The Ossipee Valley Bluegrass Festival will be celebrating it's 10th Anniversary the last weekend in July (July 24-27, 2008) at the Ossipee Valley Fairgrounds in Hiram, Maine.

The Bluegrass Festival that dares to be different has outdone itself. Again! For those of you who follow such things as the Billboard Bluegrass Charts, the names Dailey & Vincent are becoming quite familiar. That's right, Dailey & Vincent - the Rounder Records recording stars­-and currently the # 1 Bluegrass Band in North America-will be making their first ever New England appearance at the Ossipee Valley Bluegrass Festival, Saturday night July 26!

And as if that's not enough, the Nashville Bluegrass Band will also be there. These guys have won 2 Grammys and were responsible for music that appeared on the soundtracks for the movies "Oh Brother, Where Art Though?" and "Cold Mountain".

It wouldn't be Ossipee Valley if we didn't veer off the Bluegrass trail a little bit to bring you something completly different. This years "way left of Bluegrass" moment will feature the music of the John Jorgenson Quintet. John is an amazing musician. The stars who have asked him to play on their records reads like a who's who of the music world: Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Pavorotti, Earl Scruggs, David Lee Roth, Barbra Striesand, Bob Seger, and yes, as much as he hates to admit it, John is the guitar player on all of your favorite Spice Girl songs. The John Jorgenson Quintet is an explosive band that plays Gypsy Jazz-an all acoustic music particular to Paris in the 1920's-1940's and popularized by Django Reinhardt. Bill Monroe, the father of Bluegrass, once said that he was a big fan of this sound.

Rounding off the mainstage lineup will be Dan Paisley, The Donna Hughes Band, Newfound Road, The Katahdin Valley Boys, The Bagboys, The Muddy Marsh Ramblers, Bits and Pieces and Breakin' Strings.

The dance barn is gonna be hoppin' again this year as we will offer family style barn dancing and contra dancing on both Friday and Saturday nights. And as a special treat for you dancers, the John Jorgenson Quintet is going to invade the dance barn on Saturday night for an hour of high octane Gypsy Jazz.

Also check out the New England Flatpicking Championship, New England Banjo Championship and New England Songwriting Contest. The talent level at these contests will be amazing and world class just like it always is.

You don't have to travel far, burn a lot of gas or spend a lot of money to have fun this July. Just grab the old tent and sleeping bag and come on out to the fairgrounds for some real fun. You will get more bang for your entertainment buck here than anywhere else in New England this July. Hope to see you all there!

We would like to thank Poland Spring for providing spring water to keep our hard working performers refreshed.