•   Thursday is the official opening of the festival with the music kicking off at noon on The Hartford stage by the Flatland Harmony Experiment who would open with an all John Hartford set, each day of the festival would open with an all Hartford set which I thought was a nice touch for a memorial festival.
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•     Later in the afternoon I would make it to the Boogie Stage which was under a small circus like tent for a set with singer songwriters Ernie Hill and Jeff Daughtery. Ernie is  a staff member and host of the songwriter challenge as well as the festival’s publicist, he is also releasing his own book this weekend “The Cosmic Path To Melody and Lyric”. Jeff won the 2nd songwriting competition at this festival six years ago and has been living in Germany for the past three years. The two had never performed together before this set but had corresponded with each other leading up to this set. They would mostly focus on originals but they did play a couple of covers. The set would end with an appearance by Jon Griffin who is another singer songwriter as well as an artist who has done all eight festival posters as well as illustrator for Ernie’s new book. 
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•     Next up on the same stage would be the duet Lizzy Plotkin and Natalie Spears. Lizzy handled fiddle, guitar,  and mandolin  duties while Natalie took care of upright bass and banjo blending the sounds of Appalachia along  with their own soulful harmonies. The duet is based out of Colorado and were part of the folk trio Free The Honey. 
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•   I would then make my way back to the Hartford Stage to hear the Jon Stickley Trio who I had become a fan of last week seeing them for the first time at DelFest. The trio blends some incredible flat picking with some space fiddling and a solid beat from the drummer. Mostly playing originals that seem to cross and blur the lines from genre to genre.
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•     On my way back to my campsite for some dinner I would stumble upon the surprise of the day Circus No. 9 an acoustic  quartet based out of east Tennesee. playing on the Hippy Hill Stage. Led by 2016 National Banjo Champion Mathew Davis and 2016 Rockygrass Mandolin Champion Colin Hotz two pickers that looked much younger than they are both still unable to buy a legal drink. This band is incredibly advanced and accomplished for their ages. Their set would leave me excited to see them playing again the next day on The Boogie Stage. 
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•     After a quick return to the campground for dinner I would make my way back to The Hartford Stage for Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, I’ve become a big fan of this band first seeing them several years back at Bonnaroo and more recently at the past couple DelFests. The band considers themselves a “family” on a wild, wonderful, and often whacky rollercoaster of which this music lover concurs wholeheartedly. They are touring in support of their new album The Ode. They gave an entertaining and energizing set that left the crowd wanting more but there are no encores at this festival allowing the bands to play from start to finish time leaving just enough break time to reset the stage for the next act.                                                                          
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• Now the sun was down and the temperature finally cooling off after a very hot and humid day. I would make my way back to the Hippy Hill Stage for an encore performance of Fireside Collective who I was first introduced to yesterday. They again brought a pleasant blend traditional bluegrass and American roots music and their own modern and original acoustic arrangements. This young Asheville based quintet will surely be around for many years on the scene as they continue to mature as a band. As their set ended you could hear picking in the campground well under way so I chose to meander from circle to circle before returning to my campsite and finishing the night with my neighbors  the Short Round Stringband hosting another incredible jam session that went on until the wee hours of the morning.