Dates announced for Shindig on the Green, Mountain Folk and Dance Festival

The Hendersonville newspaper has the story:

ASHEVILLE -- The Folk Heritage Committee announces the summer 2008 dates for two celebrated mountain traditions in Asheville: Shindig on the Green and the 81st annual Mountain Dance and Folk Festival. Both events feature old timers, as well as the newest generation of traditional and mountain string bands, ballad singers and big circle mountain dancers and cloggers, resulting in fun-filled and authentic evenings enjoyed by kith and kin of all ages.

Shindig on the Green, a free event with a stage show and informal jam sessions, takes place on Saturday evenings June 28; July 5, 12, 19; and August 9, 16, 23, 30. Locals and visitors alike gather "along about sundown," or at 7 p.m. for those who wear a watch, at Martin Luther King Jr. Park on Martin Luther King Drive. in downtown Asheville. This year Shindig on the Green kicks-off its summer season a little earlier than usual beginning instead on the last Saturday in June. Since the outdoor event's inception in 1966, hundreds of thousands of individuals from across the region and throughout the world have shared and enjoyed the rich traditional music and dance heritage of the Southern Appalachian Mountains in this outdoor setting.

The 81st annual Mountain Dance and Folk and Festival , a ticketed event at Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place in the heart of downtown Asheville, takes place at 7 p.m. nightly, Thursday through Saturday, July 31 through Aug. 2. The sister event to Shindig on the Green, the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival was founded by Bascom Lamar Lunsford in 1928. The nation's longest running folk festival, the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival showcases the best of the region's mountain musicians and dancers during its three evenings of indoor performances. Tickets are on sale from the Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place box office, 257-4530, and www.dwtheatre.com.

The non-profit Folk Heritage Committee's mission is to produce Shindig on the Green and the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in order to support the preservation and continuation of the traditional music, dance and storytelling heritage of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

For more information about Shindig on the Green or the 81st Mountain Dance and Folk Festival call the Folk Heritage Info Line: 258-6101 ×345, or access: www.folkheritage.org.