Local music festival celebrates 40 years

Aug. 18, 2017, will mark 40 years since the first Free State Bluegrass Music Festival was held in Canton. The festival was started by three friends and musicians who loved to play bluegrass music. Dell Washer, T.J. Rogers and Jim Fuller had played at many bluegrass events around Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas and the First Monday grounds in Canton was an ideal spot for a music festival.

The three invested $700 each in the venture with a handshake in February 1977, and by August 1977 had booked a total of 15 bluegrass music bands to hold a three-day festival.

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