Nebraska City Creative District hosts city's first bluegrass festival

NEBRASKA CITY – The Nebraska City Creative District received an enthusiastic response from the first-ever bluegrass festival in Nebraska City.

The leader of Mike Semrad & the Riverhawks called it incredible.

Semrad: “It’s a joy to bring it to a community that is very supportive – the creative district here – it’s a magical place in Nebraska City. They really care about their events.”

The festival is part of the summer activities scheduled by the newly established creative district, which claims a mission of developing space for artists to work, teach, exhibit and perform. This weekend’s festival attracted over 500 21-and-overs and many others to the Veterans Memorial Building parking lot and Eighth Street.

An open jam that began the festival included seven-year-old Shane Parde and an array of musicians who shun the electrical instruments.

Semrad: “That’s the cool thing about bluegrass. It’s for kids all they way up to adults, I mean all the way up to older people – they still play bluegrass. They share their stories and they share their love and history through the median of music.”

The bluegrass festival highlighted four groups into the evening and a catalog of traditional music.