Continuous performances Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 20,21) at the trailhead in Old Mandeville.
More than 100 singers and songwriters will descend on Mandeville, performing on four stages, during a free festival this weekend.
The Ozone Songwriter Festival runs from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 20) and 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 21). Music will be played on stages set up at and near the trailhead in Old Mandeville.
Music genres will range from country to folk to pop and Afro-Caribbean, festival organizers say.
Food trucks will also be on site. Beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, will also be available for sale.
Greg Barnhill, one of the festival organizers, said the event is a fundraiser for the Ozone Music Education Foundation, which educates people in the metropolitan New Orleans area about the music business in an effort to stimulate that industry.
Barnhill, a Slidell native who now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, said some of the performers at the festival are responsible for penning hit songs, yet remain largely unknown.
“These are hit-makers a lot of people haven’t heard of, but they’ve heard their songs on the radio,” he said.
Barnhill, for instance, wrote “Walkaway Joe,” a song recorded by Trisha Yearwood with background vocals by Don Henley. Others hit songwriters at the festival include Jim McCormick and Chas Sandford.
Free performances will be on stages inside the Old Rail Brewing Co., Lafitte Street Market and the Mandeville Trailhead Museum. An outdoor stage will be at the Mandeville Trailhead.
“It’s a great venue,” Barnhill said. “Everything is right there — you can walk to everything.”
Alia Casborne, who heads the cultural affairs department for the city of Mandeville, said the event wouldn’t interfere with the weekly farmers market set up each Saturday morning at the trailhead.
In addition to the free shows, a “Nashville Songwriter Showcase” is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday at Old Rail. Tickets for that show are $25.
