Kids & Family Fun Day

Join us for Kids & Family Fun Day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, May 17 at the Blue Ridge Music Center. This free event is open to all ages and includes performances, booths, an instrument “petting zoo,” scavenger hunt, art activities, guided hike, and a family square dance.

Youth bands will perform throughout the day. The schedule includes The Brothers Young, a bluegrass duo from the mountains of Southwest Virginia made up of brothers Ayden Young and Blane Young; Ettore Buzzini, a 16-year-old bluegrass banjo and guitar prodigy from Mooresville, N.C.; and Newfound Gap, an old-time band from Western North Carolina made up of siblings Bayla Davis, Sylvie Davis, and Judah Davis.

The day will wrap up with a free concert by Grammy winners Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer from 3 to 4 p.m. in the indoor theater. Fink and Marxer are master musicians with a career spanning more than 35 years. Their superb harmonies are backed by instrumental virtuosity on the guitar, five-string banjo, ukulele, mandolin, cello-banjo, and many other instruments. The duo has performed at hundreds of bluegrass and folk festivals and taught at music camps worldwide. Happily known as “social music conductors” they are always ready to start a jam or sing along, and help others learn to play and sing. Their former students include Kaki King and Rhiannon Giddens.

Performance schedule:

11:30 a.m. – The Brothers Young
12:30 p.m. – Ettore Buzzini
1:30 p.m. – Newfound Gap
3 to 4 p.m. – Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer

This event is supported by the generosity of a group of anonymous donors who advocate for youth engagement in traditional mountain music.

Concerts and events at the Blue Ridge Music Center are a program of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.

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