Labor Day Weekend–A New Bluegrass Festival Launches
The Armuchee Bluegrass Festival and The Raccoon Creek Bluegrass Festival Pause for 2025
Two of our long standing and most popular Georgia bluegrass festivals have paused for Labor Day Weekend due to needed repairs to their facilities. The Armuchee Bluegrass Festival will not offer any live performances this year but will offer camping and jamming over the weekend at Armuchee Bluegrass Park. There is no gate fee. Armuchee will also hold their traditional welcome dinner Thursday night August 28th at 6:00PM. Armuchee has always been about the pickers and jamming, so the spirit will continue! The Racoon Creek Bluegrass Festival is taking a break this year at the request of the property owner who is doing some major repairs. According to their Facebook page, Raccoon Creek might move to a different date next year to catch some cooler weather.
RamblerFest
A new festival has sprung forward this year–the Dixie Ramblers have organized a new bluegrass festival called RamblerFest that will take place Labor Day weekend.
RamblerFest will be hosted by The Dixie Ramblers at The Outpost in Waco, Georgia, a well-known bluegrass pickin’ barn where countless area musicians have learned to play over the years. The Outpost has been shut down since 2023 but sits on several acres where RamblerFest will offer camping and other amenities. The Dixie Ramblers are hoping to not only build a successful Labor Day weekend festival tradition, but reinvigorate interest in The Outpost, and get it back in operation as a regular jamming spot again.
In its heyday, The Outpost was bluegrass headquarters, with top touring acts like Larry Sparks, Jim & Jesse, Ralph Stanley II, and many others stopping off to play there. Organizers say that the place looks just like it did when it opened in 1990 – a step back in time.
Although this initial RamblerFest is set to run Friday August 29 and Saturday August 30, the stage show will only feature music on Saturday, August 30. However, the Outpost and the campground will be open for jamming on Friday night, with a kids jam scheduled for Saturday morning.
Josh Brown and Bryce Hicks are the organizers of RamblerFest, and they both want to keep things simple for year one. They hope to expand in the following years. This first 2025 festival will feature several local acts on Saturday, with much bigger plans for 2026. They will use the proceeds from year one to rehab The Outpost so that it can again host shows and jams on a regular basis.
RamblerFest is located in Waco, Georgia which is about an hour west of Atlanta, and about an hour and a half east of Birmingham, AL.
Full details on the festival, camping, jamming and the stage shows can be found at the RamblerFest Website