It's located about 15 miles east of Lancaster at a very nice campground.
Imagine this, they have 2 swimming pools, a whirlpool and a workout gym!
There is a little man-made beach by a small lake, near where the campfire is
held. There are lots of activities for kids as well. The pool was a big
hangout since it was 88 degrees on Saturday. There are areas for tent and
heavy camping. They also have a few cabins one can rent. The festival is
very intimate with one stage and an air-conditioned large hall behind it
where
workshops and dancing are held. It's hard not to find a decent place to sit
for the concerts. There weren't a lot of food vendors, but 4 miles away
from
the site is a HUGE food complex / farmers market / restaurant which has
everything and I mean everything you could want. There is also a camp
store.
There are a good number of other vendors selling instruments, (House of
Musical Traditions from D.C. was there), CDs books, clothes, etc.
The central area has the concert area, the campfire area, the lake, one of
the
pools, the gym, showers, toilets, the camp store, etc. all easily walkable
from one point to another. then the campground spreads out from there.
There are concerts during the afternoon and in the evening with workshops
during the day. After the evening concert there is an official "campfire"
in
an open air wooden house with benches. Run by John Fuhr, there is a great
camraderie there with everyone getting up to play something, from amateurs
to
more accomplished folks. At the campfire there was a really nice mix of
traddies, singer-songwriters and folks playing songs of all kinds. (from
The
Cat Came Back to a Ry Cooder song to Deportee to Big Yellow Taxi, etc.). Of
course other jams are happening too at campsite locations.
The lineup this year included Robin & Linda Williams, Trout Fishing in
America, John McEwen, Kim Ritchie, an acapella group, blugrass group,
zydeco,
peruvian, swing band for dancing, african etc. (as well as yours truly). It
all blended in nicely.
I found it very relaxed with very friendly folks, laid back, no heavy
cliques,
mellow around the stage area (the performers would sign autographs right by
the stage), etc. It's near Lancaster which has a million outlets (tax free
on
clothes) if that sort of thing suits you before or after the festival. Of
course if you want to visit an Amish farm, it's all around you (watch out
for
the buggies on Sunday). As a performer I found the hospitality outstanding,
the stage folks super accomodating (however, if I had one complaint, it was
that they don't do sound checks, you just get up and play and they figure it
out on the spot. I was not thrilled with it but folks in the audience said
after the first song it sounded fine). For performers out there, take note,
it's extremely difficult to get booked there. It took me years to get
booked
there.
I just want to rave about it to all out there who have never gone. It's a
great little festival, not too expensive, and well worth checking out for
those of you in PA, MD, NY, D.C. etc. It's held around the 2 or 3rd week
of
each May.
Robin Greenstein
[ Stunt Hombre sez: See http://www.800padutch.com/sprgulch.html for a page
about the campground, which mentions the Festival. It's also listed at
http://www.festivalfinder.com/ although the exact URL is too long to print
here - just hit 'Search'. ]