Music & Heritage Festival

With the busy summer season wrapping up at work, I hope to have more time for blogging now! (And also for having adventures worth blogging about)

Usually on Labor Day weekend, I like to take a little trip somewhere. But this year DF convinced me that we should stay in Memphis to enjoy what our own city has to offer. It did not disappoint!

Saturday dawned gray and rainy, but being indomitable northwesterners, we didn't let the weather stand in our way of enjoying the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival. Sponsored by the Center for Southern Folklore, this festival celebrates the unique artists of the region with live performances on stages around downtown Memphis. It was great fun!

Here is a performer demonstrating an instrument he created - a cardboard box that is played with maracas. He also played the washboard!

Here is Randal Morton playing the banjo behind his head. His claim to fame is winning the National Bluegrass Banjo Championships in 1975. Back in the glory days!

And of course there was plenty of blues. This group is called Devil Train.

In addition to live music, there were also some cooking demonstrations going on, and we got to sample tasty dishes. We snacked our way down Main St. :)

The festival wasn't as crowded as I would have expected, which is probably due to the rain. Hopefully more people came out on Sunday. It seemed like a lot of the attendees were from out of town, at least based on comments I overheard. Perhaps this event is a big tourist draw? Well, I'm glad we checked out this local attraction over the holiday weekend!