Bluegrass Festival starts today

The small town of Dunlap, Tenn., expects to double in population today as more than 10,000 visitors enter the city for its 24th annual Coke Ovens Bluegrass Festival.

"It's not Bonnaroo, but if you want to go to a bluegrass festival with a clean family atmosphere, then this is the festival," said Carson Camp, vice president of the Sequatchie Valley Historical Society, which organizes the two-day event.

Bonnaroo is a three-day festival in Manchester, Tenn., that attracts some of the biggest names in popular music. It begins Thursday, June 10, and runs through June 13.

Dunlap's bluegrass festival starts at 6 p.m. today. Eleven bands will play on two stages throughout the evening until 9 p.m. On Saturday, 16 bands are scheduled to perform.

Performers include Ed Brown, who has performed on the Grand Ole Opry; U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp's brother, Lou Wamp, who plays with the Bluetastic Fangrass Band; and John Luke Borreau, a top cello player who plays in Paris, France, with the Paris Orchestra.

Organizers ask for a $3 donation today and a $5 donation Saturday.

No alcohol is permitted in the park and there are no chairs, so people are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets. The event will go on rain or shine, organizers said.

The festival is expected to generate about $10,000 in revenue, which is used to operate the park for the upcoming year.

It's only a matter of time before the park and its celebrations get even bigger, said Jim Wyatt, president of the historical society.

Within the next five years, he also sees the possibility of the park having a railroad museum and a farming museum with some of the farm equipment at the historical society that dates back to the 1800s, he said.

If you go* What: 24th Annual Coke Ovens Bluegrass Festival* When: 6-9 p.m. today; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday* Where: 350 Mountain View Road, Dunlap, Tenn.* Admission: $3 donation requested on Friday; $5 donation requested on SaturdayFor more information: www.cokeovens.com

"With a little more marketing, with a farming museum and a railroad museum, we're capable of having a major impact on the economics of Dunlap in the Sequatchie Valley," Mr. Wyatt said.

The festival is located on a 62-acre Dunlap Coke Ovens Park, Mr. Camp said. The site is listed on the National Historic Registry for its 268 beehive coke ovens that illustrate one of the major industrial revolutions in South.

The coke ovens, which helped in the production of iron, operated on the festival site from the late 1890s to 1927, when it became a dump, said Debbie Shipler, a historical society member and Cagle Mountain resident.

Mr. Camp and other members of the society started cleaning it up and bringing out the historical value in the coke oven park and museum, Ms. Shipler said.

The Southern Division of Bowater paper company donated the land to the historical society in 1974, Mr. Camp said.

The site also is a spot on the Trail of Tears route where two groups of Cherokee Indians leaving Chattanooga stopped overnight before heading on to Oklahoma, he said.

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