Planet Bluegrass announces Kinfolk celebration

In the wake of overwhelming demand for Telluride Bluegrass and RockyGrass festival tickets, Planet Bluegrass in announcing an additional mini-festival for this summer. On August 24 and 25, they'll host the Kinfolk Celebration featuring the Yonder Mountain String Band. Planet Bluegrass is expecting 4,000 people to attend each day and they have the capacity for about half of those people to camp out at Lyons' Meadow Park and the Planet Bluegrass Ranch. The decision was sparked in part by the popularity of Planet Bluegrass' other festivals. Telluride Bluegrass passes sold out in less than three weeks this year, and single day tickets were in such high demand that they were sold on a lottery system. But more importantly, the the Kinfolk Celebration will give Yonder Mountain String Band fans, known as Kinfolk, the chance to see the band in a festival environment. The band has sold out Red Rocks for years, but as Planet Bluegrass' Brian Eyster pointed out, one-day shows can be difficult for fans around the country to attend. “It's really kind of about the Yonder community,” Eyster said. “When they were doing Red Rocks, it's not a camping thing, it's not a multi-day thing, so it's not a chance for the Yonder community to come together. It means a lot to the band and means a lot to the Kinfolk.” Yonder Mountain String Band also has close ties to Planet Bluegrass. The band's first big festival gig was at RockyGrass and they've played Telluride Bluegrass Festival every year since 2000. “They kind of came to us and at the same time we were having kind of this crazy year with ticket demand,” Eyster said. “It kind of came from both sides really. Yonder had done Red Rocks the past few summers and they were entertaining the possibility of mixing things up a bit and doing something different here in Colorado. They're really like family to Planet Bluegrass.” The rest of the lineup has yet to be decided, but the bands will be picked by Yonder and Eyster said they hope to have the list finalized before tickets go on sale on April 20.  Planet Bluegrass is also bringing in food vendors and New Belgium will provide beer. A two-day pass will cost $90, and single day will be $50, and camping will be $30 or $40 depending on the site.