I've been a regular attender of the annual Ozark Folk Festival in Mountain View (Stone County), Ark., for about 25 years now. Since 1963 it's been a pilgrimage for lots of musicians and music lovers, not just in Arkansas but all over the U.S. Lots of folks have written songs about it, but that didn't stop me from adding my two cents.

The stuff about the dogwoods along Highway 5 is still true, though civilization is encroaching at a rapid pace. It's always the dogwoods and redbuds you see on the way to the Folk Festival, and the hickories and sweet gums turning on the way to Beanfest every October. It's a drive I always look forward to. One of those drives you'd do just for the sake of the drive, like going up the Pig Trail or Number 7 or getting off the new Interstate to go through Mountainburg. It's probably prettier going through Leslie or Shirley, but those ways are so curvy and slow, and I'm always impatient to get there, like in the last verse.

It's gotten to the point where there are lots of musicians who show up to pick on just about any Friday or Saturday night between April and October. Sometime there are so many people gathered around the square that they have to rope off the traffic. If it gets too cold they'll fire up the burning barrels and keep picking.

After so many years, so many friends made and so much good music, it started working its way into my heart ("heart, heart, heart" -- Stringbean). So I wrote a song about it. There you go.

By the way, the song is on my CD titled Open-Air Folk which is available at http://www.williamanesbitt.com.

MEMBERS COMMENTS VIEWING 1 - 1 OUT OF 1 COMMENTS From: UncleBillyD 04/28/2007 23:17:34 Bill, All my Dad's family come from Arkansas and have heard lots about the Mountain view area.  And have heard about the Folk Festival from a lot of friends who have been there and fallin in love with it as you have. I have played a lot of ole Jimmy Driftwood music over the years in broadcasting and still do and understand he had a big part of getting the Festival going.  Maybe one of these days I will make it there.