Dear friends and fans of the Watermelon Pickers' festival,



It's been a while since the last Newsletter, and I just wanted to reach out and touch base. I hope everyone is having a great summer! We are enjoying a much needed break after 18 years of festival planning, and really appreciate your understanding and support as we take a little break this year to reassess.

We are working on a plan for the festival to return in 2024 and will keep you posted. In the meantime this Newsletter is dedicated to some other events you might be interested in attending this late summer and Fall.

Fiddlin' Dave

Saturday, July 15, 2023

7:00 PM 9:00 PM

Come see Watermelon Pickers Fest host band Furnace Mountain-Dubbed 'the area’s premier acoustic band' by the Washingtonian magazine, Furnace Mountain Band usually sells out this 170 seat venue so don't wait on these tickets. Come join Fiddlin' Dave, Danny Knicely, Aimee Curl and Morgan Morrison for a night of unforgettable songs stories and tunes in Berryville Va. Furnace Mountain is known for creating music that is at times lively and raucous and other times poignant and poetic, with sublime vocal harmonies beautifully interpreting some of the oldest songs ever written. This local quartet has built a reputation for playing old-time music from the American Appalachian traditions alongside energetic, original compositions. 

Sept. 15-16 Infamous Weekend. This year your festival host band Furnace Mountain will be taking a little road trip on the weekend that the Festival is usually held to the inaugural Infamous Weekend hosted by the Infamous String Dusters in Martinsville Va., so pack up the car/truck/camper and come on down with us.

Come see Furnace Mountain perform with our favorite dancers, The City Stompers, in upstate NY. Three days of camping and music.

As the winners of the 2022 Watermelon Pickers' band contest, Pictrola would have been opening the festival this year. You can see them perform on July 12, at the Grey Fox Festival in upstate NY.