Festivals & Events
Archives Spring/Summer 2007

Story Highlights
• Uncle Dave Macon Days features old-time music and dancing
• Murfreesboro, Tenn., is the place to be in July for a true taste of Americana
• The festival includes a parade and a juried arts and crafts show

It’s hard to believe that a banjo picker from Middle Tennessee has a festival named in his honor.

But every July for the past 30 years, heritage musicians and dancers have gathered in Murfreesboro, Tenn., to pay homage to Uncle Dave Macon.

The celebration is held at Cannonsburgh, an authentic pioneer village near the city’s public square, which overflows with approximately 45,000 people who turn out for the annual event.

Uncle Dave Macon Days features old-time music and dancing that captures a true taste of Americana. In fact, the United States House of Representatives in 1986 proclaimed the competitions to be the national championships in old-time banjo, old-time clogging and old-time buckdancing.

In addition, musicians and singers compete in harmonica, fiddle, mandolin, dobro, guitar and dulcimer and old-time bands, as well as old-time and blues singing, with a purse of more than $6,000.

“The mission is to preserve and perpetuate the old-time music and dance styles, which are fading art forms,” says Wendy Bryant, publicity director for Uncle Dave Macon Days. “We try hard to keep them alive.”

Uncle Dave Macon (David Harrison Macon) was born in Middle Tennessee in 1870 and went on to become a full-time musician and a member of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

He was known for his showmanship, often flipping his banjo in the air while singing and picking, then catching it without a break in the music. He played at the Opry up until his death in 1952 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966.

Uncle Dave Macon Days was launched in 1977 as a banjo picking to lure customers into the shops that line Murfreesboro’s Courthouse Square. Today’s three-day celebration has an estimated economic impact of $1 million.

Other festival activities include a juried arts and crafts fair, a parade, a gospel showcase and the presentation of the annual Heritage Award, given to a person dedicated to the preservation and promotion of old-time music and dance. The 2007 honoree is bluegrass artist Rhonda Vincent.

Uncle Dave Macon Days was included in 2005’s list of Top 100 Events in North America by the American Bus Association and has been named as one of the Top 20 events in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society, which is based in Atlanta.

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