Coke Ovens Festival

Bluegrass music on tap at Sequatchie Valley landmark

The 88-acre tree-shaded Dunlap Coke Ovens Park is normally a quiet mountain retreat open for self-guided tours.

But Friday and Saturday, June 2-3, the park in Sequatchie Valley will ring with the sounds of bluegrass music when the 31st annual Coke Ovens Bluegrass Festival is held.

The event starts Friday night with music from 6 to 10 p.m. CST. Saturday’s events open with a music workshop in the Coke Ovens Museum at 10 a.m. CST, before music continues on the amphitheater stage from 1 to 10 p.m. CST.

“We ask a suggested $7 donation for admission and all funds help operate the historic site,”’ says Carson Camp, vice president of the Sequatchie Valley Historical Association. “If you like traditional bluegrass music, this is what the festival is scheduled for.”

Camp says the workshop is for visitors who are interested in hearing from musicians who build their own instruments, and they will perform as well.

“We have scheduled 12 groups to play, but others will be announced,” he says of performers for the weekend. “Then there are always groups of musicians jamming throughout the park.”

Cove Ovens Bluegrass Festival has a tradition of raffling off a musical instrument each year. Chances are $2 apiece. Camp says this year’s instrument is a Taylor guitar.

Coke Ovens Park is located three- fourths of a mile west of downtown Dunlap on Highway 127. If headed south on Highway 127 through Dunlap, turn right onto Cherry Street at the downtown traffic signal. Follow the brown Coke Oven signs to the park, 350 Mountain View Drive.

For more information: 423-949-2156.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS More than a dozen bluegrass bands will play at this weekend’s Coke Ovens Bluegrass Festival.