Traditional music – bluegrass, old-time, blues, folk, polka, Cajun and more – will be the centerpiece of a day-long festival on Saturday, August 17, in the Geauga County Village of Burton.
The Raccoon County Music Festival, which runs from noon to 8 p.m. in downtown Burton, will feature performances on two stages, a fiddle contest, square dancing, spontaneous jamming and workshops for children (blues guitar and songwriting) and adults (clogging, bluegrass banjo and old-time banjo). There will be food for sale at the festival, but event-goers are also permitted to bring their own meals as well as chairs and blankets.
Admission is $10 for those ages 13 and older; $4 for children ages 6-12; and free for children under 6.
The festival will be held at the Geauga County Historical Society’s Century Village Museum, 14653 East Park St., Burton. Historical village buildings and the Crossroads museum store will be open. The event is co-sponsored by the historical society and Western Reserve Land Conservancy, a nonprofit headquartered in Moreland Hills.
For up-to-date information on the event schedule, visit the website or the festival’s Facebook page.
The Raccoon County Music Festival brings excellent local and regional musicians together for one day of traditional American music. What distinguishes each of festival performers is that each has dedicated himself or herself for years to learning and expanding the tradition.
Performers this year will include Cleveland’s Hupalowsky & the Slackers (polka), Harmonia (Eastern European), Rebekah Jean of Warren (bluegrass/original), Clevelander Wallace Coleman (blues), Stand Bayou (Cajun), Burton’s Oak Island Skunk Jumpers (old-time), Geauga County’s Mr. Haney (old-time), Ashtabula County-based Young & Blue (bluegrass) and Sacred Harp (traditional Appalachian singing).
New food options this year will be AVI Foodsystems’ fresh booth, featuring a variety of wraps and other items, and a burger stand in the Bond Building.
About the festival name: It comes from the name of the host county, Geauga, which is said to be derived from the word “sheauga,” a Native American word meaning “raccoon.”
About the festival’s origins: The first Raccoon County Music Festival was held on July 4, 1977, a year after the National Bicentennial had cultivated countrywide interest in American history and tradition. The festival was originally conceived as a venue for the performance of tunes and songs passed down through the generations via the oral tradition. Over the years, the festival has taken many forms, but it has always focused on traditional American music. In the past, festival events have included fiddle, banjo, and flat picking guitar contests, an open stage, clogging, fiddle workshops, spontaneous “jamming” and main stage performances by local and nationally touring performers.
About the festival’s history: Raccoon County Music Festival was a yearly event from 1977 until 1989. Thereafter, the festival was held intermittently until finally it stopped running after 1999. In 2006, the festival was revived as a celebration of the Geauga County Bicentennial.
You probably didn’t know: In 1987, a young Alison Kraus & Union Station graced the festival stage at Century Village Museum. And from 1982 to 1988, Jim Blum, the WKSU folk music radio personality and Geauga County resident, directed and hosted the festival.
About the co-sponsors: The mission of the Geauga County Historical Society is to ensure that the history of Geauga County is preserved for the education and appreciation of present and future generations. The historical society was founded in 1873 for the express purpose of “collecting and preserving interesting facts pertaining to the early settlement” of the county. The society’s Century Village Museum is an authentic representation of a Western Reserve Village from 1798 to the turn of the 19th Century. It boasts more than 22 historically accurate buildings and more 15,000 museum artifacts that include original art from the 1800s, antiques, textiles and more.
From the countryside to the city, the nonprofit Western Reserve Land Conservancy provides our region with natural places that nourish and support vibrant and prosperous communities by identifying, preserving, restoring and maintaining essential assets like clean water, working farms, wildlife areas and parks. The Land Conservancy, which is based in Moreland Hills, has helped preserve more than 480 properties and 35,000 acres.
