posted by karensonn on Aug 21st, 2007
This past weekend was the 10th annual LarryFest in LaFarge, WI. It was a real hoot. The festival sold out the Wednesday before it started, and it’s easy to understand why. Nestled on a beautiful maple farm in the Kickapoo Valley, LarryFest had several great bluegrass, old-time and folk performers on stage. Only 1,000 tickets are sold, making it a wonderful atmosphere to see lots of great music in a beautiful setting without the hassle of a larger festival.
Friday was a great day with cool temperatures and fabulous performances from bands such as New Bad Habits (old-time), Druha Trava (Czech bluegrass band) and the Wilders (old-time country). Friday evening was headlined by Mountain Heart and the crowd really loved their upbeat music. There was a nice bonfire rolling all night and plenty of good pickin’ to be had.
At 8 a.m. on Saturday morning it began to rain and never stopped, but plenty of festival-goers were not deterred. People took shelter underneath the large tents or faced the rain to see great performances by folks such as Jack Lawrence (who often plays with Doc Watson) and String Ties (a regional bluegrass band). There was even a square dance taking place in the mud during the New Bad Habits afternoon show!
Following sunset, the rain fell with increasing intensity, so the show was moved into the large garage behind the main stage. Special Consensus played a fantastic set that had all the mud-covered folks dancing. Thunder was crashing and lightning was striking, so the band had to take a quick break to avoid electricution (in fact, the bass player felt a shock or two and played the rest of the set unplugged). But they kept on playing and the good times kept rolling. The Wilders closed out the night with a high energy set that kept everyone moving and kept them from remembering that the skies had opened upon us, washed out the only road in and out of the fest, and left folks’ cars so stuck in the mud that they had to be towed out by a tractor. All in all, it was a great festival and we will be looking forward to LarryFest 2008.