This year’s Old Main Music Festival will feature several big acts, including Nickel Creek, Moe and Richard Johnston. The festival will take place Saturday, April 24, downtown.
In addition to live music, the festival will feature a DJ at Level III downtown.
Organizing a festival like Old Main takes months. The bands have to be booked far in advance, lights have to be set up, security has to be arranged, clean-up has to be planned and port-o-johns have to be secured.
“Downtown Starkville is thriving, and people in general should take advantage of that,” organizer Travis Wolfe said. “This is our way of getting the public in the downtown area to listen to good music and enjoy the atmosphere.”
Singers/songwriters Nickel Creek, who beat out Johnny Cash for a Grammy and have been named by TIME magazine as one of the five “Music Innovators for the Millennium,” will headline the festival. The group is renowned for bringing traditional bluegrass to a contemporary audience.
New York-based Moe, a well-known jam band, has released 11 CDs. The band often sells out venues they perform at around the country.
Richard Johnston, a bluesman from Beale Street, has won awards for his guitar playing.
Two local bands, unannounced as of yet, will also play the festival.
The City of Starkville and the Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau are also supporting the event.
Co-organizer Andrea Slocum said she is excited about bringing the festival to Starkville. “A festival like this can happen in a city twice Starkville’s size, but we are making it happen in Starkville,” she said.
All restaurants will be open the day of the festival and the shuttles will be running for transpiration to and from Downtown. Tickets are $10. Gates will open at 6 p.m. and the festival will last until 12:30 a.m.
For more information visit www.sa.msstate.edu/oldmainfest.