Fiddlin' With the Frogs

What would cause a seemingly normal family from Wisconsin to relocate to the south?

The American Dream, that is what! Who in their right minds would want to leave the cold, snowy Midwest for the warm, sunny South and why? It couldn’t be the friends we keep………….

It couldn’t be the food we eat…………. It most certainly could not be that we needed to escape our family………

Well, it happened like this: we have camped for many, many years and finally decided that we wanted to give up our well-paying, secure jobs and their many perks and buy a campground. That sounds like a very normal, family thing to do, doesn’t it?

So, we bought a campground where we could stay open all year (kids still in school), sold everything, and moved to Grenada, MS. We lived in a 27’ travel trailer for 4 ½ months until a house could be placed in the campground for us. Interesting lifestyle.

Fast forward a year or two and picture us in front of the rec hall on a warm day (not hot, just warm). Now remember, we own and live in a campground that is supporting our family and giving us wonderful stories from all corners of the world.

Well, this car pulls up in front of us and out pops this woman that we had never seen before.

She is very excited and states that she has driven past here many times and noticed our very nice open field behind the campground.

“It would be perfect for a bluegrass festival. Have you ever thought about that?” Ok, now, who is this person and what is a bluegrass festival?

As usual, when new things are suggested, the first thought is: “we could never do that”. The next thought is: “why couldn’t we do that?” and that ends up with the thought: “hey, let’s do this”. So “Fiddlin’ With the Frogs” was conceived and brought to life.

We had the necessary adventurous attitude to attempt this. After all, hadn’t we basically sold our house right out from under our kids, left great jobs, and moved 800 miles from any family members or familiar faces? Most of all, we had the conviction that this would be FUN.

The 1st festival we hired a promoter to do all the work. The 2nd, 3rd, and upcoming 4th festivals have had Beth Muschinski for a music promoter. That’d be me.

I travel around to bluegrass festivals searching for talent. Actually, talent finds us. We have received calls from Nashville, Branson, and other areas of the country requesting information and applications to play at “Fiddlin’ With the Frogs”. Well, I hire bands that I see and hear in person as opposed to promo material.

Volunteers run the campground for us the weekend of the festival, which frees up Larry and I to be wherever we are needed. We prefer to be needed in the festival or one of the jam sessions areas.

There have been many unforeseen hazards in the process of planning an event such as this. Hmmm, a few examples: wow, we need more potties than our campground has, where do you find porta-potties here? Hmmmm, we really can’t build a stage the first year, what do we use? Hmmmm, we only have a limited number of sites available, where will the campers stay? And on, and on. All these questions and probably hundreds more have been answered, and more questions have arisen.

The actual festival area is at the back of the developed portion of the campground. We added 12 electric only camping sites just above the festival area. The actual staging and seating areas are in the hollow (how convenient that Frog Hollow Campground really has a hollow) which forms a small natural amphitheater. We put up several canopies/sunshades for peoples comfort. There is an abundance of open space for seating and scattered trees for shade. Shade for sitting in, shade for jamming in, shade for meeting friends, old and new. This is an outside, rain or shine event, so come prepared.

This will be very family oriented. We love kids. We do not love drinking, drugs and bad language. Therefore, kids will be allowed and welcome and the other items will not. We would encourage people to leave their pets at home as sometimes the pet can be a little particular about the music it hears.

This festival is a BYOC event. This means: Bring Your Own Chair. There will be plenty of room for seating and your own chair will mean more comfort as you listen to the wonderful music and watch the cloggers. Yankee clogging is catching on. You don’t know what Yankee clogging is? Well, I am not going to tell you, you will just have to come to the festival and see for yourself.

This festival is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Above all, we want people to come out, listen to the music and have a good time.

The festival will be held on Friday, August 29, 2008 from 5:30-10pm and on Saturday, August 30 from 1pm-5pm and 6pm-10pm. The music tickets can be purchased for Friday only ($10.00), Saturday only ($15.00), or a two day pass for $20.00.

Come on out, one and all and enjoy the fun! Fiddlin’ With the Frogs

Bluegrass festival is held at Frog Hollow Campground/RV Park, LLC.

The campground is conveniently located just off I-55 at exit #211. As you enter the front gate, cars will take the road to the right and trailers will stop at the office on the left.

We hope y’all have a great time.

Life is an adventure, make the most of it and have fun.