By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
This is only the second year of the Orange Army Bluegrass Festival, and their first year here at home in Carter County (last year they were at Mandolin Farm in Fleming County), but the festival is already poised to make a splash in the summer event scene. In part by focusing on a mix that, in addition to traditional bluegrass, includes more contemporary and high energy artists.
“We’ve got a different sound,” explained organizer Robert “Sleepy” Porter. “We’ve got some traditional bluegrass in there and then we’ve got a lot of contemporary bluegrass. So, it’s more hard driving. More in your face, get up and dance type music.”
Charlie Woods and Deep Hollow is one of those groups, Porter noted, with a very groove oriented approach to their music. They’re on the ticket Friday along with Billy Droze & Gary Nichols.
“Gary played with the Steel Drivers,” Porter explained. “So, they’ve got a high energy set that’s going to really rock Friday night.”
Breaking Grass, who play just before Saturday headliner Hammertowne, is another in that high energy vein.
“They are stupid good,” Porter exclaimed. Though the same could be said of all the bands, Porter said they purposely chose the final two bands of each evening to end the night with high energy performances.
Because, as volunteer Wanda Mollett reminded us, “The cause is serious, but the festival is a celebration.”
That cause, cancer awareness and support, is one that is as near and dear to Porter as the music. He and his wife Sheila have been heavily involved in the bluegrass festival scene for several years, he explained. Even the name of their festival, Orange Army, comes from being part of a group of volunteers and workers in their bright orange staff shirts.
“There was a group of people that worked for CamFest, and we always wore orange shirts,” Porter explained. One day, as they were all coming over the hill together, for a day of work, one of the promoters told them, “it looks like an orange army coming down through there,” and the name just stuck.
When Sheila was diagnosed with cancer, he said, that same Orange Army came together to help support them through the fight. Once Sheila was in recovery, she wanted to help give back to others in the same way they had been there for her, so the Orange Army Bluegrass Festival was born.
All of the money raised goes directly to cancer patients, Porter explained, to use on whatever they see fit, except medical expenses.
“They’re not allowed to pay a doctor bill with it,” Porter said. “But if they need gas money to get back and forth to treatments, or medicine, or bills, or hotels, whatever, they can have it for that.”
The charity supports the patients with a direct award of $1,500 per patient.
“The reason we picked that number is we wanted to help more people,” Porter continued. “We could give away $10,000 to one person, but then we wouldn’t have enough money to help a lot of people. So, we stick with $1,500.”
One way they’re funding that is with a $50,000 raffle drawing on Friday night. Porter explained that they are selling exactly 850 tickets, at $100 each. After paying off the winner, he said, that leaves the organization with $35,000 to support cancer patients just from the raffle sales alone. More than 800 of those tickets had been sold at the time of the interview, and Porter said he fully expected them to sell out.
They also want to raise awareness with their events. He said a mobile mammography unit would be set up at the festival, in addition to folks providing information on colon cancer screenings and other cancers.
But the music is the draw, and Porter and the volunteers with the Orange Army intend to do their part to continue making Olive Hill and Carter County synonymous with good music. Moving the festival to the Shriner’s Horse Park is part of that. Folks are already familiar with the venue from the Shriner’s Bluegrass Festival, and the infrastructure is already in place and proven to support the kind of crowds Orange Army draws. The other part is expanding the types of music on offer. Not just by adding more contemporary bluegrass artists, but other genres entirely.
Last weekend, for instance, the organization partnered with Carter County Tourism to bring the first annual Country on Tygart concert to the park. That free show was proceeded by a car show and cornhole tournament in town.
In addition to tourism, Porter and the Orange Army volunteers extended their thanks to all of their sponsors and volunteers – too numerous to name – as well as to Craig’s Auto Sales for sponsoring the car show and Affordable Metal Roofing for sponsoring the cornhole tournament.
These two events, Porter said, are only the beginning. He hopes to someday bring an entire week of musical events to the people of Carter County, highlighting all the wonderful music traditions the region has to offer.
And, raising money for and awareness of cancer. As Porter noted, “You can’t get disability,” with a cancer diagnoses. There are lots of expenses. No energy to work, or even to fill out paperwork for assistance. So, the work the Orange Army does is important, especially to those who benefit from their kindness.
You can find more information about the organization, including how to buy tickets to this weekend’s show and event lineup and schedule, online at orangearmybluegrass.com.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
