Michael Cleveland accepts the Bluegrass Star award at Blooming Bluegrass 2024
with Rhonda Vincent, Dan Tyminski, and Del McCoury – photo © Randy Watkins
The 2024 Bloomin’ Bluegrass Festival, held October 18-19 in Farmers Branch, TX, will be the final such event to be hosted in the city’s Farmer’s Branch Historical Park. After 15 successful years in the park, the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation, who manages the festival, has reached an agreement to change both the time and place going forward, with the festival moving to early August at the Hilton Doubletree hotel in Dallas, near the Galleria, where it has been rebranded as the Farmer’s Branch Bluegrass Festival.
Also making news last month in Farmer’s Branch was the awarding of the Foundation’s Bluegrass Star trophy to fiddle great Michael Cleveland. This is presented each year to an artist notable for preserving and advancing traditional bluegrass music nationally.
Bluegrass Heritage President Alan Tompkins said while presenting the award to Cleveland…
“Michael’s incredible talents have brought bluegrass music to many thousands of new listeners over the course of his career, and he is a worthy recipient of the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation Bluegrass Star Award.
Prior winners have included Rhonda Vincent, J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs, Bobby Osborne, and several others.
We also thank Alan for sharing this array of photos from the 2024 festival, taken by Randy Watkins and Nate Dalzell.
