(828) 526-0173 | [email protected] | Copyright 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
Mark the Day | Bear Shadow
Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue:
Bear Shadow Festival, set for April 29 through May 1 of next year, promises to bring the same level of musical energy to the Plateau. Details are still being worked out – for up-to-date information, visit bearshadownc.com.
The wildly successful Bear Shadow Festival will emerge from hibernation for its second year, the weekend of April 29–May 1, 2022.
Named for the shadow that appears annually behind Whiteside Mountain, Bear Shadow is organized and owned by Highlands Festivals Inc, a 501(3)(c) that’s also responsible for Highlands Food & Wine.
Much like the spring 2021 inaugural festival, the 2022 event will feature tons of live music, guitar clinics, a music-oriented film fest, and outdoor activities like hiking and yoga, accompanied by live music to get folks really moving. The intimate local mountain setting drew an extraordinary roster of talent earlier this year, including some very big names – St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Mandolin Orange, Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors, Chuck Leavell, The War & Treaty, Jamestown Revival, Shelly Colvin, Devon Gilfillian, and Robert Ellis. Though details of the 2022 performers are yet to be announced, the roster of talent is certain to be no less illustrious in 2022.
Stretching from the Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park in downtown Highlands to the top of Satulah Mountain, the Festival also includes smaller events with a variety of price points for locals and visitors.
Beyond attracting top music acts, an equally important part of the mission of the festival is to support and form alliances with local businesses. Highlands Festivals Inc., the organization that founded the festival, is intent on making the small businesses of Highlands the real star of the show – “to bring voice and face to the town’s small business – to bring energy and awareness to the restaurants and stores that were at risk during the past year and a half due to Covid.”
Festival organizer Casey Reid of Eleven.Events said that she anticipates that like the 2021 event, the spring 2022 festival will draw visitors from throughout the Southeast.
“Last year’s festival was sold out and enthusiastically enjoyed by more than 1,000 attendees,” she said. “The Highlands community and fans of our annual fall event, the Highlands Food & Wine Festival, demonstrated a fierce appetite for the quality of live music we introduced in the spring, and we are thrilled to once again bring A-list talent to a star-studded lineup in 2022. The increasing number of inquiries we are receiving about 2022 is a clear indication that there’s a pent-up demand for next year’s event.”
For more information, visit bearshadownc.com.
