Find your way to Freedom ... FloydFest 17~Freedom, the latest annual offering of the Southeast's premier summer outdoor music festival, taking place July 26 to 30, 2017, at Milepost 170.5 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd, Va. Michael Franti & Spearhead, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Railroad Earth, Shovels & Rope, White Denim, Turkuaz, Fruition, Nicola Cruz, The Steel Wheels and 21 other bands round out Across-the-Way Productions' initial artist announcement for the 17th annual event.
Across-the-Way Productions released early-bird tickets for FloydFest 17~Freedom at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016, via www.floydfest.com, in tandem with a sampling of the artist lineup that will descend on Floyd, Va., July 26 to 30, 2017.
Recently receiving top accolades from TIME Magazine and Fox News, FloydFest 17's initial artist lineup also includes HONEYHONEY, BIG Something, The Shook Twins, Baskery, Zach Deputy, The Lil' Smokies, Rebekah Todd & the Odyssey, Jack Broadbent, Urban Soil, Honey Island Swamp Band, The Mantras, Edward Davis Anderson, Dead 27s, Davy Knowles, McLovins, Hayley Jane and the Primates, The Drunken Hearts, Kansas Bible Company, Trae Pierce & the T-Stones, Liver Down The River and Broccoli Samurai. The next scheduled round of artist additions will be released Nov. 22, with more to follow in December, and through into early spring, according to Kris Hodges, producer and CEO.
"Freedom is creating your own reality," Hodges explained. "Freedom to be yourself takes discipline, and we've tread that path for 17 years now. But we're still here; still free to live life; free to be artists, without being told how to live; free to create art and stay viable in the world today."
The unforgettable magic that was FloydFest 16's Buffalo Mountain Jam returns in 2017 for its second annual installment, with more details due for release in the coming months. Known for its impromptu artist collaborations, super jams and special guests, the Buffalo Mountain Jam will evoke a 'freedom' unique to the 17th annual event -- not to be missed.
"The Buffalo Mountain Jam is extremely important to witness -- it's a capstone of the festival, spotlighting 'new-school newgrass,'" Hodges said. "It's a free-form jam that speaks to the quality of the musicians that make it happen ... a jam that speaks to freedom."
As always, FloydFest will also include vibrant and varied vendors, quality craft brews and chews, healing arts, workshops and whimsy, children's activities, onsite art installations and a final lineup featuring more than 100 artists performing on nine+ stages.
"Our 2017 theme of 'Freedom' bespeaks a metaphorical unshackling from the constraints of archaic ideas and notions of who and how we 'should' be, or act, how we 'ought' to feel, or think, or conduct ourselves and our lives," Erika Johnson, co-founder and CFO, said. "Humanity is at a unique and liberating juncture in history; truly free to create our own reality, individually and collectively, with infinite potential for what that looks like. This level of 'freedom' is both a huge opportunity, and a huge responsibility. FloydFest is a 'timeout zone' ... literally a 'zone out of time' to reflect and revel, both, on all of this."
Voted 'Best Outdoor Music Festival,' FloydFest is also selling tickets to its Outdoor Adventure programs during the early-bird ticket on-sale, including its popular On-the-Water Guided Float Trips and Belcher Mountain Beatdown mountain-bike excursion.
A token of gratitude to loyal FloydFest fans, AtWP continues its Alumni Program in 2017, with all patrons that purchase prior to Dec. 31, 2016, joining the FloydFest Alumni family. In addition to frozen ticket prices for a period of years -- and a four-day head start on purchasing tickets, annually -- FF Alumni enjoy special parties and perks throughout the year and at AtWP events.
FloydFest is located at Milepost 170.5 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd, Va. Detailed directions are available by clicking to www.floydfest.com.
Early-bird tickets for FloydFest 17~Freedom are available by clicking to www.floydfest.com. For more information, call (888) VA-FESTS or email info@floydfest.com.
