DelFest
DelFest from the Stage
At five years old, Delfest is one of the newer festivals. Located near Cumberland, MD, the Allegany County Fairgrounds is located along the Potomac River. There is a long ridge across the river. There is a large beautiful gray granite rock face on the side of the ridge facing the fairgrounds. This festival is only two hours from my home making it the closest festival of the year. Camping is allowed in some areas of the fairground proper. People camp in the adjacent wooded area, along the river, and around the ball fields too. Uniquely, the festival’s main stage is located on the infield of the half mile dirt track on what is called The Meadow. The view from the Meadow of the ridges across the Potomac River in West Virginia is spectacular. Everyone has to walk across the racing dirt track to get to the shows. (And very muddy when it rains) There is a second stage is located behind the midway. Unlike the Meadow, this stage has some shade. There is a third stage, The Music Hall, located inside the main building. The Music Hall is where the midnight shows are held, often running until 3AM and later. Each late night show requires an additional ticket.
In 2008, the first year, the crowd was probably fewer than 2,000 people. Del McCoury asked the crowd to go home and tell everyone about the festival and next year, bring someone back with them. Over the five years, the festival has more than doubled. Operation of the festival also has gotten smoother. It is neat to see Del McCoury riding around the grounds speaking to everyone and having a great time.
Weather is usually the big story at Delfest. Each year there has been rain or storms of some sort except for the first year, when the night temperatures were below freezing. One year there was a storm that rolled through that was a micro-burst or mini-tornado. It had 60 mph. winds and damaged much of the tenting gear and virtually all of the canopies that were on the site. It seems Sam Bush is always involved somehow when it rains at Delfest. The year of the microburst, Sammy was finishing his set performing ‘Souvenir Bottles’. Just as he was singing the final line from the song, ‘When a girl named Suzie took her clothes off in the rain,’ the lightning shot above the stage, thunder roared and it started to pour. Everybody took off. Last year, Sam finished his set early because of an imminent storm which dumped on the festival. Why does the rain usually arrive when Sam Bush performs?
There is a good jamming scene on the fairgrounds. Within the festival is a bluegrass band competition. Often, these bands get out and play at campsites and one the festival midway. If you want, you could find someone to play with any time day and all night. There is a nice gazebo on the grounds where the bands perform.
A really nice aspect of the festival is that every band invited was selected by the McCoury family. This might be why Sam Bush, Yonder Mountain String Band and others line up to help out their friend Del, and perform at this festival. Some of the old masters are always invited. Over the years we’ve seen Bobby Osborne, JD Crowe, Jesse McReynolds, Danny Paisley, Old Crow Medicine Show, Bela Fleck and so many other great bands.
Delfest has already spawned some memorable moments. The Del McCoury Band performs each of the four days. Over the four days, you to get a better idea of the personality of Del and the boys. Each year on the last night, he brings out his extended family, introduces them, and thanks the crowd. It’s very nice.
I always bring binoculars to a festival. At Delfest people in the crowd kept pointing to the granite rock face across the river. I used my binoculars to see what was going on up on the rock face. To my extreme surprise, I see a couple goats walking around on the tiny ledges of the rock. The whole weekend people pointed, asked to borrow my binocs and looked at the unusual site of what appeared to be wild goats grazing on the rock face. The goats were not there the following year or thereafter. I never did hear an explanation of what the goats were all about.
The first year, David Grisman, Sam Bush, Drew Emmitt, Ronnie McCoury, and Vince Gill all performed with their respective bands on the same day. They also all performed together with the Del McCoury Band closing down Saturday night by performing Shawn Camp’s classic ‘My Love Will Not Change.’ The performance was breathtaking. Each mandolin player played better and better solos. At one point all four were playing incredibly fast lead licks simultaneously. I’m sorry to say Vince Gill pulled out of the mandolin solo contest right away, apparently not wanting to get into some really fast picking. I was a bit disappointed. He did scat a bit during the jamming and that was very nice. Did I mention that Vince Gill can really sing? How often can you see the best of the best all collected on the stage? It happens every year at Delfest. This is part of what makes the festival special.
