I am really excited to be attending Rooster Walk 16 Music & Arts Festival on Memorial Day weekend. This will be my first Rooster Walk, which takes place on Pop’s Farm in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains outside of Martinsville Virginia, about a 12 hour drive from New Orleans. The setting is very majestic and scenic in its rolling hills and trees to worship, with camping on site. The four day festival offers a plethora of musical acts from the Americana genre, ranging from the rock and jam end of the spectrum to the country, bluegrass and folk side of the genre. I’m really excited to see some bands that I’ve never seen before, as well as many long time favorites.
This year’s headliner is St Paul & the Broken Bones. Other headlining performers include Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, the jam band Moe, The Kitchen Dwellers, Eggy, Mountain Grass Unit, Keller Williams and Maggie Rose, many of whom perform regularly here in New Orleans. Rounding out the top tier of talent will be Dumpstaphunk, bringing a bit of New Orleans to the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains and making this music lover happy and phunky. Two acts that I’m very familiar with but have never seen before are Yarn and Clay Street Unit. I recommend you look into these two soon.
Rooster Walk is known and recognized by many festival veterans for its collaborations that have taken place there over the years. Over the four festival days you can expect numerous collaborations and sit ins. Rooster Walk has several artists at large to add to the blend this year including John Shilling, Jeff Sipe, Caitlin Krisko, Isaac Haden, Florencia Rusinol, Wallace Mullinax and Jake Dempsey.
The festival takes place over six stages. The headliner stage is called the URW Lawn Stage, there’s the VA is for Lovers Lake Stage, the Waterford Eye Level Stage, and the New Belgium Grove Stage, which kicks off each morning with yoga. Finally, there’s the Caesar’s Virginia VIP Stage and the Kids Stage, with some artists having sets on multiple stages.
Rooster Walk has developed a very dedicated following in its 16 years of existence. It’s one of the first festivals to offer what is called “Blind Faith” ticketing, which is an early ticketing system that is priced 30% lower, but must be purchased before the lineup is announced. Their following seems to be growing each year with this method. Last year Rooster Walk was voted the Best Music Festival in the Mid-Atlantic by the readers of Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine.
The festival is very family friendly and offers activities and events for kids, such as open mics and music programmed specially for kids. Activities include a huge slip and slide and a kids parade. Teens are offered ultimate frisbee, laser tag, badminton and a silent disco, as well as a teen lounge area. They really make an effort to welcome the next generation.
There are also numerous activities for adults as well including biking, fishing, pedal boats, canoeing, guided hikes, disc golf and more.
It’s not too late to make plans and join me at my first Rooster Walk on Memorial Day weekend. Look for the WWOZ flags in the campground.
