Important Update – The Future of Moniaive Michaelmas Bluegrass Festival

It is with great sadness and the heaviest of hearts we announce that the annual Moniaive Michaelmas Bluegrass Festival will NOT be going ahead in September 2024.

From its inception, our committee have sought to attract and encourage the finest national and international bluegrass musicians to our region whilst promoting the beautiful area and supporting the local economy. I believe we’ve successfully achieved this for 12 years, with only a brief hiatus due to a certain global pandemic.

As you can imagine, a tremendous amount of work goes into the planning and organisation of such a festival. It is no mean feat, with preparatory work typically starting a year prior. This workload falls to a small-but-perfectly-formed committee of volunteers who freely give their own time, energy and talent to allow the festival to go ahead. Many of our committee members have served since the festival’s inception. Following long service, a number of committee members have expressed the desire to step back within the next year or two, their skills and talents proving difficult to replace.

With this in mind, the committee discussed how best to progress moving forwards. Several options were considered and investigated, but upon reflection we concluded it was best to draw things to a close now, rather than make changes that could potentially affect the quality, format or feel of this much-loved festival.

We appreciate that MMBF was, for many, an important fixture in any bluegrassers calendar, and stress that this decision wasn’t taken lightly, but after much careful deliberation. Whilst we are gutted that we’ve had to draw things to a conclusion, it is our hope that, like us, you will have many happy memories of our festival.

I have been blown away by the support we have received from festival goers, musicians, local residents and the business community. I would personally like to thank all of the above for their understanding of this painfully difficult decision. I extend my thanks to my fellow committee members, both past and present, whose vision, loyalty and hard work made this festival possible.

Yours truly

David Macfarlane

Artistic Director, 2023 Festival.

 

MMBF 2023 Survey

Many thanks to all who attended our 2023 festival. We’d be really grateful if you could complete a short survey to give us insight into what you enjoyed most about the weekend and what we might potentially improve on.

Take the survey here!

MMBF 2023 Bands

We trust those who attended this years festival enjoyed the great music and atmosphere. We hope you enjoy these videos of our 2023 bands.

 

Funded by Annandale and Nithsdale Community Benefit Company, administered by Foundation Scotland