CUMBERLAND — The 16th DelFest wrapped up Memorial Day weekend but not before leaving the more than 25,000 who attended looking forward to next year.
Comments posted on Deltopia, the festival’s Facebook page, were positive and complementary, including one that read, “361 days to DelFest 2025.”
Held at the Allegany County Fairgrounds, the festival went off without a hitch from Thursday’s opening sound-check set by the Del McCoury Band to the closing set from The Old Crowe Medicine Show on Sunday night.
“It was another great DelFest,” said Barb Buehl, the local DelFest liaison. “There were a lot of first-timers as well as people coming back and seeing friends they haven’t seen for while. For a lot of people, they use it for like a family reunion.”
The festival featured more than 30 top acts performing under sunny skies for most of the weekend. The four-day festival did see two interruptions due to thunderstorms. But, as DelFest goes — that was nothing unusual. The festival is known for experiencing rainy weather. In 2009, a storm brought hail and 70 mph winds that blew through the festival grounds.
According to Kevin Kamauf, the fairgrounds manager, the music was stopped for about 20 minutes on Saturday due to the threat of a thunderstorm, which never materialized. However, on Sunday it poured during Sierra Ferrell’s set.
“Sierra only got to play about 20 minutes before that storm hit,” Kamauf said. “It rained three-quarters of an inch in 12 minutes. That was really the only hiccup as far as the entertainers. Everyone else got to play their full set.
“But you can’t control Mother Nature. DelFest is notorious for having rain. They’ve been here 16 years and they’ve had rain 13 of them and they don’t get a nice gentle rain; they got to get that half to an inch in 10 minutes rain.”
The weekend storms didn’t pack any winds. “The wind will do more damage than the rain ever will because there are so many of those easy-up pop up tents all over the fairgrounds which can get torn up,” said Kamauf.
Due to time restriction and outdoor noise ordinances, Ferrell was unable to resume. However, Old Crowe Medicine Show performed a full set.
“There’s never a bad band in the bunch, but you always come away with some of your favorites,” said Buehl.
DelFest features largely the acoustic-driven sounds of bluegrass, folk and country. However, the festival always includes some genre-bending acts. This year was no different with Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble as well as Shinyribs.
“Shinyribs was the biggest surprise,” said Buehl. “They are very energetic and fun.”
Shinyribs, fronted by energetic singer Kevin Russell, served a nonstop dance set of Gulf Coast country soul to the delight of the audience. Russell, at 57 and middle-age spread, surprised many in the audience, who had never seen him, with his constant dancing from one end of the stage to the other.
“It got people up and moving,” said Buehl. “I laughed, when he sat down on the edge of the stage during one song. I thought, how is he going to get up … and he pops right up, no problem.”
Shinyribs features bass, drums, keyboards, two female backup singers, and a horn section. Following the band’s set, instead of an encore, Russell said, “Let’s remember our fallen heroes this Memorial Day weekend.” He sent out the trumpet player to perform, “Taps.”
“You could have heard a pin drop,” said Buehl. “People stopped what they were doing and stood. So they were funny while performing but very touching at the end. That was one of the special moments.”
Over the weekend, the entire expanse of the fairgrounds was utilized for performance space, tents, campers, RVs and parking for thousands of vehicles.
Kamauf can measure attendance in unique ways.
“I never have enough time for the shows so I look at it more from the logistical side of things,” he said. “There was more garbage than last year.
“But, they have a crew called Clean Vibes that cleans up during the entire festival and they recycle. They had six dumpsters of recyclable materials that they separated out from the trash after it was over.
“At the end they have people that stick around who clean from one end of the fairgrounds to the other and do a final walk-through cleanup. It’s as clean, if not cleaner, than when they got there.”
Festival organizers are always trying to improve the fan experience, according to Buehl. On the Deltopia Facebook page, suggestions are often found following the show. Attendees share ideas regarding the perks for the different packages and how it impacts other ticket holders.
“DelFest management see the comments and are already making plans to tweak things as needed,” said Buehl. “They are always trying to improve the fan experience.”