By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
The Logandale Fall Festival returns to the Fairgrounds this weekend for its third year running! This event, which celebrates the arrival of cooler weather to town, is promising to be bigger and better than ever this year.
“It is shaping up to be a great festival,” said event organizer and Logandale business man Rik Eide. “It is a great opportunity to bring the whole community together, have a good time, and listen to good music.”
This year’s Festival will be longer than it has been in the past. It will offer three days of fun! The festivities start on Friday afternoon at 3:00 pm. They continue on Saturday from 9 am to 9 pm. And then again on Sunday from 9 am to 3 pm.
At its heart the Logandale Fall Festival starts off as a Bluegrass Music Festival. Eide began the event three years ago in an effort to bring back the Southern Nevada Bluegrass Music Society (SNBMS) annual festival to the fairgrounds. That festival was discontinued in 2010 due to some logistical disputes at the venue. Then in 2015, Eide stepped in to try and revive the event.
“I felt like it would be good for local business to get that back,” Eide said. “But I also wanted to add a lot more attractions to the festival to broaden the appeal.”
Leaders of the SNBMS quickly got behind Eide’s vision, and the festival has grown each year.
“Bluegrass music festivals really are a word of mouth kind of thing,” said SNBMS treasurer, Brian Burns. “Among the real die-hard fans, it takes a couple of years to really get the word out.”
And the word definitely seems to be getting out. Burns said that there are already three times the number of RV reservations booked compared to last year.
“The fans of these events tend to run in packs from one festival to another,” Burns said. “And they often like to stick around, not just for the three days of the festival, but for the whole week.”
No less than 13 great bluegrass bands will be playing non-stop throughout the festival hours. And the fun continues on late into the evening each festival day with informal after-hours jam sessions in the campground.
“We are just excited to be back and so thankful that Rik is putting it all together again,” Burns said. “It will be our biggest year ever.”
Of course, the Logandale Fall Festival offers much more than Bluegrass. There will be a lot more to do with something to please every age group.
The kids will love this year’s Adventure Zone. It will feature more than a quarter acre of kid-style fun including inflatable slides, tunnels and mazes. A $12 ticket will keep the kids occupied all day long.
Also for kids will be a Bluegrass Instrument Petting Zoo available on Friday and Saturday afternoons. This will allow kids and adults alike to try their hands at a banjo, fiddle, mandolin or other bluegrass instrument. The SNBMS will be raffling off many of the instruments during the weekend.
More than sixty vendors will be participating in this year’s Vendor Village. These will include jewelry, clothing, homemade goods, crafts and even rock and gem show vendors. The Festival will also include an exhibit of antique tractors from all around the region. The Halloween Village will return again and will be expanded. There will also be agricultural exhibits including a small animal fair provided by the Nevada Cooperative Extension and the 4-H chapter. Food vendors will be plentiful.
Finally, the festival is once again hosting its IBCA sanctioned Nevada State Championship BBQ Cookoff competition. This year, the cash prize will be a full 75% of the entry fees plus sponsor donated cash. Prizes will be awarded for 1st – 7th place.
“We are still taking entries into the BBQ contest,” Eide said. “Last year a local team won a second place award. People who are interested can register at our website.”
Tickets are available now at www.logandalefallfestival.com. Tickets for Friday or Sunday are $10. Tickets for the longer day Saturday are $12.50. Or you can purchase a three day pass for $30. All tickets will also be available for purchase at the gate.
