LeMars, Iowa…..The gates to Middle America’s largest old-time music festival is getting oiled and ready to roll.

According to Director, Bob Everhart, “I guess by default we are now the largest and oldest music festival dedicated to acoustic rural music in America. Since the demise of the Bill Grant Festival in Oklahoma, we are definitely the largest one west of the Mississippi River.

I’ve been with the festival all 34 years, and though we’ve moved a couple of times, our new home at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds is probably the best one we’ve had so far. We used to be bothered by rain, not anymore, our main stage is in a huge air conditioned building. We used to be bothered by train whistles, not any more, even though there is a railroad track in LeMars, it doesn’t bother us at all. We used to be bothered by unlevel ground, not any more.

Everything about the Plymouth County Fairgrounds is a nice fit for everything we do. If you looked at this from a business point of view, since what we are doing could be considered a convention, it might be a little more expensive than we desire, but it is old-time music that we are concerned with, and ‘excellence’ in that musical genre.”

The National Traditional Country Music Assn., a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, of which Everhart is President, is opening the gates to the fairgrounds on August 18 so early RV campers can get the prime spots. It also allows for considerable ’set-up’ required by the Association to accomodate the many different needs that develops from a large event of this kind.

According to Everhart, “We like to have everything ready to go when the public start arriving, and we have a couple of special things to take care of this year. We have 22 dancers and musicians coming from Greece, who were going to be lodged at the old college dormitory in LeMars. That apparently fell through at the last minute, so we are going to borrow the mattresses from the dorm, and put them in another building at the fairground to take care of these excellent musicians and dancers from so far away. Our NTCMA members are dealing with this, with Jerry Hughes the main mover and shaker.”

“Excellence in everything we do is what we are really about,” says Everhart, “we want to provide the very best players and performers of this music that we can find, but we also want the world to know if a musician or performer, or songwriter, is just starting out, we definitely want them to know we have a place for them too. We believe that all performers, no matter where they are on the ’success’ ladder, had to start somewhere. We all had to be beginners at one time or another. We just want to make sure that we have it right at our festival.

We have workshops conducted by the successful ones so the beginners can get better, we have contests to allow beginners and advanced players to be judged by professionals, and we have magnificent stage time on ten different stages to accomodate everyone that wants to share our dream of keeping America’s acoustic rural music alive. That’s why nearly all the profit from this one venture goes to the continued existence of the Pioneer Music Museum in Anita, Iowa, and hopefully the establishment of a Children’s Music Camp that will teach kids how to play this magnificent music by ‘ear.”

Tom Mullalley, a member of the NTCMA, and a restaurant owner in LeMars, is also behind the festival. He is taking advantage of the early bird arrivals by hosting a benefit show to raise money for a Kidney Dialysis Machine for the hospital in LeMars. “Maybe we aren’t as experienced at this as we should be,” he said, “but we sure can do a couple of shows on Aug 29 and Aug 30, before the festival starts to help our community in their time of need.”

The first benefit show will be at the Old School Museum at 7pm on August 29, and the second benefit show will be at the Olson Center in downtown LeMars at 7pm on August 30.

The actual festival begins at 9am on August 31, and goes through September 6. Seven full days, 9am to midnight every day on ten sound stages. “That should be enough to make any acoustic old time music lover happy,” says Everhart, “we even have one stage on the front porch of the old log cabin that will function without a P.A. system. It’s going to be dulcimers and autoharps and harmonicas and such. Just like when the original homesteaders and pioneers made music, probably on the porch of this very same log cabin.”

RV camping with electrical hook-ups is $12 per day; dry camping is $8 per day. Daily tickets are $15 per adult; $12 if over 70; under 18 is free. A 7-day special pass is available for $55. More information is available from Everhart at 712-762-4363.

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