BoCO Music Festival | Eastern North Carolina Now

BoCO MUSIC FESTIVAL PRESS RELEASE

    Downtown Washington and Festival Park will be home to two days of live music and entertainment for the entire family during this year's BoCO Music Festival. Slated for April 15th and 16th, the festival teams its opening concert at the Turnage Theater with the first Friday night Music In The Streets of the season. Saturday, Festival Park will host an entire day of music.

    Saturday's event is an all-day musical extravaganza on the waterfront. The river will provide the backdrop to the main stage in Festival Park where music will start at 10 a.m. and continue into the night. This year's musical line up offers bands from near and far, including hometown indie/bluegrass band Carolina Still, Raleigh-based alternative/Americana group Lonnie Walker, and the ragtime/blues/Dixieland music of the Jeremy Wallace Trio from NYC. Other bands include Wilmington's Onward, Soldiers, Possum Creek, and L Shape Lot, John Howie & the Sweethearts, Craicdown, and bluesman Lightnin' Wells.

    Starting at 4:30 p.m., the Beaufort County Arts Council-sponsored Beer Garden will open for the evening performances. In addition to the main stage, the Beaufort County Traditional Music Association will have ongoing performances in their Jam Tent near the Chamber of Commerce. Children's activities include staged performances by the Shadow Players' sword-fighting pirates, a drum circle, and dynamic dance, percussion, and hulahooping shows by Hoopdrum.

    2011 represents the third annual music festival in Washington, but the first year under its new name--BoCO Music Festival. Known previously as the Beaufort County Music Festival, this year's planning committee has revamped not only the name, but the festival as well, by combining multiple venues and musical groups into a single opening concert Friday night, followed by entertainment from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday.

    Lipbone Redding and the Lipbone Orchestra kick off the festival with an 8 p.m. concert at the Turnage Theater on Friday night, April 15th. Described as an inventive singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Lipbone performs original songs, a mix of New Orleans swing, Memphis grooves and New York City funk. He's well-known for his ability to make his voice sound exactly like a trombone--an effect one needs to witness in person to truly appreciate. Though the band hails from New York City, Lipbone has local roots and in the past regularly performed in the area under the name Citizen One. Ticket price for the Turnage concert is $15, general admission.

    For more information, see BoCO Music Festival on Facebook, visit beaufortcountyartscouncil.org and click on the music festival logo, or contact Joey Toler at beaufortcountyarts@embarqmail.com and 252.946.2504.

Event Schedule for BoCO MUSIC FESTIVAL

April 15th, 2011, 8 p.m. to ...

- BoCO kickoff concert: Lipbone Redding & Lipbone Orchestra at the Turnage Theater in downtown Washington www.turnagetheater.com
- Food, arts & crafts vendors
- Live percussion/hulahooping demos by Hoopdrum
- Improv swashbuckling pirate shows/swordfighting
- Banjo boat rides, guided tours up the Pamlico and Tar Rivers on the NC Estuarium's pontoon boat

April 16th, 2011, 10 AM to 10 PM

Festival Park, waterfront, downtown Washington (119 East Water St., off Stewart Parkway)
- free to the public
- on the waterfront
- wide variety of music (from punk/bluegrass band Carolina Still to indie/acoustic bands Lonnie Walker and Onward, Soldiers)

- Beer Garden opens at 4:30 p.m., ID required
- family friendly (drum circle, hulahooping expos, PIRATES!!)
We're on Facebook: BoCO Music Festival

SCHEDULE:

10 a.m.: John Howie & the Sweethearts (rock/honky tonk country)

11:15: Lightnin' Wells (blues)

12:30 p.m.: Possum Creek (new bluegrass)

1:45: Craicdown (acoustic roots/celtic rock)

3:00: L Shape Lot (rock/roots music)

4:15: TBA

5:30: Jeremy Wallace Trio (blues/screamin' Dixieland ragtime)

6:45: Onward, Soldiers (indie/Americana/rock)

8:00: Carolina Still (bluegrass/punk)

9:15: Lonnie Walker (Americana/indie/punk)