Stringband Music & Arts Festival comes to Ozark Folk Center Oct. 11 and 12

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Two days of live stringband music, dancing, and handcrafted arts at the Ozark Folk Center are set for Oct. 11 and 12.
Shows in the Ozark Highlands Theater will be 7-9 p.m. that Friday and 1-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. that Saturday.
Music shows at the park’s 1,000-seat indoor music venue will feature lively Ozark Mountain music, folk, country and bluegrass-inspired stringbands, including Grammy award-winner Dirk Powell and his daughter Amelia Powell, Lonesome Ace Stringband, The Creek Rocks, Salem Plateau, The Bug Shuffle Stringband, Mountain View’s own Riggsville Ramblers and the Ozark Folk Center Square Dancers.
Tickets are $25 for Friday, $35 for all-day Saturday, or $50 for both days. Day-of tickets cost $2 more. Family passes are available for two adults and their children under age 18. Season passes are honored at this event.
Festival tickets include entry to the Ozark Folk Center Craft Village for live music sets performed by talented local stringband musicians, craft demos in 20 artisan shops, gardens and family fun from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The park’s hilltop restaurant, The Skillet, located on-site, will serve its all-you-can-eat Southern fare buffet that Friday and Saturday in-between music shows during Stringband Festival.
About some of the performers:

Friday evening headliner, Dirk Powell, is a four-time Grammy award-winner and has worked with artists such as Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Rhiannon Giddens, Eric Clapton, and many more. He is regarded as a champion of rural Americana, with a focus on the music of his Appalachian roots and his Cajun home, but has longstanding ties with the Celtic music world, as evidenced by his latest CD, “When I Wait For You." Dirk’s daughter Amelia grew up in the Bayou of Louisiana, immersed in the musical culture of her grandfather, Cajun fiddle hero Dewey Balfa. Her driving guitar and soulful vocals, as both a lead and harmony singer, are in demand throughout Cajun country and beyond. She has toured internationally since her teenage years. Together, they play music of their Appalachian and Cajun heritage, write and craft original songs, and bring audiences the kind of soulful connection that comes from family playing together with humor, trust, and love.
Saturday afternoon headliners, The Creek Rocks, are a folk group from the Ozarks led by banjoist Cindy Woolf and guitarist Mark Bilyeu, who is also a founding member of Ozarks family band Big Smith. Their debut release, “Wolf Hunter,” is an album of sixteen folk songs from the Ozarks, arranged by The Creek Rocks gathered from the collections of folklorists Max Hunter of Springfield, Missouri (Mark’s hometown) and John Quincy Wolf of Batesville, Arkansas (Cindy’s hometown). “Wolf Hunter” has gathered critical accolades for The Creek Rocks, including the prestige of their photo gracing the cover of Acoustic Guitar Magazine.
Saturday evening headliners, the Lonesome Ace Stringband, are masters of their trade. The trio brings grit, skill and abandon to Americana music, bridging old-time, bluegrass and folk traditions into a seamless hybrid of original material that is at once fresh and timeless. Instrumentation alone sets this Toronto-based band’s sound apart, consisting simply of fiddle (John Showman), clawhammer banjo (Chris Coole), and upright bass (Max Malone). The spine-tingling harmonies and interchanging lead vocals only bring more magic to the equation. They’re releasing their fifth album, a feisty and mighty all-original collection (Try To Make It Fly), and touring it to Canada, the US and Europe.
Tickets to the Stringband Music & Arts Festival are available at OzarkFolkCenter.TicketLeap.com. (Southern fare buffets sold separately.)
If you need a place to stay during the weekend of the concert, The Cabins at Dry Creek, located on-site, offer homespun decor, modern comforts, and an outdoor swimming pool between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Rooms are located just down the hill from the Skillet Restaurant and Craft Village, and a shuttle service is provided for cabin guests who attend music at the theater.