Once Woodstock. Now Hillberry.
- John-Michael Scurio
- Aug 2
- 3 min read
"If Woodstock was the party. Hillberry is the family reunion."
Welcome to the Ozarks. Our private oasis on earth where we host Hillberry, The Harvest Moon Festival. In October, every October, the hills come alive with the arkansounds of music as Hillberry returns to celebrate the harvest moon.
Hillberry is no flash-in-the-pan phenomenon. It’s a well-kept folk-secret, whispered between campfires and carved into Ozark lore. It’s got the intimacy that only a few thousand attendees can offer. There’s space to dance. To breathe. To be.
And while Woodstock is etched into the stained-glass window of our cultural cathedral Hillberry is still strumming its way into hearts on a wooded hillside in the Ozarks ... season after season, soul after soul.
No helicopters. No fences. No National Guard.
But don’t let the peaceful pace fool you, Hillberry is every bit the cultural eruption Woodstock was, just … subtler. Kinder. Wiser.
At Woodstock, it rained. Oh, did it rain. But that didn’t stop half a million people from answering a call that wasn’t broadcast but felt.
They came in VW buses. They came on foot. They came barefoot. They came because they were ready to live differently, love harder, and listen louder.
Woodstock wasn’t about headliners (though, let’s be real, the lineup was a divine playlist: Hendrix, Joplin, The Who, Joan Baez, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, just to name a few). It was about something deeper. It was anti-war. It was pro-love. It was muddy and messy and miraculous.
It's Arkansauce instead of Jefferson Airplane. Instead of Hendrix melting Stratocasters, it’s Alex Hawf bending bluegrass into something downright celestial.
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it largely developed out of old-time string music, though in contrast, bluegrass also has roots in traditional English, Scottish, and Irish ballads and dance tunes as well as in blues and jazz.
The essence of bluegrass lies in its precise and intricate instrumental techniques. The musicians engage in spirited and lightning-fast improvisation, delivering solos that captivate the listener with their technical prowess. Traditional bluegrass adheres to a strict structure, with a standard repertoire of songs and recognizable melodies that have stood the test of time.
Bluegrass features acoustic stringed instruments and emphasizes the offbeat. Notes are anticipated, in contrast to laid back blues where notes are behind the beat, which creates the higher energy characteristic of bluegrass. In bluegrass, as in some forms of jazz, one or more instruments each takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment; this is especially typified in tunes called breakdowns.
This is in contrast to old-time music, in which all instruments play the melody together or one instrument carries the lead throughout while the others provide accompaniment. Breakdowns are often characterized by rapid tempos and unusual instrumental dexterity and sometimes by complex chord changes.
Music is a language; and as language evolves, so too does music.
Hillberry has evolved and this year, 2025, marks the 10-year anniversary of this celebration at The Farm, here in the Ozarks. If only Woodstock was still with us, 56 years later. I wonder how that one time event would've evolved if it was cultivated year after year like Hillberry.
The Farm, a 160-acre campground and events center is nestled just outside of Eureka Springs in Beaver, AR. Hillberry is recognized as one of the top Bluegrass Festivals in the Midwest, and it draws thousands of people each year.
Positioned right here in the Ozarks, visitors enjoy 360-degree panoramic views, with Mark Twain National Forest, Beaver Lake, Table Rock Lake, and the White River are all nearby.
Expect live music on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. RVs and camping are allowed but be sure to check on the requirements for each and be aware of what you’ll need to bring with you.
I once met a man at Hillberry who told me, “Woodstock was the party. Hillberry is the family reunion.”
That hit me right in the heart. Because that’s exactly it.
Woodstock changed the world. It needed to. It was a reckoning with war, with oppression, with conformity. It was lightning in a bottle.
Hillberry? It doesn’t want to change the world. It wants to heal it. One note at a time. One hug at a time. One harmony under the stars.
At Hillberry, you’re not escaping reality, you’re remembering the future.
Don't forget to remember.❤️
