April 19-22, 2018
The Old Settler’s Music Festival is 31 years old and has moved from a venue near Austin to 142 acres a few miles from our campground. It promised roots music in a family-friendly atmosphere.
We weren’t familiar with any of the performers and are very glad we had the opportunity to enjoy We Banjo 3 (an Irish group), Balsam Range, The Cleverlys (who lived up to their name) and Steve Poltz. Friday and Saturday’s presentations were on LARGE outdoor stages with, for us, too much amplification. We stayed as dry as we could through Saturday’s rain (at one point performances were canceled because of accompanying lightning) with umbrellas and ponchos, but our feet were wet for about 12 hours anyway.
Stage being disassembled Sunday
The event was family-friendly.
Costumed members of the audience added atmosphere.
The Balloon Man made creations to order.
Kids and adults were always blowing “Joyful Bubbles”.
The Festival hosted a youth talent competition. This year’s winner will be featured on one of next year’s stages. Here are the youngest competitors this year, 11-year old Jack and Isabella, with a taste of their “Drowsy Maggie”.
Sunday, the last day of the festival, performances moved to the campground on a smaller stage. We loved it!
We had enjoyed a performance by Steve Poltz Saturday and he performed again Sunday afternoon. We loved his stories and songs. He had audience members carry him during the last verse of “Ripple”, his last song. We never saw that at the Florida Folk Festival.
Here’s a link to a YouTube version of all of Steve’s last song–in 360.
1 Comment
Joette Giorgis · May 9, 2018 at 9:11 am
Sounds wonderful! People outside Florida don’t recognize our Folk Festival performers either, so no surprise that you did not recognize the performers in Texas. It is good to know that folk music is alive and well and family friendly around the country!