Spring Bluegrass Festival at the Ozark Folk Center

The Spring Bluegrass Festival at the Ozark Folk Center State Park brings fast picking and tight harmonies to Mountain View from March 12 through 14, 2026, with performances and craft demonstrations spread across the park’s wooded hilltop campus just north of town.

Acts perform throughout the day at the 1,000-seat Ozark Highlands Theater, a natural cedar-and-stone venue opened in 1973 as part of the state park dedicated to preserving Southern mountain folkways. Between shows, visitors wander the Craft Village where blacksmiths, weavers, and furniture makers demonstrate skills handed down through Ozark generations, or browse the Heritage Herb Garden and grab lunch at the Skillet Restaurant overlooking the valley.

Admission varies by day and performance, with some events requiring separate tickets. Mountain View earned its title as the “Folk Music Capital of the World” through decades of intentional preservation work, beginning with the first Arkansas Folk Festival in 1963 when the town’s population sat below 1,000. The Ozark Folk Center State Park opened May 5, 1973, built with $3.4 million in federal funds after heavy lobbying by songwriter Jimmy Driftwood, who grew up in nearby Timbo and later penned “The Battle of New Orleans.” The park sits in Stone County, where the Blue Mountain Range of the Ozarks creates steep valleys and fast-flowing streams that feed into the White River system.

Mountain View itself was incorporated on August 14, 1890, though the area’s musical traditions stretch back to early 19th-century settlers who carried ballads and fiddle tunes from Appalachia and the British Isles. Bluegrass bands at the Spring Festival typically include regional acts alongside nationally touring groups, all playing acoustic sets that honor the pre-1941 tradition the Folk Center preserves. Expect fiddles, banjos, mandolins, and upright bass, with vocal harmonies that recall the Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe.

The Craft Village demonstrations run concurrently with music, so you can watch a potter throw stoneware or a woodworker shape a chair before heading back to the theater for the next set. Families find the festival approachable, with kids welcome in all venues and the park’s layout offering space to roam between performances.

Parking fills by mid-morning on Saturday, the festival’s busiest day, so arrive early or use the park’s shuttle service from overflow lots.

Lodging at the Folk Center’s 60-unit lodge books months ahead for festival weekends, but Lake.com has options in Mountain View and surrounding areas, some near the White River where trout fishing and float trips offer a different pace. After a day of bluegrass and crafts, head to Tommy’s Famous Pizza, serving pies for more than 30 years from a small dining room with quirky atmosphere, or try Krispy House, an old-fashioned catfish and burger joint established in the 1940s and family-owned since 1968. Book your bluegrass weekend and find lodging near Mountain View on Lake.com.