Energy at Centre Hall bluegrass festival ‘higher than it’s ever been’ after year hiatus
The Remington Ryde Bluegrass Festival has returned to the Grange fairgrounds for another long weekend full of banjos, guitars, fiddles, mandolins and other bluegrass staples.
In its 14th year — and sixth in Centre Hall — the festival offers a lineup full of national, award-winning bluegrass talent, festival promoter Ryan Frankhouser said. More than 12 national bluegrass acts, including Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, The Moron Brothers, Nothin’ Fancy, Larry Stephenson Band and Remington Ryde are set to perform over four days.
For Frankhouser, the festival is personal and homegrown. He started it in Mifflin County when he was 22.
“Everyone thought I was nuts for starting a festival,” he said Thursday, laughing. But it kept growing and eventually moved to Centre County, which he had envisioned all along.
The festival, like most other large events, was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Typically thousands of people come from all over the country and Canada, he said. This year, he was determined to hold the festival.
“I feel that people, you know, they need music. ... We need to get back to normal with events and outdoor live music and stuff. So I think people were just ready to go. So I was determined to have it in a safe fashion, but it’s just perfect timing for me with the mask mandate (gone) and all that,” he said.
While some festival-goers camp at the fairgrounds, others come and go throughout the weekend. As the festival kicked off Thursday afternoon, Frankhouser said the energy level is “higher than it’s ever been.”
Bluegrass music has its own following and is its own world, he said, which makes its festivals unique. Bluegrass has a reputation for being geared toward “older people,” but Frankhouser is seeing an increase in younger people becoming interested. Which is good, he said, because without a new, younger audience, the genre will die. He encourages people who haven’t heard bluegrass music before to give it a chance.
“They think it’s all ‘twangy twangy’ and all this, but they don’t give it an opportunity to come and listen to it live. I don’t think there’s more of an exciting music than bluegrass music and seeing it live,” Frankhouser said.
The Remington Ryde Bluegrass Festival will be at the Grange fairgrounds through Sunday, with live music 1-9 p.m. each day and food and craft vendors on-site. Tickets can be purchased at the festival gate; Friday and Saturday tickets are $30/person, Sunday tickets are $15, kids under 12 are free. For more information, visit www.remingtonryde.com.
