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Jefferson County hosts its first All Good Festival

Journal photos by Ron Agnir Above, music fans are shown at the All Good Festival in Rippon on Thursday evening.
Journal photos by Ron Agnir
Above, music fans are shown at the All Good Festival in Rippon on Thursday evening.

SUMMIT POINT, W.Va. — Though organizers of the 18th All Good Music Festival and Camp Out faced obstacles and opposition while getting a permit to hold the event, the show is going on now through Sunday at Berry Hill Farm in Summit Point.

Put on by Walther Productions, Inc., the All Good Music Festival was held in Masontown, West Virginia, for many years before moving to a venue in Ohio.

This year, the festival returned to West Virginia.

Above, music fans are shown at the All Good Festival in Rippon on Thursday evening.

Festival attendees trickled through the main gate at Franklintown Road through the afternoon, setting up campsites and getting settled in before Twiddle, the first act of the festival, took the stage at 6 p.m.

According to Dave Weissman, media director for the All Good Festival, approximately 10,000 attendees had arrived at the event by Thursday evening.

“Traffic coming in (to the festival) was actually very, very good,” said Jefferson County Sheriff Pete Dougherty. “We had no real tie-ups. State police, mostly, were out on U.S. 340 and we were on the back roads directing traffic.”

Dougherty said there were some minor issues involving festival attendees, but said it was expected.

“When you get this many people, particularly when some of them think they’re coming to have a party, you’ll have a few problems along the way,” he said.

The sheriff’s deputies will be patrolling inside the festival grounds and keeping watch on nearby roads and residential neighborhoods for the duration of the festival.

In addition to two performance stages, the All Good Festival grounds included showers, food vendors and apparel and art vendors.

“Play shops” -like a “workshop” but meant for fun- allowed festival attendees to participate in drum circles, yoga, meditation and art before and between performances.

Siblings Ben Hamm and Alex Hamm, attended the All Good Festival with their cousin, Jae Redding.

Together, they attended the All Good Festival in 2013 in Ohio, and had so much fun, they wanted to come again.

“I came for the good people, good atmosphere and the music,” Redding said. “This is going to be awesome.”

The trio came from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and said they didn’t have to wait in traffic for very long, and Alex said they had a shorter drive than when the festival was in Ohio.

Ben said he was excited to see some of his favorite bands.

“For me, it’s a nostalgia trip. There are a lot of bands that play here that we listened to growing up. There are also a lot of bands that have become more popular, and a lot of big names we’re looking forward to seeing again,” he said.

Chelsea Stanley and Lindsey Brickey were sitting on a picnic blanket while waiting to get into the concert bowl.

Stanley, from Preston County, said she lived in the town where the All Good Festival used to take place.

“We loved (the festivals in Preston County) and we always had a good time there,” Stanley said. “We were a little spoiled because we got local passes and local tickets, so that made dealing with traffic a little easier. This is the first time we’ve come since the festival left Masontown.”

Despite her concerns, Stanley said she was able to get checked in and set up her campsite with relative ease.

“All Good takes care of their campers. I can already see that they’ve stepped up their safety and security,” she said.

Brickey said this year’s All Good Festival was her first, though she wanted to go with Stanley, who has been to All Good six times, from the beginning.

“Things have gone wrong every single year right before the festival, but I bought tickets as soon as they went on sale,” Brickey said. “I’m having a lot of fun already, and it’s a very relaxed atmosphere. Everyone’s so friendly, it’s like a family atmosphere.”

Stanley said she enjoys meeting new people at All Good, and often runs into friends she’s made in years past.

One such friendship was made at the festival Thursday afternoon, when Miranda Harper, from Raleigh, North Carolina, met Mariah Spence, from Baltimore, and the two clicked.

Though each of them said this was their first time at the All Good Festival, they had different reasons for going -and ran into each other by chance.

Spence went because a group of her friends were going, and she heard them say how much fun they had at past events.

Harper volunteered to work at the event, and said she got in for free.

“Twiddle is one of my favorite bands, ever,” Spence said. “Really, I’m excited for all the bands. It’s going to be wonderful.”

-Staff writer Mary Stortstrom can be reached at 304-725-6581 or www.twitter.com/mstortstromJN.

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