Lincoln's New Salem Traditional Music and Bluegrass Festival this weekend

[September 10, 2009]  PETERSBURG -- More than 100 traditional and bluegrass musicians are expected to participate in 29th annual Traditional Music and Bluegrass Festival at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site. The festival is set for Saturday and Sunday, with a jam session Friday night. The festival is free and open to the public.

Traditional, folk and bluegrass musicians are invited to participate in the weekend impromptu jam session. Several bluegrass bands will be featured on stage in the outdoor theater from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with the festival in full swing in the village from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Performers from all over the Midwest will entertain on such instruments as mountain and hammer dulcimers, concertinas, bones, autoharps, fiddles, banjos, and guitars. Outside the village, a large clogging platform will be provided, which will be filled with cloggers starting at noon on Sunday.

Songs and music of the 19th century will be performed in the village Abraham Lincoln called home for six years. No electrified instruments or equipment will be permitted. The log buildings will be open and staffed by costumed staff and volunteers interpreting lifestyles of the 1830s. The New Salem Museum Shop and the New Salem Lincoln League Souvenir and Book Store will both be open during the event.

The festival is sponsored by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which administers Lincoln's New Salem, and the New Salem Lincoln League.

Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site is located 20 miles northwest of Springfield and two miles south of Petersburg on Route 97.

[Text from file received from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency]