As Festival of the Bluegrass heats up, suits become optional

As Cumberland Gap was making introductions Friday afternoon at Festival of the Bluegrass, Jeff Cox of Lexington yelled from the second row, “I’m glad you guys aren’t wearing suits!”

While the Pike County band favored shirt sleeves in the 80-degrees plus sunshine, the band before them, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, maintained a dedication to its dark suit look for a 4 p.m. set.

“I like to sweat,” Flamekeeper mandolinist Nathan Livers joked after the band’s set.

At the halfway mark Friday afternoon, the 44th annual bluegrass music festival was just heating up in the Kentucky Horse Park Campground, with most of the lineup set to give evening (cooler) sets later Friday and a full day of music Saturday featuring Seldom Scene, Town Mountain and The Wooks.

The festival runs through Sunday. Tickets are $20-$115.

This story was originally published June 9, 2017 at 7:29 PM with the headline "As Festival of the Bluegrass heats up, suits become optional."