For years, Greenwood native David Elmore has dreamed of putting on a music festival in Greenwood.
Now, Elmore, 62, the owner of D&P Concessions, is about to make that dream a reality.
On April 14 and 15, Elmore will hold his Greenwood Music Fest in the park between the bridges in North Greenwood. The event is free and open to the public, but coolers are prohibited.
Friday night will feature Grammy-winning blues singer Bobby Rush as the headliner. Saturday night’s headliner will be country artist Jeff Bates.
Friday’s program will run from 5 p.m. to midnight. Saturday’s will run from 1 p.m. to midnight.
Elmore said he frequently goes to festivals and fairs all over the South, including the El Dorado Music Fest in El Dorado, Arkansas.
“I go every October. I’ve been doing it for about 15 years, and they’ve got some of top entertainers in the country, and I’ve always said I wanted to do that,” he said.
Over the years, Elmore has seen the Dixie Chicks, the Charlie Daniels Band, Lee Greenwood, Joan Jett and even the Backstreet Boys perform in El Dorado.
“Every time I go to El Dorado, I take notes,” he said.
Unlike the Greenwood festival, El Dorado’s event requires an admission charge — but Elmore said he wanted to make his event appeal to families in Greenwood.
“I want to do something for the community. I make my money off the food and stuff like that,” he said.
Friday is blues night. In addition to Rush, other performers will include Lady Trucker, Steve Johnson — the son of blues legend Robert Johnson — and Mickey Rogers. Elmore said Sylvester Hoover has helped with organizing the blues program.
Each of the artists is expected to perform for about 90 minutes.
The lineup for Saturday is still being finalized. Elmore said it will be more varied but won’t include hard rock. Besides Bates, other artists scheduled to perform that day include Miles Flatt, Honey Please and the Jason Miller Band.
He said that in addition to traditional festival food, there will be one of the biggest crawfish cookouts in the Delta. The crawfish will be sold by the plate.
Train rides, inflatables and games will also be part of the festival, and arts-and-crafts vendors will be able to rent 10-foot-by-10-foot tables for both days of the festival.
Elmore said he considers this event a steppingstone for future events in Greenwood.
For more information on the festival, call Elmore at 299-4302.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
