Greetings and welcome back to this blog! We are indeed upon exciting times here in Lancaster, PA. We are but a mere few days from the kickoff of the 3rd Lancaster Roots and Blues festival.

Now is the time where I have handed over the band information to the stage managers handling their venue. The stage managers will make sure the bands have what they need techically and hospitality wise. The stage managers are key to the festival process and make your festival experience at each venue amazing.

I'll be hooking up with the Lead volunteers on Friday to get them up to spped with their volunteer information, positions, meal vouchers, lanyards and more. We depend on the Lead volunteers to manage the poaitions at the ten venues when the iner staff are unable to be in a million places at once. Our Leads are so crucial to a fully functioning festival community, we really couldn't do it without them and all of the wonderful community members who donate their time.

My job over the next few days leading up to the festival is to try my best to make sure I am thinking, planning and executing two steps ahead. No small document or note can be missed or miscalculated. Don't get me wrong, as with any event there will be shoe laces left untied unexpectedly but that's why we do what we do. To make sure those hiccups remin unnoticed and noted for the next year's planning.

In other news, the program is out and distributed aroumd the city. I have to admit that it is a stunning cover and the articles are great! Pick up yours today and start planning your festival stops! Don't forget to look for the food trucks for a quick bite on your travels. I am hoping to shoot a blog up within the next few days with some great dish highlights from these trucks.

Cheers to you, the Music Fan! Can't wait to see and meet you in just leas than a week!

-Blondesheep

In just a few short weeks thousands of guests, musicians and volunteers will be buzzing around the city of downtown Lancaster. It's quite exciting and frazzling from the inside of the team handling the logistics.

There is so much to do in what seems as so little time. So this blog was created to inform readers on basic featival information and also what it's like to produce an event of this magnitude from my own perspective. I started working on this year's featival in August. Which most would think that should be far more than enough time to plan, organize and execute. There is never enough of time when of comes to any event and no matter how much you plan and organize, there will always be fires to put out.

A responsibility I have taken on this year is to Advance the bands. This means making sure that all contracts are signed, deposits have been sent and receives, hotel and driving arrangements have been set, meal schedules set, dates and times of shows confirmed, stage plots received, and hospitality and technical requirements conformed with the bands and management. This process has taken months and is still on going. But it all must be handled and we fit the process into the slew of other tasks that must be taken care of.

We are also in the process of confirming dates for the volunteer training. Honestly, if money is tight and you still want to attend the festival or would like to give a ticket to a loved one or friend, volunteering is an awesome chance to do so. For each day you volunteer, you receive a volunteer shirt, One Complimentary General Admission ticket to a day of your choice and a meal voucher. We still have a few spaces left. Please email jeff@lancasterrootsandblues.com for more details.

So people keep asking me what is the best day to attend the festival. Honestly that's a tough call. At this point I encourage everyone to take a little bit of time to look over the featured artists and check out their bios and videos. Look over the schedule and map out your experience. Owner Rich Ruoff being  the scheduling genius he is did amd amazing job with this lineup, making sure there is something for everyone on every day.

The Fly Magazine came up with a list of must see bands for each day as follows:

Friday: Maceo Parker, The Innocence Mission, Frog Holler, Sam Baker, Quentin Jones' Rock 'n' Roll Review

Saturday: Stray Birds, Derek Brown, The O'My's, Kapali Long, Shawan and the Wanton

Sunday: The Wood Brothers, Wayne Hancock, Joanna Connor, Tinsley Ellis, Selywn Birchwood

Make sure to check out the website at Lancaster Roots and Blues and reserve your tickets today.

Cheers and the Countdown Begins,
Blondesheep