The Wide Open Bluegrass Festival was a hub of creativity and community involvement, not to mention the biggest bluegrass event of the year. Music with rustic and vibrant sounds extended from the stages, offering the crowd an authentic bluegrass experience.

There was a ticketed main stage event along with the free street fest, all happening in the heart of downtown Raleigh Friday and Saturday.

At this year’s festival, Fayetteville Street was packed with seven different stages along with art, food and shopping at the street fest. Festival attendees included people of all ages who were seen eating, drinking, shopping and listening to the rich bluegrass sounds that brought them there in the first place.

The festival was the final event of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s World of Bluegrass week, a business conference for people working in the bluegrass music industry. The week consisted of a conference, an awards show and multiple artist showcases throughout the week.

Jamie Katz, the communications and program manager of PineCone, the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music, Inc., explained PineCone’s involvement with the festival.

“PineCone is a local nonprofit organization and we partner with the IBMA on this event every year because we’re the local host, and we know the community and know the people,” Katz said. “We’ve been working with them since the event moved here in 2013 with the planning, organization, and logistics of the street festival and at Red Hat Amphitheater.”

In addition, Katz explained the significance of the location being changed from Nashville to Raleigh back in 2013, saying it highlights the community and the music.

“In Nashville, it was just another event and another convention,” Katz said. “We wanted to highlight it, showcase it and celebrate it. It’s really just a big celebration of bluegrass music. There is so much great music, and so many award winning musicians will be out on the free stages along with the ticketed stages.”

Katz was right. When one walked down Fayetteville Street there was an impossible-to-ignore energy filling the streets — sound of the great artists on stage. Bands with a long history in the industry, such as the Ebony Hillbillies, were performing on the free stages.

AB Walker represents the Ebony Hillbillies, and described the group as an old timey string band out of New York City. The members include Henrique Prince, Norris Washington Bennett, Gloria Thomas Gassaway, William “Salty Bill” Salter, A.R. and Newman Taylor Baker.

Walker credited the start of the band to Prince, but all of the members help to create their unique sound.

“The sound was based on the old timey music of the 16 and 1700s, back when everybody was creating this gumbo of sound,” Walker said. “They are just trying to keep that tradition going and find different ways to express that today.”

Walker also told stories of how the band got its roots and the number of famous people the members have worked with individually. Such as Salter, the bass player, playing with Pete Seeger, who was a major folk artist. Or, AR, the pots and pans percussionist, playing with a band who was opened up for by The Beatles back when they were getting started.

Walker said that the band’s music and repertoire is really deep and wide, and that they love to see people dancing to their music.

After seeing a band as historically rooted as the Ebony Hillbillies, there was still more the free street festival had to offer. Watching shows all day and dancing causes one to venture over to the food tents for a bite.

There was no shortage on barbeque food trucks, kettle corn, lemonade and various deep fried foods. In addition, there were many places to grab a drink whether it was at the Bud Light truck, the Beer Garden tent or the wine tasting tent, there truly was something for everyone.

After having a belly full of food there are endless things to do next. Making one’s way between stages leads to the browsing of all the local artists and vendors. There are tents for paintings, pottery and other artisan creations and, to top it all off, there were clothing vendors and other local products.

Judit Beres, the creator of Neomega Nutritionals — a local health food company that sells the first herbal-infused avocado oils —  was the vendor chosen to be under the “shop local tent,” a venture that proved worthwhile.

“This is great exposure for the company, and it’s great to come out and meet the market and talk to them about the local products, and get them to taste it and know it,” Beres said. “I think the event is a brilliant mixture, a win-win for everyone. There are so many people who come to the bluegrass festival to enjoy the music and get to know local businesses and local artisan makers and familiarize themselves with what the local offering is. I think that creates a more vibrant community, the more local and unique offering you have.”

In addition to putting the spotlight on local vendors the street festival gives a chance for less widely known bluegrass artists to showcase their talent from the youth performances, college bands or other groups starting to gain a following in the bluegrass community.

The Piedmont Regulators, a band from Hillsborough, North Carolina, was one of many who performed on the steps of the Wake County Courthouse Friday afternoon. The members included Ernie Renn, Jesse Jordan, Matt Singer and Adam Rosemond.

“We actually came out to the IBMA’s the first year they ever had it here,” Renn said. “We set up on the stairs and had a great time and people really seemed to enjoy it. So we came back and now we’re here for our third time.”

The band describes themselves as a non-traditional string band, and said the crowd is always the best part of preforming at the festival, especially because people remember their performances year after year.  

The Wide Open Bluegrass Festival highlighted famous up and coming artists throughout the weekend, with a part of the proceeds from the ticketed event supporting the Bluegrass Trust Fund. In addition to supporting the bluegrass community, this event helped support Raleigh’s community of local artisans and vendors. Overall, the festival was fit for everyone from hardcore bluegrass fans to those wishing to experience great music, food and a relaxing way to spend a Saturday afternoon.