Preddy Fest

Preddy Fest

By Donna Campbell Smith

They start coming a week ahead,

Set up their family compounds

With tents, campers, canopies

and outdoor kitchens.

It’s a festival of Bluegrass music.

It’s a gathering,

It’s a happening,

A countrified Woodstock of sorts.

Camp pickings and singings

Waft into the nighttime summer air.

Songs about Jesus, moonshine, mama,

And “better times a coming.”

Banjo picking,

Guitar strumming,

Fiddling and bass playing.

Sometimes a song dwindles off

And a singer admits, “I forgot the rest of the words”

But the playing goes on.

Beer flows like the mighty brown water of the Tar River

On whose banks the blue jean clad fans have gathered,

It is the elixir for shy players,

lonely hearts,

fun lovers.

The hot summer sun wiggles through the shade trees;

Folks with bag chairs sit below the stage

Listening to the music,

Feet tapping to the tunes,

Wiping sweat from their brows,

Eating ice cream and crazy curly fries.

Those still cooling off with cold beer

Are roped off to the side

without complaint.

Any other time folks would seek the comfort

Of air conditioning,

running water,

and toilets that flush.

But not during Franklin County’s

Preddy Fest Week.

The last song is played on stage,

but the music goes on till daylight.

The hardest part of Preddy Fest is leaving.

Preddy Fest is a three day bluegrass music festival held in Franklinton, NC every summer on the banks of the mighty Tar River. It features top bluegrass bands from across the country. Folks come in a week ahead to camp on the beautiful Preddy Farm in anticipation of the concerts, visiting old friends and family, cooking and eating, picking and grinning all week long. For the fans and the curious learn more about this event at Preddy Fest.