Wilkesboro ChickenFest is May 22-24
ChickenFest 2009 will be held May 22-24 in North Wilkesboro.

The free-to-the-public event returns to The Record Park at the corner of Fourth and E streets in North Wilkesboro on Friday, May 22; Saturday, May 23; and Sunday, May 24.

Tyson Foods will again sponsor the Americana music festival, which is now in its fourth year. ChickenFest is hosted by The Record.

WKBC Radio personalities Steve Handy and Ed Racey will once again emcee Hometown Opry Night at ChickenFest on Friday, May 22.

North Wilkesboro Mayor George Church will kick off the event around 5:30 p.m. on opening night. Chris Barker, the recipient of the first Record Music Scholarship, will start the music after Church welcomes the crowd.

A highlight of this year’s event will be a fiddlers’ showcase hosted by fiddler extraordinaire David Johnson.

Johnson, a well known studio and performing musician was among the inaugural inductees of the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame. He has performed at all three previous ChickenFests, last year hosting a Sunday afternoon of gospel music.

The fiddlers showcase will close out Saturday evening’s program.

Johnson will invite several of his musician friends to help with the segment. Those invited will include Drake Walsh, Ernest Johnson, Melvin Roten and Raymond Gentry.

The festival will feature many acts, including Maple Creek, Grammy winner Tut Taylor, Tony and Jacob Joines, BackPorch Bluegrass, Rude Mood, R.G. Absher and the Grasshoppers, The Key City Boys, The Davis Family, Crusher Run, Maple Creek, Raccoon Creek, Deeper Roots String Band, Anna and Gabriella Lankford, Linda Cabe, Mike Palmer, Larry Skipper, Steve Englebert, Sonny Remington, Charles Tesh, Betty Davis, Ralph Clanton and many others.

Music will be performed on The Sammy Lankford Stage in the Tyson Pavilion. Between main stage acts, other musicians will play on the adjacent stage, The Tut Taylor Spotlight Stage.

Members of the Wilkes Acoustic Folk Society will man a picking tent.

Wilkes Smart Start will again host the Children’s Play Area.

Various church groups will provide food, all which will include chicken. The churches participating will include Arbor Grove Methodist Church, Dennyville Baptist Church and Church of God of the Union Assembly. This year, Moravian Falls Baptist Church’s Relay for Life team will also be selling food.

Arbor Grove Methodist Church will hold a church service on the Sunday morning of the festival at The Record Park. Rev. Ed McKinney will officiate.

For more information about ChickenFest, contact Ken Welborn or Jerry Lankford at The Record at (336) 667-0134.