By BEN SIMMONS
For The Inter-Mountain
SNOWSHOE, W.Va. — Snowshoe Mountain Resort will come alive this weekend as the FreeFall Festival closes out the summer with loads of free live music, family activities and a fireworks display. The festival kicks off today and runs throughout the weekend.
Among the free concerts, the Robert Randolph Family Band will be performing tonight at 9 p.m. Randolph has been named one of the top 100 guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.
“Expect a full immersion in what we like to call the mountain lifestyle,” said Shawn Cassell, public relations specialist for Snowshoe Mountain. “Beyond the free live music, there will be a wide range of activities for people who enjoy the outdoors. Bike races, yoga classes, guided hikes, and that’s barely scratching the surface.”
The FreeFall Festival will include a beer festival on Friday night with a wide selection of craft brews ranging from local favorites to national award winners. In addition to the beer festival and free concerts, the weekend will also include yoga and art classes, a Pro BMX demo by Monster Energy, guided hikes, the FreeFall Games, mountain bike racing and a mountaintop fireworks display. Sponsors for the event include Coca-Cola, Monster Energy, Clif Bar, GoPro and Smith Optics.
“There are a hundred different reasons to come up for FreeFall, but what really makes the event special is the overall experience,” Cassell said. “It all blends perfectly here at 4,848 feet. If we took our favorite parts of our many different festivals, and put them all into one epic weekend, it would probably look a lot like FreeFall.”
Among the other featured musicians are Tim Reynolds & TR3, J. Roddy Walston and the Business, Yonder Mountain String Band, and Elkins native Shane Meade and the Sound.
“This is a lineup that we’ve been buzzing about for a couple months now,”Cassell said. “Oftentimes these events have one main headliner, but it feels like this one really has four. J. Roddy Walston and the Business are an up-and-coming group, and their live shows are a sight to behold. Yonder Mountain String Band is basically bluegrass/folk royalty on the festival scene right now, and we’ve got two of the best to ever pick up a guitar in Robert Randolph and Tim Reynolds. Where else would you find a lineup like this for free?”
For a full list of performances and various other activities, along with times and locations, visit www.snowshoemtn.com.
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