TMP photo by Laura Leigh Smith
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Rarely a day goes by that Gloria Christy doesn’t work on planning or organizing some aspect of the annual Uncle Dave Macon Days festival.
The downtown Murfreesboro business owner is the president of the old-time music, dance and arts festival that was established 30 years ago to honor the memory of Uncle Dave Macon, a long-time Rutherford County resident and one of the pioneers of the Grand Ole Opry. She puts in hundreds of volunteer hours each year into planning the next year’s festival.
“Once you catch the vision, it is hard to let go of it,” Christy said of the sentiment she and dozens of long-time volunteers seem to share as they take time out of their busy lives to make Uncle Dave Macon Days run without a hitch.
Each year after the festival, organizers sit down just a few weeks later to review the festival and work out ways to improve on it next year.
Uncle Dave Macon Days serves as the national championships for old-time banjo, buckdancing and clogging. It is one of the few old-time music competitions remaining in the country. This year’s festival is slated for July 13-15 at Cannonsburgh Village at 312 S. Front St.
About 2,000 musicians and dancers will compete for a purse of more than $6,100. Uncle Dave Macon Days also consists of featured performers, food, arts and crafts, gospel singing and a Motorless Parade featuring mules, horses and wagons.
The festival has consecutively been named by the Atlanta-based Southeast Tourism Society as one of the Top 20 events in the Southeast.
Besides preserving old-time music and dance, the festival has become a major tourist attraction and source of revenue for area businesses and local government.
“We estimate that Uncle Dave Macon Days brings in about $1 million to the community,” said Mona Herring, vice president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce. “The estimated attendance is 45,000 over the three-day weekend.
“As the years go by the notoriety of the festival has increased and we have people who come back every year to hear the old-time music,” she said.
The county’s largest festival doesn’t create the economic impact that sporting events like the TSSAA Spring Fling and state basketball tournaments that attracts more than 30,000 and 70,000 people respectively. Spring Fling generates $3.4 million for Rutherford County.
These sporting events generate more revenues because attendees are paying admission fees, staying in hotels and eating in restaurants, Herring said Uncle Dave Macon Days is a free event and most attendees just drive in for the day and eat at the festival, she said.
“There are a few hotel rooms that are taken by our Uncle Dave visitors, but I would say the majority driving in are regional visitors who drive in and drive out,” she said.
Uncle Dave Macon Days has about 25 active volunteers who work to pull together all the aspects of the three-day festival including arts and crafts, the parade, gospel music showcase, registration, program sales and dance and music judging.
The festival operates on a budget of around $42,000 that comes from contributions by corporate sponsors such as First Tennessee Bank and the city of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County governments, grants such as from the Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corp.; dancer, musician and booth registration fees; and advertisements sold in the festival program.
Uncle Dave Macon Days comes together every year because volunteers have a passion for preserving old-time music, said Patsy Weiler, who has been involved with Uncle Dave Macon Days since the early 1980s.
“It comes together with a lot of meetings, communication, phone calls and a lot of hard work,” she said of the festival.
There is a sense of camaraderie — a sense of teamwork — among the volunteers.
“Uncle Dave Macon Days is not just one individual,” Weiler said. “It is a big patchwork quilt. It is the sum of many pieces. We are sown together by each other’s strengths. Together we get something done.”
“There is a sense of pride for the people that are involved in the festival,” she added later. “There is an extreme commitment. Many have been involved 10, 15 and 25 years.”
Erin Edgemon can be reached at 869-0812 and at eedgemon@murfreesboropost.com.
On the Web:
www.uncledavemacondays.com
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