Renofest announces blockbuster lineup for 20th anniversary
Tickets are on sale now for the RenoFest Bluegrass Festival coming back to downtown Hartsville, SC, March 24-26. The festival honors South Carolina’s premier bluegrass legend Don Reno. As in the past, all RenoFest events, with the exception of the Downtown Hoedown, take place inside the historic Center Theater in downtown Hartsville.
The event kicks off at 1:30 p.m. on Friday March 24th with the renowned band contest. Seven bands will compete for the $1,500 prize.
“We have top quality bands competing again this year,” said Festival Co-Director Marty Driggers. “It is one of the most competitive fields we have ever seen in the festival.”
The seven competing groups are all from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
On Friday night RenoFest takes over downtown Hartsville with its annual Downtown Hoedown. The location for this year will be on College Avenue between 4th and 5th streets. Black Creek Arts Council, sponsor of the event, has announced the addition of a BBQ cookoff from 5-7 p.m. From 6-9 p.m. a street bluegrass concert takes place with food and drink available for purchase. The Downtown Hoedown will begin with local dance groups followed by a solid lineup of bluegrass bands. Bands playing Friday evening will be The Virginia Luthiers, the win, place and show bands for this year’s band competition, and last year’s winner, Claybank. After 9 p.m., bands and local artists will take over numerous downtown locations playing Bluegrass, Newgrass, Country and other genres.
On Saturday, there will be a street festival from 10 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. in the same College Avenue location with local food and craft vendors, sidewalk chalk art competition, local bands and dance groups performing. After 6:30 p.m., bands and local artists will again take over nearby downtown locations.
Center Theater events begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday with the first round of the SC State guitar and banjo contests. Participants will compete for a D-18 guitar, built jointly by the Virginia Luthiers (Wayne Henderson, Gerald Anderson, Spencer Strickland, and Jimmy Edmonds) and a Davis “Don Reno” model banjo. At 12:30 Claybank, the RenoFest 2016 winning band will perform, followed by the guitar and banjo finals at 1:20 p.m.
The RenoFest organizers have put together an outstanding lineup of some of the best professional bluegrass bands in the country for the Saturday Center Theater concerts. Center Theater events start Saturday; afternoon concerts are from 2:30-5:15 p.m. and the evening shows run from 6:30 – 10:00 p.m. The lineup includes: Reno and Harrell, Ronnie Reno & the Reno Tradition, Flatt Lonesome and, for the first time in almost 15 years, the Reno Brothers will reunite in the Reno Bros Reunion.
The festival winds up on Sunday morning with a Gospel Sing featuring local bluegrass band, Chicken Perlo, at 10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary of Wesley United Methodist Church located on 4th St. and College Avenue.
Tickets are available through the website www.renofest.com. The festival is a presentation of Black Creek Arts Council and is made possible by generous donations from businesses, individuals and bluegrass fans, grants from town and county and the SC Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
For festival full event schedules, advance tickets, hotels reservations, and other festival information, visit www.renofest.com.
About Black Creek Arts Council:
The mission of Black Creek Arts Council is to promote and foster the Arts in Darlington County. BCAC’s offices are housed in a state of the art 10,000 square foot facility at 116 West College Avenue in Hartsville, SC. BCAC offers a variety of programs including art classes of all styles, after-school activities, pre-school aged programs, private music lessons, and various types of gallery exhibits. BCAC also offers assistance with arts management, funding, education, and program coordination to arts and cultural organizations in Darlington County.