Annually since 1977 in
Murfreesboro, Tennessee the Uncle Dave Macon Days Festival is held in honor of one of its local hero performers,
Uncle Dave Macon. It brings together the old and young alike to celebrate old-time country music and dance
The 3-day festival features individual competitions each year for
guitar,
mandolin,
fiddle,
harmonica,
banjo,
dulcimer, and
dobro playing. The festival is also home to three-event national championships;
Old-Time Banjo,
Old-Time Clogging and
Old-Time Buckdancing.
The festival has a “motorless parade” featuring horse and mule drawn vehicles, Uncle Dave Macon ran the
Macon Midway Mule and Transporation Company for 25 years, this event is in memory of that.
The Heritage award is given at this festival to individuals dedicated to the preservation and promotion of traditional
Old-Time Music and Dance.
As the most important traditonal music contest in the south, The Uncle Dave Macon Days Festival has become almost as famous as the performer it honors.
The festival was profiled by PBS's “A Tour of the Nation's Music: American Roots Music Goes on the Road” in July 2000.
http://www.uncledavemacondays.com/festival.htm
http://www.rutherfordmag.com/spotlight.html