On Saturday, June 8, the Lake Lure Music Festival, presented its “An Evening of Bluegrass and More” concert at Rumbling Bald on Lake Lure.
The Festival built a stage and backdrop at RBLL’s Pavilion overlooking the lake. With a large crowd seated on the Pavilion lawn and extending on to the RBLL beach, North Carolina based Walter Finley Band featuring April Dawn, opened the concert, entertaining fans with a medley of original tunes spanning several musical genres.
Grammy-nominated and multiple International Bluegrass Music Association award winners, Sister Sadie then took the stage as the evening’s headliner for a night of raucous bluegrass music tinged with a bit of country as well. Attendees were very enthusiastic about the dynamic all female band from Nashville, as they played a 90 minute set mixing beautiful harmonies with inspired musicianship. Numerous patrons who attended the past two years mentioned how they were amazed that the Festival had somehow topped their 2023 bluegrass concert.
Through community support from sponsors and donors, as well as revenue from ticket sales, the Festival recently made a $20,000 donation to the Lake Lure Classical Academy to help fund its “Feed the Children” initiative. (See attached photo). In 2023, two Festival donations totaling $10,000 helped fund a new middle school music teacher at the Academy for the previous school year.
At the check presentation, LLCA Chair, Board of Directors, Dr. Kate Sloss commented that “the Festival generously designated the LLCA as its beneficiary and we are seeing the impact of its work. Not only does the greater Hickory Nut Gorge benefit from the amazing music brought to the area, but our students are benefitting as well.”
LLCA Director Barbara Cohen added, “The continuous support of the Lake Lure Music Festival for the past several years has helped our school expand our music education program, as well as our outdoor education program and this year our ‘Feed the Children’ initiative.”
Dr. Sloss also shared that, “LLCA has purchased a food trailer to offer healthy meals to our students, approximately 60% of whom come from low-income families. Above and beyond feeding children in need, we plan to build a comprehensive program of nutrition education, on-the-job training in the culinary arts and eventually a community kitchen to address food insecurity in the wider population. This $20,000 donation will allow us to continue to provide the best education to our children and to enhance our varied curriculum. We are also committed to providing healthy meals for our kids so that they can learn and become productive citizens in their communities.”
Festival Producing Artistic Director Chris Dolman added, “It’s hard to overstate the importance of a good school for our community, and how it can impact not only the families with children who attend, but all of us who live in the area and want to see the school and the area prosper. Our business sponsors and individual donors, some of whom have joined us today to present the donation, along with the support of the Town of Lake Lure and the Chamber of Hickory Nut Gorge, as well as our Festival committee, have rallied together to make it possible for us to help in a meaningful way.”
Dolman then spoke about the Festival’s ongoing support of Hickory Nut Gorge Outreach, “We also plan to announce shortly our donation to Outreach that, similar to last year, we’ll be directed by Outreach to help LLCA students and their families who experience food insecurity.” The Festival donated $5000 to Outreach in October of 2023.
He also talked about bringing high level musicianship to the area, “We’ve been fortunate to get such talented musicians to come here. And they love Lake Lure! From our renowned classical musicians who play all over the world, to Broadway stars from New York, and now the unparalleled Sister Sadie, they’ve all said they want to come back here.”
Let’s hope they do. In the meantime, Dolman mentioned that the Festival is about to announce details for its intimate Fall classical concert that is scheduled for Saturday, October 5th, 2024 at The Gardens at RBLL.
For more information on the Lake Lure Music Festival, including upcoming concerts, supporting the Festival as a sponsor/donor and how to get involved as a volunteer, visit lakeluremusicfestival.com.
Please note: Lake Lure Classical Academy (LLCA) is a K-12 tuition-free public charter offering a knowledge-based education fostering critical thinking and civic responsibility.
