Will Smilefest happen this year?

7 Comments

1. 

   Aston Wills February 5, 2009

   Da’ Gullah Rootz Reggae Band would like to play your area.

   Reply
2. 

   Datgirl333 March 22, 2007

   News release from the former promoters of Smilefest:

   END OF AN ERA FOR SMILEFEST

   After painful soul-searching and seemingly endless deliberation, Big Grin Entertainment announced today that Smilefest would be placed on indefinite hiatus. We know that questions and rumors are bound to fly. Loving and caring people with deeply rooted emotional investments in our festival deserve an explanation, so here goes…

   Smilefest sprang from a cathartic reaction to the death of Jerry Garcia. Many of the original organizers and attendees of that first staging were loyal tour veterans of the Dead Nation who shared a communal loss, not just of a friend and guide, but, in many ways, of a way of life.

   Sure, the tour was a traveling circus, but that circus traveled with one big tent, big enough for our differences and always willing to accept everyone as unique and valuable individuals. The tour family didn’t care about a person’s background, income, age, religious beliefs, political leanings, sexual orientation, hairstyles or clothing choices.

   That group provided safe haven and a sense of home for each new visitor, no matter their intended length of stay, provided they remained equally acceptant and respectful of all others. And that same credo served as a founding belief for what would become Smilefest.

   But Smilefest doesn’t exist in a vacuum, meaning we’re obligated to operate within a fairly rigid set of community standards and laws. Over the years, we’ve been faithfully dedicated in our attempts to improve civic and regulatory relationships, to support the promotion of worthy non-profit organizations, and to correct certain entrenched misperceptions about our event and our attendees. Regardless of those good faith efforts, a mandatory mass gathering permit, which requires our obtaining signed permission for land use from all residents within a 1500-foot radius of our current property host, has proven to be unobtainable.

   We’ve done all in our power to find an equally suitable site for our early-June festival, positioned in a part of North Carolina that remains convenient to the largest portion of our loyal family. However, we’ve been unable to identify a cooperative and welcoming property that cost-effectively provides the logistical capabilities, accessibility, and amenities to which our campers and artists have become accustomed.

   Instead of staging an event that fails to live up to the high standards of our attendees and our artists, we’ve chosen to forgo hosting Smilefest in 2007.

   Words fail to convey the immense degree of care we feel for each and every person who’s made a positive contribution to our efforts. Without the shared participation of our attendees, volunteers, staff, artists, merchants, non-profits, street teamers, media partners and sponsors, we could not possibly have enjoyed all the smiles, fun and love that we have. You people are truly the salt of the earth and we will remain eternally thankful that you chose to be a part of our lives.

   We hope to be able to see everyone soon so we can laugh and dance and smile together. Please consider attending several of these entertaining events:

   April 21 Boone, NC Appalachian Roots Revival
   April 26-29 Wilkesboro, NC Merlefest
   June 1-3 Mills River, NC Asheville Music Jamboree
   July 26-29 Floyd, VA Floydfest
   August 24-26 Mills River, NC Ashefest

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3. 

   todd March 21, 2007

   check out http://www.smilefest.com, not gonna happen

   Reply
4. 

   Iknewit March 19, 2007

   Seems the Smilefest forum has now been taken off the website, hmmmm…..

   Reply
5. 

   Ash March 14, 2007

   Wow, Miss Daisy. Sounds like a great show!

   Reply
6. 

   Miss Daisy March 14, 2007

   If Smilefest is a bust, you can console yourself with Blue Plum, a FREE festival in Johnson City the same weekend.
   Music Line-Up (Subject to change!)

   Friday, June 1

   3:00 Clear Liquor Pickers

   4:00 The Earl Brothers

   5:00 Broken Valley Road Show

   6:00 Martha Scanlan

   7:30 Casey Driessen

   9:00 The Darrell Scott Band

   Saturday, June 2

   2:00 The Dave Macon Cover Band

   3:00 Blueground Undergrass

   4:00 the everybodyfields

   5:30 Hot Buttered Rum String Band

   7:00 Gene Younce with Roger Rasnake

   7:30 Drew Emmitt Band

   9:00 Acoustic Syndicate

   Reply
7. 

   Edgy Mama March 10, 2007

   I’m pissed off too!

   Reply