Free Pinchgut Revival Bluegrass & Folk Festival to be held on Trussville Mall in October

By Crystal McGough, Editor

TRUSSVILLE – Trussville nonprofit Friends of Pinchgut Creek will be bringing a day of free fun for the whole family to the Trussville community on Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. The organization will be hosting its inaugural Pinchgut Revival Bluegrass and Folk Festival from 2-6 p.m. on the historic Trussville Mall, located at 360 North Chalkville Road.

“We are hosting this event as a way to say thank you to our amazing community,” FoPC said on its Facebook event page. “Our group has received tremendous support and we have been able to accomplish some big things in a short period of time because of that support. Now it’s time to party!”

FoPC is a local organization founded in 2021 by Jean Cox to help clean up and protect the Cahaba River watershed, with a particular focus on the headwaters that flow through Trussville, including the three-mile-long Pinchgut Creek.

“We’re named Friends of Pinchgut Creek, and we do take care of Pinchgut Creek, but we actually work in all of the Cahaba headwaters,” Cox said. “When we do our cleanup events, we clean up Dry Creek, the main body of the Cahaba River, and Pinchgut Creek. One of our biggest goals is to raise awareness of the importance of urban tributaries and to help people understand that all these little creeks join together to form the Cahaba River; and to take care of the river, we have to take care of all the little creeks that flow into that river.”

The organization has wanted to host a bluegrass festival since its foundation, and recently, with support from Rep. Danny Garrett, received a tourism grant to help make the dream a reality.

“We had an opportunity to give back to the community and we wanted to use that opportunity to say thank you and host a free event for people to come out and learn a little bit about watershed health and the different animals that we have in our Cahaba in Trussville,” said Brett Martin, FoPC board member and head of the Revival Committee. “It’s really just a good excuse to throw a bluegrass and folk art festival, too.”

During the festival, there will be three hours of music provided by local bluegrass bands Random Mountain Ramblers, The Yellow Dandies and Cheshire Possum. There will also be an hour of stage time devoted to watershed and animal education, with guest presenters Fresh Air Family and Urban Turtle Project.

“We’re trying to keep that Sunday afternoon, old-timey, family-gathering kind of vibe,” Martin said. “That’s kind of the idea with the play on words with ‘revival,’ as far as revitalizing our watersheds. To me, we’re trying to revive our community’s interest in our natural surroundings, which is in my opinion one of the big reasons that a lot of residents love Trussville so much.”

With the exception of food trucks and art vendors, the entire festival will be free including bouncy houses, face painting, kids’ craft areas and more. Local nonprofit organizations will have booths to teach the community about the work they do, as well.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Cox said. “The Historical Society is going to be at the Revival and they’re going to have historical pictures of Pinchgut Creek and the Cahaba River. People can come out and learn a lot about our group, but then there’s also going to be opportunities for people to learn about nearby land preserves. We’re going to have Ruffner Mountain, Turkey Creek and Big Canoe Creek Preserve.”

While this is the first Pinchgut Revival festival, both Cox and Martin said they don’t plan for it to be the last.

“We’re hoping to make this an annual event,” Martin said. “The Pinchgut Revival is an opportunity for FoPC to say thank you to the community for helping us work towards protecting Pinchgut Creek and the Cahaba headwaters through education, community involvement and advocacy, and also renew interest in all the natural beauty the city of Trussville has to offer.”

This event has been made possible by funding from the Alabama Department of Tourism and the following event sponsors: Thai Basil, Alabama Scenic River Trails, Cahaba River Society, The Nature Conservency, Blue Spring Living Water, Cahaba Sign and Design Co., Guitar Pros, Whistle Stop Garden Shop, Sanitary Rug Cleaners, Icon Golf Carts, Nelson Properties, Milos Tea, Alabama Outdoors, Big Canoe Creek Oufitters, BeeHam Honey, S&B Contractos, Calico Fly Fishing, Clayne Crawford Foundation, Dr. Matt Brown/Fresh Air Family, Urban Turtle Project.