The Wickenburg Bluegrass Festival is celebrating its 44th year of pickin’ and grinnin’ in Wickenburg, AZ! From November 10-12, 2023, the Everett Bowman Arena in Wickenburg transforms into a toe-tappin' haven. With top bluegrass bands, great vendors, and a welcoming crowd, it's a musical hoedown for all. Whether you're a bluegrass veteran or a newbie, this festival offers a weekend of banjo-pluckin', fiddle- playin', and heartwarming fun. Grab your dancing shoes and join us for a wild, musical ride! For more information visit wickenburgchamber.com
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 The 44th annual Wickenburg Bluegrass Festival is coming up on
00:05 November 10th and 12th and here to tell us how you can get in all the fun is
00:09 Mike Wallace with the Chamber of Wickenburg and already he has the fun
00:14 meter on saying let's go people. Let's go. This is great. This is awesome and I'll
00:18 tell you just going to Wickenburg is a great time and now with the big Bluegrass
00:24 Festival happening it's gonna be a better time with us. Let's talk a little
00:27 about this. So the 44th annual that's amazing. 44 years I've been a part of it
00:31 well I was 10 when the first one came out and I was there my dad took me to
00:36 the first and second and then I was at the 10th and then my dad was kind of
00:43 like in charge of it and was the chairman for so many years and then he
00:48 passed away seven years ago and I've been helping out for the last 23 years
00:54 and here we are at the 44th annual Bluegrass Festival. Ready to do this and
00:59 what's really great is that this is performers coming from all over all over
01:03 to be there. How do you select them? Do they have to like audition or anything
01:07 or is it more where you go looking for them? The way I learned it from my dad is
01:11 we want the up-and-coming bluegrass bands. Now Ten Dollar Wedding who is
01:15 going to be there this year was actually in one of our band competitions last
01:19 year and they won it so I'm bringing them back and now they are a band so
01:24 this would be like you know their first year out there performing as a band and
01:29 I look for that talent that okay these guys are gonna be really good let's
01:34 bring them to the festival and then that's how they get their their start is
01:38 at our Bluegrass Festival. I like it. Okay let's talk about what bluegrass is music
01:43 because a lot of people confuse it with country music which it really isn't it
01:46 right? Correct. Bluegrass was made in the late 1940s and it was back in Kentucky
01:52 West Virginia Virginia area and it's stringed instruments your banjo your
01:57 mandolin your guitar your fiddle sometimes the dobro but yeah and it's I
02:01 like to think of it as country music but on Red Bull so there you go. It's ready
02:08 to go let's let's get out there let's jam let's dance. I love it. It's a really
02:13 good time and our Bluegrass Festival at after it's all said and done we have all
02:20 the campers and stuff and people go from campsite to campsite and they bring
02:23 their instruments yeah they're small and can carry them and they just start
02:26 jamming all night long. Okay you said something very important there that's
02:28 camping because it's two nights out there. Three. Three oh three oh my gosh
02:32 that's right three out there to enjoy. So how does this work and what goes on out
02:36 there? Well I will be lining the campsites on Sunday I have campers
02:41 coming in Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and they're all they're there
02:45 and they're ready for it and they come out there and they'll just start playing
02:49 people start barbecuing you go from camp to camp to camp and you'll have five ten
02:54 guitars fiddles banjos and they just play bluegrass. And it's a great big
02:59 gathering. It's a big jam. So are there still spots available? Absolutely. So I can
03:03 bring my RV I can come out? Yeah I got tickets for you. Oh don't say that we'll
03:07 talk here. There you go buddy. I got some tickets for you. Tickets are available
03:11 right now and so where can they find those? They can find them on our website
03:15 which is Wickenburgchamber.com and it's an event right or just show up and bring
03:20 cash. Cash at the door. I like it. All right Mike I was gonna tell you a secret
03:24 that you probably are you don't even know about this of going to Wickenburg and
03:28 going out to the Bluegrass Festival but for those that aren't staying overnight
03:31 you go out there early getting up in the morning drive out there and there's some
03:35 great breakfast spots there where the locals are and you see some of the
03:39 bluegrass performers there you get sit and talk and enjoy yourself and then you
03:43 meet new friends new people and then you head on over to of course the grounds to
03:48 watch the Blue Festival. Am I right? Is that how to do it? You are absolutely right. Come to
03:52 Wickenburg we got some great restaurants great mall and pop shops to go shopping
03:56 and everything else. Yeah and enjoy yourself and if you want to even dress
04:00 up like a cowboy and walk the streets and get a tour and everything and that's
04:03 what Wickenburg is all about. And stop by the chamber and we'll tell you exactly
04:06 where you need to go and we have all the handouts and everything there. I like it.
04:11 We're in the old train depot built in 1895. There he is let's pop it up on the
04:14 screen one more time when and where the Bluegrass Festival is and it's happening
04:19 November 10th through the 13th. 12th. 12th sorry. Yeah I don't know where I'm going next today.
04:23 Sorry about that. There you go Wickenburgchamber.com where you can get
04:26 tickets head on out there enjoy some great music and enjoy the beautiful
04:30 Wickenburg area. So Mike thanks for being here. Thank you I enjoyed it this is a lot of fun.
04:35 you
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