The Highlonesome Music Festival will be in its fifth year Sept. 3-6 at Dockley Ranch near Ava, Missouri. The four-day, family-friendly music festival has expanded since its inception with live music, but producer Myke Gemkow says it's built a community.
"We have discovered kind of this vortex of creativity and joy that exists somewhere on the property that just draws people to it." Gemkow says the community that has formed helps the festival bring in new people with new ideas every year.
This year's performers include Molly Healey, Beth Bombara, Front Porch, The Creek Rocks, Lyal Strickland, Justin Larkin and artists from throughout the region. The festival features a songwriting contest, film festival, storytelling, goat yoga and the Musical Forest, a trail that leads visitors to a series of small stages on the way to a waterfall.
Justin Larkin, a musician who has played at the festival every year, says the location is part of what draws him back every year. "There’s a magic to the hills and the hollers out there at Dockley Ranch."
Larkin says the festival has been able to bring people together creatively while also welcoming new members to the community that has formed around Dockley Ranch.
Camping will be available throughout the weekend, as well as food trucks, a bar and a coffee shop. The Highlonesome Music Festival takes place Sept. 3-6 at Dockley Ranch near Ava. Tickets, the full lineup and more information are available at https://www.highlonesomemusicfestival.com/
