Locals to gather for 3-day Ogden Music Festival

(Sam Bellarosa)


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OGDEN — The three-day, outdoor Ogden Music Festival starts Friday, and there are plenty of artists and activities for locals to enjoy.

The eighth annual festival, put on by the Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music (OFOAM), will feature many diverse local and national artists, a Workshop Stage where the mainstage players provide workshops, kids activities, including Todd’s Musical Petting Zoo, featuring hands-on instrument playing, music-themed crafts and games, food, music and craft vendors, according to Michelle Tanner, executive director of OFOAM.

Artists such as Jerry Douglas and the Earls of Leicester, James McMurtry, Mountain Heart, The Deadly Gentleman, Shook Twins and others will perform at the festival, Tanner said. The festival music will be a diverse lineup, though they feature a lot of bluegrass music.

Youth artists will also perform, including the Snyder Family Band, Sammy Brue and Juliette Camille, Flint and Steel, Facing West and Megan Nay.

More than 100 artists will perform, including members of the bands, the workshop participants and local artists who will perform on the Tweener Stage as the mainstage bands are setting up and taking down.

Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music was started in an effort to bring more live music to Ogden because “we all found ourselves traveling to Salt Lake to go see our favorite musicians come to town but now we can bring them here and people from Salt Lake come here,” Tanner said, adding that 35 percent of the event attendees come from Salt Lake.

OFOAM was also started to provide youth educational music experiences.

The Ogden Music Festival isn’t the only opportunity to hear live music in Ogden this summer, but Tanner said what sets them apart is that people camp at the festival and that it’s become a tradition for people to come back each year.

Photo credit: Sherry Wallwork

Tanner said that “by exposing our families to arts, it gives well-being to our community.”

“It’s a great socialization. It’s relaxing and entertaining at the same time, but the contributions we make are, we feel like, in the form of exposing our families to arts, arts that they might not see,” Tanner said.

Also at the event will be the Utah State Instrument Championship, a fiddle, banjo, mandolin, flatpick guitar and fingerstyle guitar-playing contest. Registration for the open division is available for all of the instruments and registration for the novice division is available for all instruments except the fingerstyle guitar.

The contest winners will be eligible to participate in the national championships at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas.


It's a great socialization. It's relaxing and entertaining at the same time, but the contributions we make are, we feel like, in the form of exposing our families to arts, arts that they might not see.

–Michelle Tanner, OFOAM


Registration for the open division costs $20 at the door. Registration for the novice division costs $15 at the door, according to the Intermountain Acoustic Music Festival.

As many as 2,500 people have attended in the past, and Tanner said they expect a good turnout this year with the good weather.

The event will take place at what Tanner said is the oldest settlement in Ogden, Fort Buenaventura, which is just off 24th Street.

A three-day pass to the event costs $60 in advance and $65 at the gate. Single-day tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the gate.

It’s part of OFOAMs mission to influence youths to pick up a traditional musical instrument, and kids ages 16 and under can attend the event for free.

Camping is also available at the event. To book a camping reservation, call Weber County Parks and Recreation at 801-399-8491.

For the schedule of events at the Ogden Music Festival, including the Utah State Instrument Championship, click here.

OFOAM will host its Ogden Valley Roots and Blues Festival Aug. 21-23. The festival will take place at North Fork Park in Liberty in the Upper Ogden Valley. Artists such as award-winning blues singer Janiva Magness, Eilen Jewell, Super Chikan, The Brothers Comatose, Mad Max and the Wild Ones and Joe McQueen and more will perform at the event.

For more information about the Ogden Valley Roots and Blues Festival, visit its website. For more information about OFOAM and other events, click here.

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