everything our great staff does here is focused on making our guests welcome and well entertained. So if it’s the traditional bluegrass and southern gospel music in an alcohol-free environment that folks appreciate, then we have the place for them. Just bring along a lawn chair, then sit back, relax and enjoy yourself,” Doug Lanier told us.

    The 5-day festival program, now in its sixteenth year, begins with a covered dish supper Wednesday, April 19, at 6:00pm with an “open stage” beginning at 7:00pm Music starts at 1:00pm each day and runs to 9:30pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The festival concludes on Sunday at 9:00am with a worship service and special gospel music led by nationally-known evangelists/musicians Mike and Mary Robinson from Massachusetts.

    Daily tickets are Thursday $20, Friday and Saturday $25 each, or $50 for the full 5-days; half price for children 12-15; and those under 12 are free. Camping with hookups are $20/$25 and tent camping is $5 per night. For camping reservations, directions, and additional information call 912-772-5142 or 912-772-3467 or visit the Park on the web at www.mossyoakmusicpark.com.