Ida Road Honky Tonk Festival July 8-10

Mary Jane Farmer | July 7, 2011

Jarrod Birmingham

Also appearing in the Sherman Herald Democrat Friday issue.

By Mary Jane Farmer

WHITEWRIGHT — It’s time for the yearly Ida Road Honky Tonk Fest, held each summer at the Whitewright Tractor Pull Arena. This is, literally, a rain-or-shine event, as 2010 attendees in rubber galoshes can attest. Few people went home last year in spite of the downpours that deluged the grounds.

This year’s festival line-up, said organizer James Bailey, includes a Friday night acoustic jam session on the grounds, led by guitarist Ryan Littrell.

Saturday, music starts early and goes until late. Opening at 11:30 a.m. is the Whitewright-based band, Grayson County Line, followed by other local bands Ace High, the Kevin Deal band, the James Bailey Band, and John David Kent & The Dumb Angels.

Between Bailey’s and Kent’s performances are the Gulf Coast-based band, the Pear Ratz, and closing will be Jarrod Birmingham, also from the Gulf Coast, who will bring the Pear Ratz back on stage to back him up.

Long-time festival goer Kaitlin McFatridge said that, although local bands fill out most of the line-up, “the Pear Ratz and Jarrod Birmingham are here so often, they seem like home folk to us.” Birmingham has been at the past three Ida Road Honky Tonk Festivals, and maybe even more before that, she recalled.

There is also a horseshoe tournament starting at 11 a.m. Saturday.

The gates open at 5:30 p.m. Friday, with the jam session starting around 6 p.m.

Saturday, gates open at 10:30 a.m., in time to get settled in before Grayson County Line kicks it all off. Coolers, lawn chairs, and kids welcome, and concession stands and camping are available, although camping is on a first-come basis.

Admission is $15 per person to the festival and $10 for the horseshoe tournament. The grounds are at State Highway 11 and U.S. Highway 69, east of the 4-way stop sign in Whitewright.

For more information, call Bailey at 903-814-4950.

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