Rangeley, ME – The 3rd Annual Saddleback Mountain Bluegrass Festival will be held at Saddleback Ski Area in Rangeley on August 10 and 11.

It is an outside event for the whole family to enjoy. The stage is set up on the front deck of the ski resort’s base lodge and the audience seating is in a natural amphitheater on the lawn and slope above, with views of the western Maine lakes and mountains. In each of the first two years a crowd of nearly 2,000 came to listen, dance, camp and enjoy some of the best bluegrass talent in the country.

This years festival features The Travlin’ McCourys with Michael Daves, The Sam Bush Band, The Gibson Brothers, The Red Stick Ramblers, Della Mae, The Hillbenders, MilkDrive, Tricky Britches, Chasing Blue, Local Circus, and 317 Main Street Ensemble.

Two-day festival tickets cost $40 through July 31st and $45 after August 1st. Children 12 and under are free with a paying adult. Day tickets are available at the gate. The two-day camping fee is $5 for each adult and a $15 fee for trailers and RVs over 25 feet in length. Camping is available on a first come first serve basis in the parking lots as well as out on the ski slopes. There are no hook-ups.

In addition to camping, Saddleback has condominiums for rent. The festival will host  food vendors, a barbecue, beer garden, coffee bar, plus the Swig N’ Smelt Pub.

The festival opens for camping at 9 a.m. on Friday the 10th. The music begins at 2:30 p.m. on Friday and on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The stage performance will end about dark both days.

On Friday night, after the main stage performance, Tricky Britches will perform an additional two sets in the Pub. The music will continue at campsites and at the lodge as friends and strangers will make music until the crack of dawn.

“The pickin’ at night is nothing less than magical,” says festival organizer Mark Robie.

This year’s two big headliners are The Travlin’ McCourys with Michael Daves and The Sam Bush Band. The Travlin’ McCourys include, among others, bluegrass legend Del McCoury’s two son’s, Ronnie and Rob McCoury. These two have spent years on the road, most often with their father pleasing audiences across the country and beyond. Michael Daves will join them at Saddleback. Daves’ recently released album with Chris Thile, “Sleep with One Eye Ppen” was nominated in 2012 for a Grammy for best bluegrass album of the year.

Sam Bush is a Grammy Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, known to many as the King of New Grass, the King of Telluride, and last year was the headliner at Grey Fox, the granddaddy of bluegrass festivals in New England. Bush is a legend to the bluegrass community; he co-founded New Grass Revival with Bela Fleck in the early 1970’s and swept the country turning many rock-and-rollers into fans of a new genre of music.