Temecula Bluegrass Festival Returns to Old Town

Kicking off with the Rod Run earlier this month, the City of Temecula’s Springfest is in full swing, with festivals and activities from March through May that cause Old Town to burst at the seams with revelers, entertainment, food and fun. This weekend, March 21st and 22nd, banjo players, fiddlers and other musicians will take over Front Street when the popular spring fling, Temecula Bluegrass Festival, returns.

Bluegrass is a form of country music that originated in the Appalachians, which is traditionally played on acoustic string instruments like the banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin and upright bass. Every year the city celebrates the music’s heritage with their Old Town Bluegrass Festival on the third weekend in March; inviting over a dozen Bluegrass groups from all over the country to perform both the traditional as well as more contemporary forms of the country music genre.

Beginning at 11:00 am on both Saturday and Sunday, stages will be set up at Main Street Town Square Park as well as on the Baily’s Fine Dining Patio with bands and solo musicians changing every hour. All entertainment is free to the public.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Temecula Bluegrass Festival, which will be celebrated with an extra special lineup including Silverado, Bluegrass Etc. and the Barefoot Movement (pictured above), among others.

“We are excited to perform in Temecula for the first time,” Noah Wall of the Barefoot Movement said. “Our shows feature a unique blend of original acoustic music and traditional American string band styles. Audiences can expect high-energy, foot-tapping tunes as well as softer ballads intermixed with humorous banter. We always enjoy coming to a new place and performing for new faces.”

In addition to the live entertainment, the festival includes music workshops with some of the bands at the Mary Phillips Senior Center on 6th Street.

For a full schedule of bands, performances times, and workshops please visit temeculaevents.org/bluegrassfestival/.

To accompany the Bluegrass Festival, the City invites visitors and residents alike to visit the Temecula Valley Museum’s Grand Ole Opry exhibit, which showcases the works of photographer Gordon Gillingham about the famed radio program’s storied history. The exhibit runs through this weekend.

“These photographs catalog the Opry in its prime,” Museum Services Manager Track Frick said. “The positive post-war atmosphere of the United States was critical for the success of the radio show and of country music in general. Gillingham captures the spirit, camaraderie, and sheer joy of the era by focusing his lens both on and off stage.”

The City of Temecula may be in Southern California, but this weekend’s Old Town Bluegrass Festival and the Grand Ole Opry exhibit at the Temecula Valley Museum both illustrate how members of the community are all just county boys and girls at heart.

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